Livelihood impacts of coping with Covid in rural Mozambique
The project is a rapid-response research project funded by the University of Edinburgh with support from the Global Challenges Research Fund. Through 441 phone interviews with 92 panelists across nine study communities in rural Mozambique, we aimed to co-create new knowledge about the lived experience of rural communities in southern Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between May and July 2020 over up to seven study weeks per community, we investigated direct and indirect livelihood impacts and the social groups most affected, explored coping mechanisms in relation to this and other external shocks, and learnt about the reality of Covid-19 guidelines cognisant of the broader context of social and economic vulnerability.
Working closely among a 15-person consortium of researchers, we sought dialogue with local civil-society and government partners on the creation of questionnaires and feedback of research findings in response to the vagaries of a novel pandemic. We found that the Covid restrictions exacerbated existing vulnerabilities related to age, gender and precarity of income, but also created new exposures by eliminating trading and transport opportunities.
