Innocent Tinashe Mutero

The global skills gap is the foremost obstacle to business transformation. Across sectors and regions, established forms of expertise are being reshaped or rendered insufficient, creating widespread uncertainty about the durability of existing skill sets. This condition, often described as skill instability, reflects a growing need for continual learning and adaptation as occupational demands evolve. This study employs a critical analysis of data from leading international organizations to map the distinct nature of this challenge across the world’s regions and industries. The study demonstrates that its nature differs fundamentally between regions and sectors. In advanced economies, the crisis is a shortage of specialized digital and green skills. In developing regions, the deficits are more foundational, rooted in basic digital literacy and technical-vocational training. Everywhere, however, a structural mismatch is worsening economies are creating complex new jobs faster than they are training workers for them, even as automation displaces lower-skilled roles. To navigate this dual challenge, we argue that technology, especially AI, must be seen as a tool to augment human potential. The solution is a decisive strategic pivot: from reactive hiring to proactive human capital development. This requires nuanced, region-specific policies and a foundational corporate commitment to lifelong learning to build a resilient and inclusive future workforce.

This paper explores the influence of social media on music creation, consumption, and promotion in Zimbabwe. It examines how platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube have democratised access to audiences, enabling artists to bypass traditional gatekeepers and achieve independent recognition. Employing a qualitative approach, the paper draws on publicly available data from social media platforms, online newspapers, personal reflections, and interviews with musicians and industry professionals. Key findings reveal that social media fosters direct interaction between artists and fans, facilitates viral marketing, and enhances creative collaboration. However, while these platforms present unprecedented opportunities, challenges remain, including inequalities relating to digital accessibility, fleeting virality, and economic barriers that hinder long-term sustainability. The paper argues that while social media has reshaped Zimbabwe’s music industry, strategic and contextually informed approaches are necessary to fully harness its potential for sustained artistic and economic success.

As Zimbabwean youth increasingly gravitate toward modern, globally influenced music and dance, traditional cultural expressions risk fading into obscurity. This study investigates how traditional Zimbabwean dance forms can be integrated into contemporary youth culture to preserve cultural heritage in the face of globalised trends. Grounded in Raymond Williams’ concept of “culture as a whole way of life” and Homi Bhabha’s theory of cultural hybridity, the research also employs the positive deviance approach to engage a group of young creatives in experimenting with cultural fusions. The study was conceived as action research, and data was collected through field observations and interviews with dancers and creatives. Findings suggest that by identifying and promoting those individuals who have already begun blending traditional and contemporary dance, the revitalisation of Zimbabwean dance heritage can foster cultural continuity and serve as an avenue for youth self-expression. The results contribute to ongoing discussions on cultural preservation, innovation in cultural expression, and the role of the arts in civic engagement and social change.

Water scarcity persists to be a pressing health concern globally and rural South Africa is not exempted. It exacerbates exposure to waterborne pathogens, resulting in substantial negative health consequences. Despite access to clean water being a constitutional right in South Africa, water scarcity remains a formidable challenge contributing to poor hygiene and sanitation in the country. This qualitative study investigated the factors contributing to water scarcity and the coping mechanisms employed by rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to collect data. The findings revealed infrastructural challenges, political inaction, climate change and population growth as key determinants of water scarcity in uMkhanyakude. Community members primarily relied on greywater reuse and storing of water in multiple containers to mitigate the effects of water scarcity. It is essential for South African government to prioritize initiatives addressing water scarcity in neglected rural areas to ensure equitable access to clean water and to mitigate the associated health risks.

Globally, most young people living with mental health conditions lack access to mental health care but have access to a mobile device. The growing access to mobile devices in South Africa has the potential to increase access to mental health care services through digital platforms. However, uptake of digital mental health interventions may be hampered by several factors, such as privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, and affordability. This study identified the prospects and challenges of implementing a mobile phone-based mental health intervention for young people in Ingwavuma area. Data were collected from 93 young people in three villages purposefully selected in Ingwavuma area. Participants included in the study were aged 16–24. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Thematic and descriptive analysis was performed on the qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. Mental health education was low, with only 22% of participants having received prior education on mental health. About 50% of the participants had come across a mental health app, but none of them had used any of these apps; 87% of participants had Internet access; 60% preferred to use social media to contact a health worker; and 92% suggested that use of digital apps would improve mental health literacy among young people. Barriers to access of digital mental health interventions were identified as the high cost of data, restrictive religious beliefs, limited privacy, lack of native languages on most digital platforms, low digital literacy, and complicated user interface. In uMkhanyakude, uptake of digital mental health apps among the young people was low. We recommend that, developers create context-specific digital applications catered for young people from different cultural backgrounds. Socio-economic issues such as affordability also need to be addressed in developing these tools.

