Jonnathan Khozozo Mtonga

Jonnathan is a Zambian researcher specialized in educational, poverty and childhood research. He is also specialized monitoring and evaluation.

Jonnathan has a Masters of Philosophy (M.Phil) in Childhood Studies from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a Bachelors degree in Social Sciences majoring in Development Studies from the University of Zambia. Jonnathan has about 10 years experience working and conducting research with vulnerable children in difficulty circumstance especially those living on the streets and low-income communities.

Jonnathan has also worked in the education sector for over 4 years primarily focusing on the development and implementation of E-learning lessons in primary schools in Zambia. He has conducted baseline, midterm and endline assessment to understand the impact of E-learning and the applicability of different technologies in education. He has also overseen a UNICEF pilot project aimed at exploring the use of E-learning in rural schools in the Western province of Zambia.

Jonnathan has for 5 years (2005-2010) coordinated a joint Service-learning program between the University of Zambia and San Jose State University-California. The program mainly focused on working with children in selected low income communities in Lusaka. The program was aimed was at creating and providing a platform for university students to practice and gain experience in their programmes of study while addressing challenges that children face. The programme helped students to make meaningful contributions to the communities through application of their knowledge gained at university to mitigate the problems they identify in the communities.

Jonnathan is also a founding member of the Zambian chapter of Action for Children Zambia, an NGO that implements interventions aimed addressing challenges faced by street children. The organization currently looks after over 100 children and has rehabilitated, educated and reintegrated seven children into the community. Key interventions employed by the organization include sending school aged street children back to school and training the older children in different life skill.

Jonnathan has also conducted research with street children aimed at understanding their conditions both on the street and under institutional care. He has also corroborated with researchers from University of Maribor-Slovenia exploring the various challenges that street children face