The Zambia Food Change Lab aims to create a collective understanding of Zambia’s current food system and challenges for the future. In the process, it strengthens collaboration among consumers, farmers, entrepreneurs, civil society and government to foster long-term engagement, collective leadership and joint initiatives. Lab participants – from smallholder farmers to members of parliament – have collectively mapped the food system and gained a better understanding of lived realities from one another. Out of this process came ‘prototypes’ – small-scale interventions to test workable solutions – and focused advocacy messaging. Moreover, including national policy makers in the Lab’s processes has facilitated their endorsement of the Lab’s recommendations.

Hivos and IIED have documented the Zambia Food Change Lab’s journey so far in a new publication.