Impact of Social Capital on Poverty Reduction: The Moderating Role of Youth Empowerment in North Central States of Nigeria (Published)
This study is to examine the influence of social capital on poverty reduction with the moderating role of youth empowerment in the North Central States of Nigeria. The motivation of the study is linked to the fact that the region is facing continued poverty in spite of the existence of robust community networks and youth populations. The focus of this study is on three dimensions of social capital namely cooperative membership, social media membership, and social club membership, while youth empowerment is used as a moderating variable. A descriptive survey design was adopted and data were collected from 459 respondents using a structured 5-point Likert questionnaire. A correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the inter-relationships between the variables. The results indicate that social capital has a significant contribution to poverty reduction as the R2 is 0.653 which means 65.3% of the variance in poverty reduction is accounted for by the predictors. Youth empowerment was the most influential (B=0.511, p<0.001), followed by cooperative membership (B=0.281), social media membership (B=0.305) and social club membership (B=0.198) showing significant association. The study has recommended strengthening of cooperative networks, expanding digital inclusion and targeted youth empowerment programmes to improve poverty reduction outcomes.
Keywords: Poverty Reduction, Social Capital, and social club membership, cooperative membership, social media membership, youth empowerment