Using FAU Know-How to Develop Mozambique “Build Back Better” Program

Dr. Jean Martin Caldieron, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at FAU, has been teaching and researching in Mozambique with a Fulbright Scholar Award since February 2019. This month, Dr. Caldieron was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State to train and impart knowledge about adequate structural design and sustainable building techniques in informal settlement areas that are at subject to frequent cyclones and flooding. With the joint collaboration of FAU, the United States Embassy in Maputo, and the Eduardo Mondlane University, the project consists of the publication of two construction manuals especially designed to improve rehabilitated self-built informal settlements in Mozambique’s high-risk areas. Dr. Caldieron and his team will create and offer two training courses in Beira, in central Mozambique to help interested parties – including professionals, students and informal builders – to understand how to rebuild informal dwellings damaged by Cyclone Idai and flooding in the province.  According to Dr. Caldieron, residents of Beira are already rebuilding their dwellings and it is imperative they do so using a “build back better” approach this time.  This grant will promote future exchanges between the institutions involved in Mozambique and Florida Atlantic University, and will allow the continuity of past research activities developed at FAU School of Architecture, a leader in the areas of community design, and design response to sea-level rise and flooding.