Gaynor Paradza holds a Doctoral degree in Law and Governance from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her PhD thesis focused on single women, land and livelihood vulnerability in the communal areas of Zimbabwe.

Before joining PLAAS in September 2010, she was Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies in Johannesburg where she led research on the role of councilors in South African local governnment. Prior to that Gaynor worked as a Town Planner for the Zimbabwe Government’s Ministry of Local Government. Gaynor also worked as a Lecturer in the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Rural and Urban Planning where she lectured post and undergraduate students and also supervised undergraduate and Post Graduate Student dissertations.  Gaynor has done research on women in local government, local governance, livelihood vulnerability, informal sector and urban governance and decentralisation  policies in the region. She has also worked extensively on securing women’s access to land in rural and urban areas. Gaynor joined PLAAS in 2010.

Gaynor’s current work focuses on:

• pro-poor Value Chain Governance in Southern Africa with a focus on non-corporate value chains and the position of small holder farmers within these chains; and
  
• impacts of large scale land transactions on gender and tenure.

1. Makura-Paradza G (2010) Single Women, Land and Livelihood Vulnerability in the Communal Areas of Zimbabwe. Wageningen Publishers. Wageningen.
2. Paradza G and Mokwena L (2010) 'Service delivery bottlenecks in Soweto: The potential role of civil society organizations in mediating access,' in Good Governance Learning Network State of Local Government Report.
3. Paradza G (2010) 'Single Women’s experiences of HIV and AIDS in the rural areas of Zimbabwe,' in Niehof, Rugalema and Gillespie(eds ) AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Dynamics and Diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa. London: EarthScan, 77–95.
4. Paradza GG (2009) 'Intergenerational struggles over urban housing: The impact on livelihoods of the elderly in Zimbabwe,' Gender and Development 17(3):417–426.
5. Paradza G (2008) 'Le esperienze delle  vedove   nell’ eredita  delle  abitazioni urbane in Zimbabwe. Afriche e Orienti,'  Rivista di studi ai confine tra Africa, mediterraneo e medio oriente, 64–80.
6. Kakuru D and Paradza G (2007) 'Reflections on the use of the life history method in researching rural African women: Field experiences from Uganda and Zimbabwe,' Gender and Development 15(2): 287–297.
7. Paradza GG (2001) 'Zimbabwe women’s access to land,' in African Political and Economic Monthly 14(3):47–48.