Youth Social Capital Formation in Nicaragua

Abstract

In many Latin American countries, stringent crime control measures have failed to stem high levels of youth crime and violence. As a consequence, there is burgeoning interest in the notion of youth social capital as a basis for policies and programmes designed to enhance the rights of young people living in circumstances of poverty and risk. Yet there is little knowledge of existing sources of youth social capital in poor urban communities in Latin America. To address this gap, the authors conducted an inquiry into the sources and aspects of youth social capital in one low-income urban neighbourhood in Nicaragua. The study revealed that despite a local context fraught with the effects of poverty, youth experienced varying benefits from family and peer relationships, and from their differentiated associations with school, church, and places of work. In recognition of these existing sources of local support, we argue that youth social capital formation, particularly through family assistance and investments in schooling, has considerable merit as both a means and an end of community development strategies in low-income neighbourhoods. We acknowledge, however, that social capital formation as a basis of youth policies and programmes must be founded on a broad civic and political commitment to children’s rights which, as yet, is far from evident in Nicaragua.