Youth gangs, so-called Maras, in Central America have for a long time been one of the major factors contributing to the great amount of organized crime and violence in the Central American countries. The citizens in this region are exposed to violence and other crimes from the gangs on a daily basis. The vast amount of teens joining but also being forced to join the gangs is due to the high levels of poverty in the countries. Becoming a member in a gang is often seen as the only option to make a living. The study focuses on three countries in Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The reason why the author chose these three countries is because they are the ones with the highest youth gang activity in the region as well as the ones who have faced and still are facing high levels of violence and corruption. They have all faced political, economic, and social challenges after civil wars and increasing drug trafficking in the region. The method used in the study is qualitative through an analysis of secondary sources on young women in youth gangs. The material is analyzed from a gender perspective and also power and social control theory. The maras mainly recruit teen boys, but also young girls and women. Teen girls are in some cases forced to join the gangs but many times they join the gangs as self- protection from other local maras. The young girls are used for different tasks and duties while in the gang, but also face abuse by being taken advantage of in a male dominated environment. The essay focuses on the role of young women in gangs. The research questions are: why the young girls join the gangs? What are their roles in the gangs? Are their roles differentiate to the mens?  It is important to observe how the youth gangs function, reflect the patriarchal structures of society in general which has created differences between the sexes where males are seen as superior to females, which also is evident in criminal youth gangs. The essay shows that the main reasons why young women join gangs are because they are looking for a safe environment due to lacking support and safety at home. The young women’s roles in the gang differentiate from the men in the way that they are assigned tasks according to traditional gender roles where the women are expected to do domestic tasks and excluded from some of the gang activities because of their gender.

Los indicadores antropométricos, entre los cuales tenemos al índice de masa corporal (IMC), es un indicador simple entre la relación de peso y talla. Constituye una medida poblacional útil de sobrepeso y obesidad, pues el resultado no depende ni de la edad ni del género de las personas, depende del exceso de tejido adiposo como una acumulación anormal o excesiva de grasa y siendo perjudicial para la salud1, 2. La circunferencia de la cintura (CC) viene a ser el perímetro del mismo tomado a nivel del abdomen. Llamado también perímetro abdominal, es una medida que se usa para valorar la grasa corporal y su distribución, siendo además un indicador de riesgo cardiovascular. Ahora si bien el IMC este elevado, este no determina si es un predominio de la masa magra y/o grasa, por ello se usa los indicadores antropométricos que identifiquen los depósitos grasos y la medida de la circunferencia de la cintura fue elegido, puesto que se asoció que la grasa visceral se encontraba significativamente relacionado con el colesterol y los trigliceridos3, 4, 5, 6. La circunferencia del brazo (CB) es tomada a nivel mesobraquial, es decir el punto medio entre el acromion y el olecranon. Es un indicador de depósito proteico y es utilizado para explicar si el exceso o déficit encontrado es a expensas de la masa grasa, proteica o de ambos e indica el grado de desarrollo braquial7, 8. El colesterol, como parámetro bioquímico, es un lípido del grupo de los esteroles. A partir de este compuesto, derivan todos los esteroides del organismo, como son las hormonas esteroideas y en la vesícula biliar, formando ácidos biliares. El compuesto anteriormente mencionado, lo encontramos en las membranas celulares en donde su función es regular la fluidez de las mismas8, 9. El otro parámetro bioquímico, triglicéridos, es una clase específica de lípidos cuyo nombre proviene de tres ácidos grasos ligados a un alcohol glicerol

