Mayumi Sato

Mayumi is a current postgraduate student studying Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Having lived in several countries in Asia, North America, and Europe, she is passionate about social and environmental activism, and building bridges between scholarship, community advocacy, and policymaking from the local to the global level. She developed this ethos while working in Thailand and Laos in development and research for migrant workers, Indigenous rights, and community rights as a Princeton in Asia Fellow. In the future, she hopes to continue her work in gender, climate, and racial justice by working alongside local and underserved communities around the world.

Mayumi worked with HelpAge International to document what belonging means to older people, starting with the country of Moldova.

Community Engagement Initiative

Mayumi hosted an intergenerational mentorship program, where individuals in the social justice sector could sign up to be a mentor or mentee and form informal connections. 89 people participated from 27 countries. Ready the report: Social Networking Through Social Justice.

Report

Understanding Social Connectedness Amongst Older People

This research, Understanding Social Connectedness amongst Older People in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries (LMCs), examines how older people in Moldova experience, understand, and pursue social connectedness and belonging. Through a joint study between HelpAge International and the Samuel Centre, Moldova serves as a case study of a global analysis of how older people understand and value social connectedness. Through a participatory action research, which integrates older peoples’ voices in Moldova as a part of the research process, survey questionnaires were conducted with 51 older people, of various geographical, residential, gender, ethnic, and cultural identities in 12 villages and cities. Findings demonstrate that older communities define social connectedness in variable ways, which is contingent on intersecting individual and family circumstances, gender, existing government services, length of time spent in the community, and access to resources. In identifying the determinants that lead to the fulfillment of social belonging, and the potential outcomes from their absence, this research contributes to an increasing body of literature around improving older peoples’ sense of belonging and social connectedness in LMCs.

Keywords

Older peoples rights, low-income and middle-income countries, Moldova, social connectedness, belonging, intersectionality

Summary Report

HelpAge International also published a summary of Mayumi’s report.