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MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMMUNITY SYSTEMS MODELS AND DEVELOPMENT (MCSMD)

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMMUNITY SYSTEMS MODELS AND DEVELOPMENT (MCSMD)

Module Code	Module Name	Description
MCSMD503	Community Development Theories & Frameworks	Community development is a critical field aimed at empowering individuals, groups, and communities to improve their social, economic, and cultural well-being. This module provides a theoretical foundation and practical tools for understanding the dynamics of community development, focusing on theories, frameworks, and strategies essential for fostering sustainable innovative change.
MCSMD505	Community Resilience Building and Practice	Zimbabwe needs experts who can advise and research on, and recommend less welfare based social innovations like universal Food Aid. Development failure currently characterising most communities is largely blamed on welfare-based approaches which have underlined most donor driven initiatives in Africa and abroad. Quickly catching the attention of governments and donors alike is the need to embrace resilience as part of community development practice, particularly in the face of pandemics; collapse of community infrastructure and a myriad of other environmental and social challenges. The Community Resilience Building and Practice module places at its core the Resilience Building Framework. Key concepts covered by the course include resilience competencies and parties: (Adaptive; Absorptive and Transformative); Crisis Modifiers; Early Warning Systems; Inclusivity; Hazards; Indicators; capacity building. Also exposed to students will be international frameworks for resilience building, especially those aimed at making communities more resilient to both natural and human-driven disasters. By the end of the course, the students will have a better understanding of the community Resilience Building Framework and are better equipped to apply in community development practice (planning and action). The course module is applied, interactive and empirical, and consists of both lectures, seminars and projects
MSSRM501	Advanced Social Science Research Methods (Faculty Wide Module)	The module aims to provide advanced skills in research methods for graduate students. It enhances postgraduate students’ knowledge and skills for conducting, analysing and interpreting research in the field of sociology, anthropology and gender studies. The module focuses upon both qualitative and quantitative techniques and the knowledge gained, will be useful for conducting research and as tools for professional practice. The module will also equip learners with the use of digital technologies in data collection, processing, analysis and management.
MIDSB501	Information Digital Skills for Postgraduates (University Wide Module) Systems Thinking and Modelling	Systems Thinking and Modelling is an approach to community development that views communities as complex, dynamic systems. This perspective recognizes that communities are made up of interconnected elements - such as people, organizations, infrastructure, and resources - that influence each other in non-linear ways. This module explores different models and approaches used to understand and analyze community systems. It covers systems thinking, social network analysis, ecological models, and other relevant frameworks for understanding community dynamics. The models help stakeholders better understand system dynamics, test intervention scenarios, and collaboratively develop strategies for community transformation. The key principles of systems thinking in community development include holistic perspectives, feedback loops, leverage points and emergence. Students in Systems Thinking and Modelling for community development will be equipped to contribute to more holistic, adaptive, and impactful community initiatives that address complex challenges and foster sustainable change.
MCSMD511	Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation	The course will introduce students to project monitoring and evaluation focusing on definitions, rationale, effectiveness and efficiency. Student will explore the importance of formative, ongoing and summative evaluation of projects. At the end of the course students shall be able to design monitoring and evaluation systems. Students will also be able to design and evaluation study, undertake necessary inquiry and do appropriate write up.
MCSMD512	Information and Communication Technology for Development	In the contemporary world Digital tools and platforms for community engagement and collaboration Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) are key. The course covers but not limited to introduction to ICT4D, digital divide and digital inclusion, ICT applications in community development, community-based designing and co-creation, data visualization and dashboard development, geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis and social media and online community mobilization. The course equips students with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking capabilities to leverage information and communication technologies as catalysts for inclusive, sustainable, and impactful community development.
MCSMD510	Policy Analysis and Advocacy	This module explores the role of policy particularly, social and economic policies in community development. It equips students with the knowledge and skills to critically examine public policies, identify their impacts on communities, and effectively advocate for policy changes that address community needs and priorities. It entails examining policy frameworks, advocacy strategies, and ethical considerations, equipping students with the knowledge to navigate the political landscape and drive positive change. The course produce students that are prepared to leverage policy analysis and advocacy as powerful tools to address systemic barriers, influence decision-makers, and drive positive community-level change.
MCSMD514	Transformative Resource Mobilization	Is a strategic approach to securing and leveraging financial and non-financial resources to drive meaningful and sustainable change within a community or organization. The module introduces transformative resource mobilization, assessment of community assets and needs, diversified funding sources, organizational development and cultivating multi-stakeholder partnerships. The course provides students with an opportunity to engage in case studies, interactive workshops, and hands-on exercises to apply the principles of transformative resource mobilization in their own community development initiatives. They become expert community development practitioners with the knowledge, skills, and practical tools to unlock diverse, sustainable, and community-driven resources to drive transformative change.
MCSMD570	Dissertation	A dissertation between 20000– 25000 words within six months is compulsory. The dissertation shall be submitted at the end of 18 months or the third semester. Topics for the dissertation will be organised around various thematic areas and should respond to current problems facing the nation.