<p>This study approaches Óscar Romero by attending to his intimate involvement in and concern for the problematic surrounding the reform of Salvadoran agriculture and the conflict over property and possession underlying it. In this study, I situate Romero in relation to the concentration of landholding and the production of landlessness in El Salvador over the course of the twentieth century, and I examine his participation in the longstanding societal and ecclesial debate about agrarian reform provoked by these realities. I try to show how close attention to agrarian reform and what was at stake in it can illumine not only the conflict that occasioned Romero’s martyrdom but the meaning of the martyrdom itself. </p><p>Understanding Romero’s involvement in the debate about agrarian reform requires sustained attention to how it takes its bearings from the line of thinking about property and possession for which Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum stands as a new beginning. The enclyclical tradition developing out of Leo’s pontificate is commonly referred to as Catholic social doctrine or Catholic social teaching. Romero’s and the Church’s participation in the debate about agrarian reform in El Salvador is unintelligible apart from it. </p><p>What Romero and the encyclical tradition share, I argue, is an understanding of creation as a common gift, from which follows a distinctive construal of property and the demands of justice with respect to possessing it. On this view, property does not name, as it is often taken to mean, the enclosure of what is common for the exclusive use of its possessors—something to be held by them over and against others. Rather, property and everything related to its holding derive from the claim that creation is a gift given to human creatures in common. The acknowledgement of creation as a common gift gives rise to what I describe in this study as a politics of common use, of which agrarian reform is one expression. </p><p>In Romero’s El Salvador, those who took the truth of creation as common gift seriously—those who spoke out against or opposed the ubiquity of the concentration of land and who clamored for agrarian reform so that the landless and land-poor could have access to land to cultivate for subsistence—suffered greatly as a consequence. I argue that, among other things, their suffering shows how, under the conditions of sin and violence, those who work to ensure that others have access to what is theirs in justice often risk laying down their lives in charity. In other words, they witness to the way that God’s work to restore creation has a cruciform shape. Therefore, while the advocacy for agrarian reform begins with the understanding of creation as common gift, the testimony to this truth in word and in deed points to the telos of the gift and the common life in the crucified and risen Lord in which it participates</p> / Dissertation

The foreign policy decisions of small, weak states often go overlooked in the international system. Most understandings of small states emphasize their limited foreign policy choices under the influence of larger, global powers. Yet, there are numerous examples of small states selecting their own foreign policies unencumbered by the international system. This study seeks out those examples and argues that weak states often have the freedom to form their own policies and positions uninfluenced by global powers. To explain the foreign policy decision-making process of small, weak states and explore the relationship between small and large powers, this paper asks when and how do small, weak client states choose to not comply with the demands of large patron states in patron-client relationships? The use of the patron-client framework is a valuable tool for analyzing the foreign policy selection process of small and large states interacting in dyadic relationships. To answer the question, the study examines three separate cases involving patron-client relationships. In each case, the United States serves as the patron state while El Salvador, Pakistan, and Thailand represent the separate client states. The case studies examine moments of client-driven noncompliance to reveal how small states form foreign policy decisions. Ultimately, small states not only wield significant control of their own foreign policy decisions, choosing not to comply with the demands of a stronger patron state, but they also form policy based off diverse considerations—including domestic factors, self-interest, and capacity to comply. Findings suggest that clients in international patron-client relationship have more influence over stronger states than current theories would suggest.

El presente Trabajo de Investigación se refiere a la Dirección del Proyecto de “Mejoramiento del servicio deportivo en el Sector 09, Grupo 03, Distrito de Villa El Salvador - Lima - Lima", a base de los lineamientos establecidos en la Guía de los Fundamentos de la Dirección de Proyectos (Guía del PMBOK®, Quinta Edición, 2013), el proyecto tiene un alcance que incluye la aplicación de los Grupos de Procesos de Inicio y Planificación. El proyecto incluye el proceso de contratación y elaboración del expediente técnico, el estudio del impacto ambiental, la ejecución de la obra, supervisión y cierre. La ejecución de la obra incluye la construcción de una Losa Deportiva Multiusos, una Tribuna, un Bloque de Servicios, Un Cerco Perimétrico y Muros de Contención relacionados con el Polideportivo. El enfoque y la definición del proyecto se realizaron con información sobre los objetivos y documentación disponible en el Instituto Peruano de Deportes, así como documentos e informes del estudio técnico y desarrollo del proyecto, para lo cual se analizó la