JayJay Karumazondo passes upgrading

JayJay has successfully passed his PhD upgrading, marking an important milestone in his ethnographic doctoral research on adolescent wellbeing in rural Zimbabwe.

Alongside this academic achievement, Jayjay has been actively engaging with national and international policymakers to strengthen the policy relevance of his work. He recently met with Regina Guthold, Technical Officer in the Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing Department at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, who works on global adolescent health and wellbeing policy and measurement indicators. He also connected with Dr Debra Machando, Mental Health Focal Person at WHO Zimbabwe, who highlighted the strong alignment between Jayjay’s research and ongoing adolescent health and wellbeing initiatives in the country.

These policy conversations will inform JayJay’s next phase of research, including a planned comparison of adolescents’ lived experiences of wellbeing in rural Zimbabwe with global wellbeing frameworks. This work aims to ensure that his findings contribute meaningfully to both national and international policy discussions