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN GENDER SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND DEVELOPMENT (MGD)

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN GENDER SOCIAL SYSTEMS & DEVELOPMENT (MGD)

Module Code	Module Name	Description
MGD503	Gender, Environment, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Reduction	Gender is relevant in determining access and control of natural resources, transforming the environment and achieving sustainable development. Students are taught to apply various theories including liberal feminism, eco-feminism, post-colonial theories and intersectional ecological approaches to analyse and reshape the discourse on environmental and climate change disasters. The module seeks to expose to policy makers and help them appreciate certain problematic tendencies such as regarding women as simply being at risk, and men as reckless in mitigation and adaptation policies. The module brings to the fore issues on climate justice; climate movements and the gender dynamics embedded in them so that students as future technocrats can be able to engage with their work. Finally, the module offers knowledge on climate change governance and the disaster risk reduction architecture, to ensure students have policy analysis skills to reshape the field.
MSSA500	Advanced Anthropological & Sociological Theory	This module offers students the opportunity to pursue their interests in contemporary anthropological and sociological theory at an advanced level and examines cognate issues in parallel for the two disciplines of Social Anthropology and Sociology. In this way we hope students will appreciate the commonalities and the differences in approaches between these two disciplines. The module encourages students to use social theory in order to think creatively, constructively and critically about the ways in which the social and political world is changing today. By the end of the module, students should have acquired the ability to discuss critically central aspects of anthropological and sociological theory and be able to make use of such knowledge in the construction of contemporary anthropological and sociological problems.
MGD500	Re-thinking Gender theories & Politics of Knowledge	The module is conceptual and theoretical in nature. The core aim is to provide feminist, masculinity and gender alternative theories in industrialization, development and innovation especially in Zimbabwe. It imparts critical analysis skills for students to engage with debates and critiques within conventional gender studies as well as how the various debates encourage and, in some cases, impede activism and social change. The module allows students to provide a gender critique of the historical and contemporary/existing social science knowledge and practices and how this knowledge has failed to inform meaningful gender responsive policies and interventions. Students will be able to provide relevant ministries with critical information and skills on gender mainstreaming.
MSSRM501	Advanced Social Science Research Methods (Faculty Wide Module)	The module aims to provide advanced skills in research methods for graduate students. It enhances postgraduate students’ knowledge and skills for conducting, analysing and interpreting research in the field of sociology, anthropology and gender studies. The module focuses upon both qualitative and quantitative techniques and the knowledge gained, will be useful for conducting research and as tools for professional practice. The module will also equip learners with the use of digital technologies in data collection, processing, analysis and management. Students to conduct gender sensitive research for the relevant government institutions, UN agencies, NGOs and communities to inform gender policies and programming.
MIDSB501	Information, Digital Skills for Postgraduate (University Wide	The module introduces students to the use of information technologies and their application in academic research.
MSSA504	Social Development, Social Policy and Administration	This module unpacks recent scholarship that critically reframes the relationship between social policy, understood broadly as those policies designed to address and alleviate social problems with a view to promoting human welfare and social development, and the diverse development challenges faced by the global South. Students will be able to contribute to how social policies might be designed and implemented, and by whom, to address poverty and inequality, and thereby achieve more positive development outcomes. At the end of the module students will contribute to models and frameworks of Social Policy relevant to the local context and beyond
MGD506	Sexuality, Culture and Society	This module draws on an interdisciplinary approach spanning the humanities, social, natural and physical sciences. Gender, culture and sexuality studies aim to challenge a number of traditional academic and cultural understanding of issues on human sexuality by looking at how knowledge, history, policies and norms are produced shaped and governed. Furthermore, the module enables students to engage critically with a set of thematic areas that have an enduring, albeit changing, place within the field of sexuality which are also key sites of regulation and transgression of gender, sexuality intersecting axes of difference. It also gives an appreciation of discourses centred on reproductive health, sexual rights, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights which are topical issues among various policy makers/stakeholders in this contemporary world. The module is relevant because it attends to basic concepts and theoretical perspectives paying attention to understanding sexuality in the political, cultural, and economic context.
MGD504	Gender, Policy Planning and Development Practice	This module takes more of an applied approach to the study of gender and development practice. The module aims to equip students with various tools and approaches to assist them to model and design solutions to and evaluate development policies, planning processes and practices. In the module, students are also taught about gender mainstreaming, its evolution, pitfalls and current debates. Students will be taught how to develop tools to collect gender disaggregated data and conduct gender analysis in gender empowerment projects/interventions. The module equips students with knowledge to develop gender indicators to monitor and evaluate the impacts of development programmes on different social groups. Gender budgeting is also a critical component of the module.
MGD505	Gender and Power Relations in Organisations	The module seeks to provide knowledge and skills that enable students to interrogate the notion of gender equality and leadership in organisations/workplaces. It specifically tackles the root causes of gender inequalities in positions of power and authority; and the consequences of gender inequality on economic development. This module is relevant as issues of equality and affirmative action are increasingly debated as part of gender empowerment in Agenda 2030. It is also important to look at how individuals would benefit from a more gender equitable organisations. Ultimately, the module will provide students with an analytical framework to understand the mechanisms that generate gaps in gender equality in positions of authority and leadership and explore interventions to close these gaps
MGD570	Dissertation	A dissertation between 20000– 25000 words within six months is compulsory. The dissertation shall be submitted at the end of 18 months or the third semester. Topics for the dissertation will be organised around various thematic areas and should respond to current problems facing the nation.

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