información disponible. El Instituto desarrolló los procesos de contratación para el Expediente Técnico, así como los términos de referencia para la contratación del supervisor y del ejecutor de la obra. La tesis plantea la hipótesis que las probabilidades de éxito de un proyecto, aumentan significativamente cuando se aplican, según el caso, los Grupos de Procesos de Inicio y Planificación (buenas prácticas) que propone la Guía de los Fundamentos de la Dirección de Proyectos (Guía del PMBOK®, Quinta Edición, 2013). / This Research Work refers to the Project Management of "Improvement of the sports service in Sector 09, Group 03, District of Villa El Salvador - Lima - Lima", based on the guidelines established in the Guide of the Fundamentals of Project Management (PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition, 2013), the project has a scope that includes the application of Start-up and Planning Process Groups. The project includes the hiring process and preparation of the technical file, the environmental impact study, the execution of the work, supervision and closure. The execution of the work includes the construction of a Multipurpose Sports Slab, a Tribune, a Service Block, a Perimetric Fence and Containment Walls related to the Sports Center. The focus and definition of the project were carried out with information about the objectives and documentation available at the Peruvian Sports Institute, as well as documents and reports on the technical study and project development, for which the available information was analyzed. The Institute developed the hiring processes for the Technical File, as well as the terms of reference for the hiring of the supervisor and the executor of the work. The thesis raises the hypothesis that the probabilities of success of a project, increase significantly when they apply, as the case, the Groups of Processes of Beginning and Planning (good practices) that the Guide of the Fundamentals of the Direction of Projects proposes (Guide of the PMBOK®, Fifth Edition, 2013). / Tesis

On March 29, 2017, after ten years with a Presidential moratorium on metallic mining in the country, the Salvadoran legislature voted to permanently ban the practice. Based on semi-structured interviews with activists, academics, and journalists, this study builds on the literature explores the contributions of the Salvadoran diaspora in Canada to the passage of the moratorium, and ultimately the ban. I discuss numerous types of contributions: coalition building involving various allies, communication and education initiatives, taking a position as members of the diaspora, and engagements with politicians in both Canada and El Salvador. I provide further context to the case by discussing both contextual elements and mobilization strategies relating to the mining justice movement in El Salvador, contextual elements that help make sense of the engagements of the Salvadoran diaspora in Canada in the movement, and challenges Salvadoran Canadians encountered while engaging in the movement. I conduct my analysis in three parts. The first outlines contributions to the transnationalism literature, the second details the results of a discourse analysis of my interview transcripts, and the third sketches contributions to the framing literature.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar uma operação de manutenção da paz considerada bem sucedida, a Misión de Observadores de las Naciones Unidas em El Salvador (ONUSAL). A dissertação será dividida em dois artigos: o Artigo I da dissertação será apresentado como revisão bibliográfica da literatura sobre as Operações de Manutenção da Paz, desde sua criação, incluindo um exame de seus casos notórios; o Artigo II será apresentado como um estudo de caso sobre a atuação da ONUSAL em El Salvador durante a guerra civil. A hipótese que orienta este estudo é que, apesar dos notórios fracassos da década de 90, as PKOs constituem-se como instrumento relevante para a manutenção da paz e segurança internacionais, capaz de criar condições para auxiliar os Estados a reestabelecerem e manterem a paz após um conflito. Segundo nossa análise, a ONUSAL constitui-se como um caso bem sucedido de atuação das PKOs. / This study has the purpose of analyzing a Peacekeeping Operation regarded as successful, the United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL). The dissertation consists of two articles: Article I will be submitted as a literature review of Peacekeeping Operations, since its inception, including an examination of its notorious cases; Article II will be submitted as a case study of ONUSAL\'s performance in El Salvador during the civil war. The hypothesis guiding this study is that, despite the notorious failures of the 90s, the PKOs are important instruments for the maintenance of international peace and security, capable of setting conditions to assist States in re-establishing and maintaining peace after a conflict. According to our analysis, ONUSAL represents a successful case regarding PKOs.