South Africa faces a critical shortage of mental health service professionals and support for young people with common mental health disorders is inadequate. Social relationships that provide support to adolescents in South African communities are increasingly declining due to socio‐economic pressures. Developing ethical digital mental health innovations has potential to address provide services particularly in rural communities where mental health facilities are scarce. The active involvement of young people is critical to maximising uptake and reducing apathy on the use of digital innovations for mental health. Using the nominal group technique this study engaged young people in identifying stakeholders for setting up a community‐based mental health intervention in a rural community. Use of nominal group technique for stakeholder analysis proved to a useful tool for engaging young people. The stakeholder identification and analysis provided a base for inclusivity in developing digital innovations for mental health through identifying multi‐sector community stakeholders. It revealed that young people in the community have varying perceptions about the level of power and interest which their peers, family members, local leaders, health workers and social development organisations have in developing digital mental health interventions. This research contributes to our understanding of the ways in which to leverage young people's participation in project planning and decision‐making and building strong teams and alliances for developing digital innovations for mental health in marginalised rural communities.

The burden of chronic noncommunicable diseases in rural South Africa is exacerbated by delayed health-seeking. This study explored awareness, beliefs and health-seeking behaviour relating to diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in Ingwavuma, a poor rural community in the uMkhanyakude district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Eight gender and age-stratified Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted in isiZulu using a pre-tested FGD guide with seventy-six participants. Thematic analysis was done to discern views on access to care for noncommunicable diseases. Findings revealed limited awareness of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular-related disease burden. The community practices medical plurality, and consultation with traditional healers precedes biomedical care for acute illness with symptoms like metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Males prefer self-care and herbal remedies, probably due to cultural and masculinity expectations. Furthermore, distant health facilities and transport costs hinder biomedical care utilisation. Our study revealed the nuanced interaction of cultural and socioeconomic factors on chronic noncommunicable disease perception and health-seeking practices in Ingwavuma. The study indicates the need for improving access to primary healthcare facilities and community-based health promotion in partnership with community stakeholders to improve awareness and health-seeking behaviour.

Excluding communities in planning and implementing research maximizes internal risks that are otherwise visible and avoidable when there is adequate community consultation. Communities might not meaningfully use research results if majority of the researched people have minimal or no participation in information generation and dissemination. However, effective participation of researched communities in research is key to transferring knowledge to action. Using a qualitative approach, the study identified barriers to, and relevant strategies for improving health research uptake, particularly for schistosomiasis (commonly known as bilharzia) in the Ingwavuma area, uMkhanyakude District of KwaZulu-Natal. Data was collected through modified ethnography using participant observation, focus group discussions, unstructured in-depth interviews, and ethnographic conversational interviews. Results reveal that research uptake is inhibited by reduced opportunities for habitual interaction between residents, a paucity of innovative and inclusive health education activities and unsafe recreational facilities. The community’s strategies on strengthening social capital for disease control include using existing social systems and power hierarchies to mobilise and organise and using the performing arts to facilitate habitual interaction and knowledge sharing. The study recommends a community consultation flow which facilitates openness about the benefits and the community’s role in research, a pre-condition for community wide efforts in local disease prevention and control.

The study argues that the value of arts-based interventions in peacebuilding and development is yet to be fully realised due to a paucity of effective monitoring and evaluation models. In a context of growing attention to the benefits of university community engagement to social change, this article reports on how social practice creative placemaking embedded in engaged scholarship can be assessed for efficiency and its effectiveness in giving salience to silenced and ‘unusual’ voices in the pursuit of social justice. We propose an effective monitoring and evaluation model that shows the change development processes and can track and attribute causality.