Impact Of Social Capital Developed During Volunteering On Youth Employ Ment In Togo

The present master thesis discusses the impact of social capital developed by young Togolese graduates during volunteering in their professional integration process. Indeed, with the structural adjustments which occurred in the 1980s, unemployment has increased considerably in Togo and particularly affects the younger population. Therefore, the Togolese government has created several work programs among which the National Volunteer Programme (PRO VON AT). This program seems to be most effective in the treatment of youth unemployment. Since its creation in 2011, more than 6,000 new graduates have joined the program in order to gain work experience and especially to develop their networks of Social Capital, which, according to them are a very valuable asset in getting a stable job. In recent years, Social Capital has become a prominent concept in academic research and influential in development discourse. Social Capital focuses on social relationships and networks.To build that Social Capital, new graduates Togolese entering annually PROVONAT. The benefits of formal volunteering often seen increasingly as a valuable asset for individual and society in recent years in Togo and globally. Volunteering patterns reflect a larger set of patterns in social capital that foster connection, interaction and core in bridging networks that give access to information about possible job and business opportunities.Social Capital has three main variables, which are Bonding (Personal relationship), Bridging (Professional relationship) and Linking (connections with organisations and institutions). In this research, I only take into account Bonding and Bridging relationship to find which one of them have more impact on volunteers employ ability. For a better comprehension of this subject, we did a combined methodology of ethnographic and qualitative research to collect a deep data. A Pretested, semi-structured interview survey, three focus group and documentary exploration, were also conducted to collect all facets in the host structure which is the headquarter of PROVONAT in Lome. From the analysis of about thirty semi-structured interviews conducted from the month of August to October 2015, it shows that, before the entry in volunteering, many young people either use their own way or personal relationships to seek for job. According to research, the fact of using networks of relationships to get a job or job information is a common and effective practice among young graduates.The mains questions of our research were:firstly, what are the different way used by young Togolese as soon as graduate? For this purpose, three categories models defined by Granovetter. The second and the third questions are to know respectively what are the impact of social capital on youth employment during volunteering and which social capital have more impact on them employability. It is especially to identify the role of personal (Bonding) or professional relations (Bridging) networks in the access to the employment.Our results showed firstly, that before the volunteering, young graduates used the direct approach, formal mediations and personal contacts to seek for job. Secondly, during the volunteering mission, some of them used personal relationship to seek for job, and finally the majority of the respondents (66,7%) got a stable job through professional (Bridging). Another finding is that,53,9% of respondents feel that their involving as volunteers in an organization would help them find jobs. Some result also showed that a degree remains the first criterion in the professional integration process, but especially social capital (Bridging) is a key factor in the recruitment process. This is why despite the high level of education, work experience, and professional skills developed; it is good to keep a good relationship at any time and in any place.Furthermore, access to job or to job information using networks, norms and trust, and how they enable individuals and institutions to more effectively achieve common goals was the most common and effective practice among young graduates. Interestingly, the use of social networks enabled most graduates to overcome access to labor market challenge. This study indicated that professional network is an important indicator that enhances graduates employment, and contributed in strengthening their growing professional career and social advancement. However, the extent, nature and sustainability in terms performance, effectiveness in labor market productivity and career development overtime requires further research.Arguably, this thesis has considerable relevance in the academic world, constituting as it does one of the first dedicated examples of the conceptualization and measurement of youth employment and Social Capital in Togo. Further similar studies are needed as the extend of the relationship of youths and professionalism, employer-employee environments which could contribute to a better understanding of the impact of Social Capital dynamics on youth employment. Hence strengthening the social youth integration, development and future career advancement in building societal transformation and socio-economic development overtime.