Social capital, savings, and educational performance of orphaned adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

We examine the impact of social capital on savings and educational performance of orphaned adolescents participating in a family-level economic strengthening program in Uganda. Findings indicate that if given the opportunity, poor families in Uganda will use financial institutions to save for the education of their adolescent youth. Moreover, although the results are mixed, overall, adolescents with higher levels of social capital and social support, including participation in youth groups, are likely to report better saving performance compared to their counterparts with lower levels of social capital and social support. The results point to: (1) the role for family-economic strengthening programs specifically focused on improving the educational outcomes of orphaned adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, and (2) the need for adolescents to be encouraged to participate in youth groups since these groups seem to offer the much needed supportive informal institutional structure for positive adolescent outcomes.

A Systematic Review of Online Youth Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Interventions

“…Four studies were carried out in South Africa [60,61,63,64], one study was carried out in India [57], Honduras [58], Egypt [59] and Uganda [65][66][67][68]. All eight studies were published between 2006 and 2010.…”

“…Two studies evaluated the Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE), a poverty-focused microfinance initiative for women that is combined with a 12-15 month gender and HIV education curriculum [63,64]. One study examined the effects of small individual loans and mentorship on health and mental health functioning of primary school children [65][66][67][68]. Five of the seven interventions were designed for young people aged 13+.…”

“…Two interventions provided parent training [58,61] and two interventions were designed specifically for females [59,63,64]. Five of the interventions were implemented by local trained community caregivers [59][60][61][63][64][65][66][67][68]. The Familias Fuertas intervention was implemented by a local nurse [58] and the multi-component school and community intervention in India was implemented by a team of social workers, psychologists and peer educators [57].…”

Reforming child institutional care in the Post-Soviet bloc: The potential role of family-based empowerment strategies

“…In a low income country like Uganda, where 27.4% of population lives on $2 a day and GNI (Gross National Income) per capita is $510 (World Bank, 2014), this amount is substantial and sufficient to pay for 1.5 years of secondary education. In addition, the intervention demonstrated that along with economic benefits alleviating financial pressures from caregiving families (Ssewamala, Karimli, Han, & Ismayilova, 2010), orphaned children showed significant improvements in a range of psychosocial outcomes including educational performance (Ismayilova, Ssewamala, Mooers, Nabunya, & Sheshadri, 2012;Ssewamala & Curley, 2006;), self-esteem, depression and hopelessness (Han, Ssewamala, & Wang, 2013), and reduction in sexual risks . Although not the primary outcome, the intervention has also reduced caregiver's psychological distress (Kagotho & Ssewamala, 2012) and improved relationships between orphaned children and adults caring for them (Ismayilova, Ssewamala, & Karimli, 2012).…”

Gender Differences in the Effect of Family Structure on Educational Outcomes Among Nigerian Youth

“…At the individual level, gender (Musa, 2013;Ssewamala, Karimli, Han, & Ismayilova, 2010), place of residence (Kazeem, Jensen, & Stokes, 2010), and individual motivation (Goodman et al, 2011) have been identified as factors associated with educational outcomes among youth. At the household level, wealth status has been consistently documented as one of the factors that can influence youth educational outcomes although results have been inconclusive.…”