An analysis of turnaround strategies used by Rural District Council’s in their Income generating projects: A case of Rural District Council’s in southern Zimbabwe

This research was undertaken with the main objective being to analyse the turnaround strategies being employed by rural district council run income generating projects. The research also seek to establish the causes of failure of council run income generating projects strategies used by management in managing projects. This was exacerbated by observations noted on the level of contribution to council budget and unsatisfactory performance. The author reflected on existing literature, on turnaround strategies used by local authorities in their income generating projects, implication on productivity, profitability. With the objectives in mind the researcher had to adopt a descriptive and explanatory research design. Interviews were used to gather the information regarding the turnaround strategies used by local authorities. With the use of questionnaires in a sample size of 38 respondents, drawn from a sample population of 58 senior managers from rural district councils in the southern Zimbabwe, the researcher found that most respondents were running income generating projects. This was confirmed by the 100% of response rate. The most prominent strategies on income generating projects were found to be renovation of premises owned by local authorities, employment of contract workers and entertainment provision. This was evidenced by 16, 22 and 14 respondents respectively. The results revealed that major causes of income generating projects were emanating from the inadequacy of funding amongst other causes. It is in the height of the main findings and the main recommendations that the researcher recommend that managers should embark on other strategies that might help councils realise some positive results.