Social Capital Implementation Framework

The framework reflects the insights from an extensive body research on social capital and is an attempt to apply social capital to operations.

Groups and Networks

Organizational support and network activities are crucial for bridging and linking social capital. Engagements of people to organize themselves and mobilize resources to solve problems of common interest are some of the outputs from groups and networks that enhance or build upon social capital. The effectiveness of groups and networks and the extent to which they can help disseminate information, reduce opportunistic behavior and facilitate collective decision-making depends upon many aspects of these groups, reflecting their structure, their membership and the way they function.

Trust and Solidarity

These informal and subjective elements of interpersonal behavior shape people’s thoughts and attitudes about interacting with others. When individuals in communities trust each other and the institutions that operate among them, they can easier reach agreements and conduct transactions.

Collective Action and Cooperation

The provision of many services requires collective action by a group of individuals. The purposes of collective action may differ widely across communities. In some places, collective action consists primarily of community-organized activities for building and maintaining infrastructure and for providing related public services. In other places, collective action is important for achieving improved governance and accountability, and used for example to lobby elected officials to provide more services to the community.

Social Cohesion and Inclusion

Social cohesion manifests in individuals who are willing and able to work together to address common needs, overcome constraints, and consider diverse interests.  They are able to resolve differences in a civil, non-confrontational way.  Inclusion promotes equal access to opportunities, and removes both formal and informal barriers to participation.

Information and Communication

Information and communication form the crux of social interactions. Downward flows of information from the policy realm and upward flows from the local level are critical components of the development process. Horizontal information flows strengthen capacity by providing civil society a medium for knowledge and idea exchange. Open dialogue fosters a sense of community, while secrecy breeds suspicion and distrust.  Enhancing the dissemination of information can break down negative social capital as well as build trust and cohesion

Project identification, preparation, and appraisal

To improve the chances of successful development initiatives, a practitioner designing an intervention would benefit from information about the character and distribution of social capital. Moreover, with better information about how prevalent and effective local insti-tutions are in terms of their capacity, leadership, and linkages, it is easier to assess im-plementation risks and opportunities.  In the preparation phase of a project, it is useful to collect baseline data to analyze the situation before project implementation. This informa-tion would be relevant to assess the development of the project and to measure the impact of the project.

Project implementation and supervision

Monitoring the impact of programs on existing social capital helps us understand how a development intervention has either strengthened or undermined local groupings and networks, impacted levels of trust, cohesion, and inclusion, and affected a community’s capacity to undertake collective action. Collection of monitoring data will provide useful supervision benchmarks throughout the project cycle and the process of assessing, ana-lyzing, adjusting and continuously developing different elements of capacity is pivotal to effective CDD projects.

Project evaluation

Impact evaluations seek to determine whether programs have desired effects on individu-als, households and institutions, and whether the effects are attributable to the program intervention .  As CDD projects are designed as innovative and dynamic delivery systems effective monitor and evaluation system are required to ensure effective and intended re-sults. Impact evaluations can also explore unintended consequences, whether positive or negative, on beneficiaries.  If baseline data has been collected measuring social capital at the preparation phase of the project impact could be compared over time and space and be important for making more meaningful pronouncements about social capital.  Without any baseline information measuring social capital is prepared ideally by comparing the results from treatment and comparison communities, which did not participate in the pro-ject. The results from an impact evaluation can provide insights regarding project effec-tiveness and sustainability as well as the role of social capital in future development in-terventions. Overall, impact evaluation is required to determine how CDD projects achieve significant and measurable improvements in people’s lives.