We carry out development-oriented research is diverse areas like

• agriculture & food security,
• health,
• labour, entrepreneurship & employment,
• regional integration & international trade as well as
• governance and democracy.

We understand that development challenges that Zimbabwe and Africa are facing are not peculiar to them only; other countries have faced similar challenges but were able to effectively deal with them. As such, IDS plays a leading role in facilitation knowledge and technology transfer and our development dialogue forum (DDF) is an effective tool towards this goal.

 Our current priorities centre around building knowledge for the revival of the Zimbabwean economy. IDS plays a crucial role in generating and providing information that shapes the recovery process; including:

• Analysing the country’s value and supply chains (Agriculture, mining, industry, tourism, health and education);
• Employment, labour, socio-economic development;
• Informal economy and entrepreneurship;
• Regional integration and international trade.

Student mentorship

We involve students when carrying out our work so that they get “hands-on experience” in whatever we do. In addition, we offer research-based post-graduate MPhil and DPhil research supervision to both national and international students.

 Development Dialogue Forum

We are the lead institution at the UZ organizing policy dialogue forums on issues related to national development in Zimbabwe. The dialogue series reach out to national, regional and international players in as far as drawing global experience is concerned.

 Research review and book launch

We organize research review and book launch seminars for the academia.