Working With People model as a methodological approach to enhance social capital in Spanish rural areas

Abstract

Social capital (SC) has been understood as a set of relationships among structures inherent in the society. These social structures seek a common goal for the greatest number of people. The main purpose of this research is to study how social capital can be generated through the three components of the Working With People model: technical-entrepreneurial; ethical-social and political-contextual. This research is based on a Program developed in seventeen municipalities of Avila, a Spanish province in the northern Spanish plateau. The Program is called "Young Entrepreneurs for Sustainability in Rural Areas", promoted by Tatiana Perez de Guzman el Bueno Foundation and carried out by Gesplan Group from the Technical University of Madrid. This Program consists on launching innovative projects in the territory focused on promoting partnerships among the population and to develop the territory through economic initiatives. The aim of these actions is to strengthen relationships between institutions and the population. This is possible by the creation of synergies among the entrepreneurial projects in order to get endogenous development.