Thesis advisor: Thanh V. Tran / It has been well documented that El Salvador faces tremendous challenges in terms of youth involvement in problem behavior. It has also been observed that spirituality and religiosity are important factors in the lives of many Salvadoran youth. While scholarship in developed nations among adolescents and young adults has consistently found spirituality and religiosity to be protective factors against delinquency, violence, and substance abuse, few studies have systematically examined the relationships between these concepts in the Salvadoran context. The principal purpose of this dissertation is to examine the direct and mediated relationships between spirituality, religiosity, and problem behavior among high-risk and gang-involved youth in San Salvador, El Salvador. Structured interviews were conducted with 301 high-risk youth and gang members (81.6% male) between the ages of 11 and 25 (M age = 18.5, SD = 3.3) living in marginalized Salvadoran neighborhoods. Drawing from the Social Development Model, it was hypothesized that higher levels of spirituality and religiosity, as mediated by antisocial bonding and antisocial beliefs, would be associated with lower levels of participation in delinquency, violence, and substance use and abuse. Structural equation modeling, as well as logistic and multiple regression analyses, were employed to examine the direct and mediated associations between these variables. The results of this dissertation indicate that spirituality and, to a lesser degree, religiosity are of relevance to the behavior of Salvadoran high-risk and gang-involved youth. In examining the relationship of spirituality and religiosity to social developmental factors of relevance to problem behaviors, it is evident that spirituality has implications across the board in terms of setting in motion dynamics that are associated with youth involvement in problem behaviors. While not associated with minor forms of problem behavior, religiosity was found to be protective against several severe manifestations of problem behavior. Findings from this dissertation have several implications for social work research and practice. These implications relate to the salience of spirituality and religiosity as protective factors in the Salvadoran context, the differential impact of spirituality and religiosity on problem behavior involvement, and the identification of factors that mediate the relationship between spirituality, religiosity, and problem behavior. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

La investigación que se presenta a continuación se basa en el análisis del Programa de Oportunidades para el Empleo a través de la Tecnología en las Américas, POETA. El estudio que se llevó adelante analizó las diversas acciones realizadas en el proyecto tales como los seminarios de capacitación en tecnologías de la información y comunicación, los seminarios en preparación para el mundo laboral y los seminarios en emprendimiento otorgados a estudiantes de diversos centros de estudios técnicos en el distrito de Villa el Salvador con la finalidad de que estos al recibir capacitaciones coherentes con las necesidades del mercado laboral, puedan ser insertados laboralmente. El Perú actualmente cuenta con más de 8 millones de jóvenes entre los 15 y 29 años de edad, esto representa casi el 27% de la población nacional según el Instituto de Estadística e Informática (INEI), de esta población aproximadamente 5 millones trabajan y unos 440 000 buscan trabajo. El proyecto POETA que es motivo de este estudio cuenta como objetivo general lograr que jóvenes entre los 16 a 29 años, obtengan oportunidades económicas, por medio de una capacitación integral. La capacitación integral para el proyecto POETA significa generar capacidades en los jóvenes que les permitan afrontar tanto procesos de selección de personal como procesos de inserción de inserción laboral. Actualmente en el Perú según la Encuesta Nacional de la Juventud (Enajuv) de los más de 8 millones de jóvenes existentes un 58% menciona que ha estudiado –aquí se incluye tanto la educación universitaria como la educación técnica-, un 42% menciona que no estudió nada que lo prepare para el trabajo luego de haber culminado la etapa secundaria. Las capacidades que puedan obtener los jóvenes deben ser contrastadas no solo con su ingreso laboral sino con la utilidad de estas capacidades. Según la misma fuente Enajuv del 58% de jóvenes que estudiaron solo el 23% lo hacía en “algo” relacionado con aquello que habían estudiado, mientras que el 35% trabajaba en algo que no tenía relación con lo que estudió. El estudio sobre el proyecto POETA pretendió establecer las capacidades adquiridas por los jóvenes participantes en los seminarios y la percepción que ellos tienen acerca de estas mismas capacitaciones como fuentes o elementos que les permitan inserciones laborales más rápidas y sentimientos de mejora en su preparación para una futura inserción laboral. El objetivo de la investigación fue Identificar los factores que han contribuido y/o limitado la implementación del proyecto POETA YOUTHSPARK desarrollado por FUNDADES en el ámbito de la capacitación en tecnologías de la información y comunicación (TIC) para la inserción laboral en jóvenes de escasos recursos del distrito de Villa el Salvador durante el 2015-2016, analizando la percepción de los beneficiarios acerca de la implementación del proyecto, así como el sistema de seguimiento y el acceso al mercado laboral con el objetivo de proponer medidas de mejora que fortalezcan su