Politicians and other leaders in Botswana have recently expressed concerns that the country's "youth" is not taking its citizenship responsibilities seriously. This is in a context of rapid change and development in the last thirty years since Botswana's independence in 1966. The study described here explored the learned perceptions of citizenship responsibility amongst a selection of Botswana's young adults and youth leaders. These perceptions were analysed in relation to theories of social capital citizenship and learning. The findings suggest that the influences of globalisation are producing a shift from traditional communitarian citizenship values to ones of "enlightened self interest". However, civil society is under-developed and needs nurturing through an educational strategy that encourages participatory approaches to development. Some of the arguments articulated here are elaborated on in a book (Preece & Mosewunyane, 2004).