Edinson G. B. Monsalve, Ana M. O. Lopez & Sara C. M. Alzate (2019) The Training Impact on Citizen Participation: Configuration and Reconfiguration – Spaces of Social Networks Among Children and Youth Populations

This article was written for the Youth Voice Journal’s 2019 Special Issue ‘Youth Doing Politics’ It’s available here as a standalone article. You can also purchase the full special issue here.

Objective. To recognize in their political formation the impact on children and young people’s social networks which promote citizen participation in the city of Medellin, Colombia.

Methodology. The non-experimental and quantitative study was conducted with Social Network Analysis (SNA) using semi-structured interviews with open questions.

Results, the study identifies the contribution made through formation and promotion programs, on strengthening existing relationships as well as forming new ones. In particular, it identifies those which influence the sharing of interests; the study identifies these relationships in the interactive context of social organization and the recognition of territories as citizenship bases.

Conclusion, Political training scenarios, though focusing on the individuality of the participants have impacted real relations between them. When evaluating interests the study reveals the participants’ ability to build territorial identity and recognize features of more general behaviors not based on the individual characteristics of each. Social networks are presented as supporting the existence of learning in political formation, to the extent that they allow appropriation through socialization and the circulation of information in relationships that consolidate and maintain themselves through time.