Social Capital Initiative Working Paper Series

A growing body of evidence indicates that the size and density of social networks and institutions, and the nature of interpersonal interactions, significantly affect the efficiency and sustainability of development programs. Yet the exact channels through which social capital impacts developmental outcomes have only begun to be explored, and the lessons to be drawn from these observations for program design and implementation remain to be formulated.

To help advance the theoretical understanding and the practical relevance of this concept, the Government of Denmark provided the World Bank with resources of about US $1.0 million to support operations which promote and strengthen social capital, and to develop indicators and methodologies to learn from this experience. Started in October 1996 and located in the Social Development Department of the World Bank, this Social Capital Initiative (SCI) includes 12 original research projects, a conceptual framework, literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, and associated activities.

The Social Capital Initiative was started in October 1996 with a triple goal:

1. to assess the impact of social capital on project effectiveness;
2. to demonstrate that outside assistance can help in the process of social capital formation;
3. and to contribute to the development of indicators for monitoring social capital and methodologies for measuring its impact on development.

To achieve this multiple goal, the SCI team (located in SDV) solicited project proposals from task managers within the Bank. Forty proposals were received and reviewed by a Steering Committee between December 1996 and April 1997. Twelve proposals were selected for funding on the basis of their perceived ability to test two central hypotheses:

The presence of social capital improves the effectiveness of development projects; and
Through select donor-supported interventions, it is possible to stimulate the accumulation of social capital.

These hypotheses were broadly formulated so as to make possible a wide array of interventions and monitoring methodologies. In addition, since one of the goals of the project is to encourage different approaches to the measurement and monitoring of social capital, innovation in methodology was a prime consideration for project selection, as was the ability to obtain results within a two-year time horizon.

The studies that constitute the empirical center of the Social Capital Initiative have been classified in four categories, among which there is some degree of overlap. They examine, using a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, the role that social capital can play in the provision of goods and services, the reconstruction or revitalization of social capital after conflict or political transition, rural development efforts, and enterprise development.

1. The Initiative on Defining, Monitoring and Measuring Social Capital: Overview and Program Description, April 1998
2. The Initiative on Defining, Monitoring and Measuring Social Capital: Text of Proposals Approved for Funding, June 1988
3. Social Capital: The Missing Link?, by Christiaan Grootaert, April, 1998
4. Social Capital and Poverty, by Paul Collier, December 1998
5. Social Capital: Conceptual Frameworks and Empirical Evidence, An Annotated Bibliography, by Tine Rossing Feldman and Susan Assaf, January 1999
6. Getting Things Done in an Anti-Modern Society: Social Capital Networks in Russia, by Richard Rose, November 1998
7. Social Capital, Growth and Poverty: A Survey and Extensions, by Stephen Knack, May 1999
8. Does Social Capital Facilitate the Poor's Access to Credit? A Review of the Microeconomic Literature, May 1999
9. Does Social Capital Matter in Water and Sanitation Delivery?, A Review of Literature, by Satu Kähkönen, May 1999
10. Social Capital and Rural Development: A Discussion of Issues, by Casper Sorensen, October 2000
11. Is Social Capital an Effective Smoke Condenser?: An Essay on a Concept Linking the Social Sciences, by Martin Paldam and Gert Tinggaard Svendsen, May 1999
12. Ethnicity, Capital Formation, and Conflict, by Robert Bates, September 1999
13. Mapping and Measuring Social Capital: A Conceptual and Empirical Study of Collective Action for Conserving and Developing Watersheds in Rajasthan, India, by Anirudh Krishna and Norman Uphoff, June 1999
14. What Determines the Effectiveness of Community-Based Water Projects? Evidence from Central Java, Indonesia on Demand Responsiveness, Service Rules, and Social Capital, by Jonathan Isham and Satu Kähkönen, September 1999
15. What Does Social Capital Add to Individual Welfare, by Richard Rose, October 1999
16. Social Capital in Solid Waste Management: Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh, by Sheoli Pargal, Mainul Huq, and Daniel Gilligan September 1999
17. Social Capital and the Firm: Evidence from Agricultural Trade, by Marcel Fafchamps and Bart Minten, September 1999
18. Exploring the Concept of Social Capital and its Relevance for Community-based Development: The Case of Coal Mining Areas in Orissa, India, by Enrique Pantoja, March 2000
19. Induced Social Capital and Federations of the Rural Poor, by Anthony Bebbington and Thomas Carroll, March 2000
20. Does Development Assistance Help Build Social Capital?, by Mary Kay Gugerty and Michael Kremer, March 2000
21. Cross-cultural Measures of Social Capital: A Tool and Results from India and Panama, by Anirudh Krishna and Elizabeth Shrader, October 2000
22. Understanding Social Capital. Agricultural Extension in Mali: Trust and Social Cohesion, by Catherine Reid and Lawrence Salmen, June 2000
23. The Nexus between Violent Conflict, Social Capital and Social Cohesion: Case Studies from Cambodia, and Rwanda, by Nat J. Colletta and Michelle L. Cullen, September 2000
24. Understanding and Measuring Social Capital: A Synthesis of Findings and Recommendation from the Social Capital Initiative, by Christiaan Grootaert and Thierry van Bastelaer, April 2001