implementación. Se espera que este estudio permita replicar los elementos ligados a capacitación de jóvenes frente a las tecnologías de la información y comunicación, pero esencialmente se espera la réplica de las capacitaciones ligadas a la preparación para el mundo laboral. / The research presented below is based on the analysis of the Employment Opportunities Program for Technology in the Americas, POETA. The study that will be carried out intends to analyze the diverse actions carried out in the project such as the training seminars in information and communication technologies, the seminars in preparation for the labor world and the seminars in emprendimiento granted to students of diverse centers of studies Technicians in the district of Villa el Salvador with the purpose that these when receiving training coherent with the needs of the labor market, can be inserted labor. Peru currently has more than 8 million young people between 15 and 29 years of age, this represents almost 27% of the national population according to the Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), of this population approximately 5 million work and some 440 000 are looking for work. The POETA project that is the reason for this study has as general objective to obtain that young people between the 16 and 29 years, obtain economic opportunities, by means of an integral training. The integral training for the POETA project means generating capacities in the young that allow them to face both processes of selection of personnel as well as processes of insertion of labor insertion. Currently in Peru according to the National Youth Survey (Enajuv) of the more than 8 million existing youth 58% mentioned that it has studied - which includes both university education and technical education - 42% mentions that no Studied nothing to prepare him for work after completing the secondary stage. The skills that young people can obtain must be contrasted not only with their income but with the usefulness of these skills. According to the same source Enajuv 58% of young people who studied only 23% did so in "something" related to what they had studied, while 35% worked in something that was unrelated to what he studied. The study on the POETA project aims to establish the skills acquired by the young participants in the seminars and the perception they have of these same trainings as sources or elements that allow them quicker work insertions and feelings of improvement in their preparation for a future Labor insertion. The objective of the research is to identify the factors that have contributed and or limited the implementation of the POETA YOUTHSPARK project developed by FUNDADES in the field of training in information and communication technologies (TIC’s) for the labor insertion in low-income youth Of the district of Villa el Salvador during the 2015-2016 period, analyzing the beneficiaries' perceptions about the implementation of the project, as well as the system of monitoring and access to the labor market with the objective of proposing improvement measures that will strengthen their implementation. It is hoped that this study will allow us to replicate the elements related to youth training in relation to information and communication technologies, but essentially the replica of the training related to the preparation for the world of work is expected. / Tesis

En los meses de Octubre y Noviembre del 2006 en el Distrito de Villa El Salvador se llevó a cabo la presente investigación cualitativa con el propósito de conocer las percepciones y expectativas de los representantes de la sociedad civil y del gobierno local sobre la vigilancia social y rendición de cuentas del presupuesto participativo de los periodos 2005-2006. Se buscó recoger y analizar la experiencia y la visión de los propios actores involucrados en los mencionados procesos participativos, así como las dificultades o limitaciones identificadas por ellos mismos. El estudio de caso que presentamos se centra precisamente en el conocimiento, análisis y explicación de la vigilancia y la rendición de cuentas para aportar al mejoramiento de los procesos y ampliación de dichas prácticas en otros espacios locales. Para ello combinamos el análisis documental con el recojo de información de primera mano a través de entrevistas a profundidad en forma individual y grupal. Teniendo en cuenta que la vigilancia y rendición de cuentas se han convertido en parte importante del proceso de presupuesto participativo, porque a través de ellas la comunidad evalúa y hace seguimiento de lo que hace el gobierno local y ejerce control sobre la eficiencia, equidad y eficacia de sus acciones, debemos señalar que la experiencia local de Villa El Salvador es una de las mas interesantes por su existencia desde antes del mandato dado por el marco legal nacional y por su amplitud de convocatoria y participación ciudadana. Cabe decir que el recojo de información se realizó en medio de la coyuntura política de las elecciones municipales para el periodo 2007-2011, resultando ganador de la contienda electoral en el distrito de Villa El Salvador el señor Jaime Zea como alcalde reelecto. Para el análisis de la información recolectada se utilizó el proceso de triangulación, lo que nos permitió analizar, triangular las perspectivas, opiniones y juicios de los ex dirigentes de los comités de gestión de desarrollo territorial, el comité de vigilancia, autoridades políticas y funcionarios del municipio; y a su vez integrar y contrastar los puntos de vista de los informantes de un mismo grupo. / Tesis