Simbarashe Kativhu

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Postodoctoral Research Fellow at University of Venda

Background Solar photovoltaic technology is one of the promising renewable energy solutions of the twenty-first century. It successfully provides electricity to industries, homes and even the transport sector. The decreasing prices of solar modules from 2010 have made Solar Home Systems Technology (SHST) increasingly attractive compared to other re...

Purpose: For close to three decades, the entrepreneurial university has been growing at a slow pace in the developed countries but recently the developing countries have raised interest in adopting the concept. However, most universities in developing nations including in South Africa have largely relied on Eurocentric frameworks to guide them in a...

Individual decision-making is crucial for rural homeowners to adopt solar home systems (SHS). Currently, SHS adoption in South Africa is slow and disappointing. Individuals choose to adopt or reject a SHS at the household level. This decision results from the interplay of several behavioural intentions emanating from underlying beliefs that are dee...

Local Action Groups (LAGs) are a promising development approach that has gained prominence across the world. They are underpinned by participation of all local actors (community-led rural development) as the main precondition for generating and sustaining economic development in rural regions. Despite this potential, there has been a dearth of scie...

The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown regulations suddenly elevated the importance of blended learning in South Africa and worldwide. This has prompted various international and national institutions into action, providing various support services to enhance fast digital adoption in higher education and facilitate out of classroom learn...

The post-apartheid South African government prioritises rural development as a tool for reversing the apartheid government legacies of injustice, poverty, and black people's marginalisation, particularly in the former homelands of Ciskei, Transkei, and Venda land. This is evidenced by the implementation of diverse rural development policies and str...

Rooftop solar photovoltaics have the potential to successfully electrify rural and scattered communities worldwide. However, access to clean, high-quality, reliable and affordable energy remains elusive for several households in rural areas of the developing world. To fully comprehend, unpack and proffer meaningful solutions to this mismatch, energ...

South Africa is facing energy generation and supply challenges. Massive population growth and industrial expansion have exacerbated the situation. The rural communities whose hopes for grid connection are diminishing daily felt the effects of energy generation and supply. The solution to these energy challenges lies in adopting clean renewable ener...

Food security, poverty and hunger are some of the 21st century global challenges. An estimated 1.2 billion people live in poverty, and most are in sub-Saharan Africa. Several efforts to reduce the devastating effects of hunger, poverty and hunger worldwide are implemented. One of the prominent intervention strategies is the Heifer International pro...

Smallholder farmers in South Africa are facing increased pressure to manage water use due to growing scarcity and environmental water demand. This prompts the need to build resilient irrigation systems particularly for smallholder farmers. Building resilience is more pertinent in Limpopo province where crop and animal production is hampered by wate...

High failure rates among youth-owned small retail businesses has prompted the need for strengthening sustainability in the sector. The current paper sought to establish a framework for use in determining youth-owned small retail business sustainability. An exploratory mixed study approach was followed (qualitative and quantitative methods). Snowbal...

The South African government has increased its support to historically disadvantaged universities in recent years. One of the major foci of this support is to increase research output. Despite these efforts, there is growing evidence to suggest that research output in rural based universities is still low. Ironically, the factors hindering research...

The resilience concept has attracted interest across many fields in the recent years. The interdisciplinary nature of the concept has led to the existence of numerous definitions, interpretations and measurement approaches. For this reason, there is no acceptable universal understanding of resilience across disciplines. Even though the concept is c...

The increasing challenge posed by HIV/AIDS and poverty coupled with limited government service delivery have increased the reliance on youth volunteers in Zimbabwe. Ironically, youth continue to lose interest in voluntary work and the reasons for this are not clear. Therefore, this paper explored factors that either promote or inhibit the involveme...