Intervention programs, Territories and Youth

Abstract

This article seeks to share the findings of an exploratory investigation that sought to know the realities of youth in their own territories, through the presence/absence of intervention programs that protect their rights. This inquiry focused on the Metropolitan Region of Chile, which is made up of 52 communes. A territorial matrix was built that made it possible to visualize the geographical location of the social programs, to then compare it with a set of variables of socioeconomic contextualization addressed by the Observatory of Rights of the Ombudsman for Children. The public policies of our country have not yet made the notions of youth more complex, and define children from 0 to 18 years of age as a priority population. When the axis presence/absence vs the social phenomena experienced by young people in their place of residence is reviewed, it is possible to build 3 groups of territories. Group 1 are territories with scarce programmatic offer and with high values in their vulnerability indicators. Group 2 are territories that present a medium program offer and low vulnerability indicators. Group 3 are territories with a high pragmatic offer and high vulnerability. This makes it possible to think and re-visit the urgency of developing social interventions –that are derived from policies– that are capable of addressing the needs of youth in their own territories.