FEMOZ

The FEMOZ project aims at strengthening the resilience of rural food environments in the context of disaster risk and climate change in Mozambique. The “Food Environment” mediates the interactions between consumers and markets and influences consumer’s decisions. FEMOZ food environment conceptual framework consists of an external domain (including the dimensions of food availability, prices, markets and product’s properties, marketing, and regulation) and a personal domain (including accessibility, affordability, convenience, and desirability). Both external and personal domains are considered in the context of disaster risks and climate change (CC). FEMOZ‘s objectives address the measurement of these different dimensions of the food environment in the different target regions of the project, contributing to evaluating how potential rural development interventions for increasing agricultural production, rising incomes, or reducing food prices would ultimately and effectively reflect on the population’s diets and nutrition. FEMOZ‘s objectives also target the creation of change in the food environment through awareness and knowledge formation around good practices in the different dimensions of the food environment and further changes in behavior, practices, and performances for improving food security and nutrition (FSN). For this purpose, FEMOZ proposes the establishment of an innovative “Living Lab” long-term R&D infrastructure, including a “Science-Policy-Society Interface (SPSI)” and a “Capacity Development Hub (CDH)”. With this approach, FEMOZ ensures that co-research in the Living Lab on the different dimensions of the food environment is up-scaled, out-scaled, and deep-scaled from the outset. The project will translate research findings into action, capacitating stakeholders, and disseminating best practices for enhancing food environments in targeted rural settings.