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Social Capital

Social capital builds resilience by enabling individuals and communities to support each other in times of need.

What is Social Capital? 

Social capital contributes to women’s empowerment, promotes behavior change and transforms social norms — all of which strengthen resilience capacities. Self-help groups or socioeconomic networks supporting marketing facilitation can strengthen bonding and bridge social capital. Social capital as a source of resilience is highly context specific.

An individual’s social capital consists of the benefits they gain from their social networks, connections and groups. More than just human relationships, social capital refers to and consists of a range of social factors, including social norms, trust, social identity, group belonging and more. Determinants of social capital include:

  • Family and kinship connections
  • Education
  • Flat versus hierarchical social structures
  • Economic inequalities
  • Political society and related policies

Different communities have varying existing and potential forms of social capital. Without robust social capital, one risks being excluded from beneficial social interactions, processes and institutions, which could hamper their resilience. However, some groups, such as religious or ethnic minorities, may be excluded from community networks. On both an individual and collective level, social capital is critical to advancing adaptation and innovation, bolstering resilience in the face of shocks and stressors.

Types of Social Capital

In certain contexts, social capital allows people to lean on each other during times of need. This is often achieved through both formal and informal support networks. Social scientists have identified three types of social capital that have been used by USAID and its partner organizations to guide interventions aimed at increasing individual and collective resilience.

  • Bonding social capital
    • Bonding social capital exists within a group or community. It is characterized by high levels of demographic, attitude and resource similarities. Bonding social capital often exists between family members, friends and neighbors.
  • Bridging social capital
    • Bridging social capital exists between groups or communities that may be otherwise divided along the lines of race, class, religion or the like. Bridging social capital refers to the relationships and associations that “bridge” the divides between groups and communities.
  • Linking social capital
    • Linking social capital is often viewed as an extension of bridging social capital. It describes the norms of respect and trust that guide the relationships between individuals interacting across explicit lines of institutional power, often vertical. Examples of linking social capital include the interactions between community-based organizations and national governments.

Watch this video to learn more about the three types of social capital.

USAID's Investments in Social Capital

USAID and its partner organizations fund significant investments in social capital, spanning across household resilience, improved governance and youth empowerment. Read examples of USAID’s social capital work below.

Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced Program

The Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced (RISE) Program aimed to address the root causes of persistent vulnerability through joint analysis and planning between USAID, its partners and local partners across the Sahel region. In particular, the RISE Program examined the role of household resilience capacities in strengthening resilience to shocks and stressors. Between 2018 and 2019, the final year of the program, it was found that both bonding and bridging social capital helped strengthen household resilience to shocks.

Evaluation
Resilience in the Sahel-Enhanced (RISE) Program Impact Evaluation: Report of Recurrent Monitoring Survey 2018-2019
11 Apr 2022 - Resilience Evaluation, Analysis and Learning (REAL) Award , Technical Assistance to NGOs (TANGO) International

Building Alliances for Local Advancement, Development and Investment Activity

The Building Alliances for Local Advancement, Development and Investment (BALADI) Activity, implemented in part by Caritas Lebanon, aimed to improve the governance of municipalities and public service delivery. It also aimed to establish sustainable, local social capital through enhanced participatory decentralized governance. The program design sought broad governance and social capital outcomes, including citizens’ perceptions of local government, participatory decentralized governance, improved accountability, civic engagement that improves local democratic processes and effective citizen advocacy.

Evaluation
Building Alliances for Local Advancement, Development, and Investment — Caritas Lebanon: Final Performance Evaluation
11 Apr 2022 - Social Impact, Inc.

Building the Potential of Youth Activity

The Building the Potential of Youth Activity (POTENTIAL) aimed to provide Ethiopian youth with services to help them achieve increased income and gain the skills, knowledge and social capital required to achieve economic self-sufficiency. The activity responded to unemployed and underemployed youth’s capacity needs, leveraged existing youth development activities and improved the quality and accountability of local training and business service providers by ensuring existing entities worked in concert. In particular, the activity included training components that built the social capital, working culture and motivation of youth. It also encouraged the participation of community members, community leaders, parents and the local-level administration to collaborate, learn and adapt the interventions.

Report
USAID Building the Potential of Youth Activity
11 Apr 2022 - Save the Children

More About Social Capital

Event

The Role of Community-based Surveillance in Global Health Security

15 Jun 2023, GMT -4 - Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance (IDDS)

Hear how community-based surveillance can help quickly detect epidemic diseases and help public health officials effectively respond.

View Event
Technical Guidance

Feed the Future and Conflict Integration: A Toolkit for Programming

23 May 2023 - USAID

As conflict is the largest driver of global food insecurity, this toolkit strives to ensure that all Feed the Future Initiatives integrate conflict sensitivity.

View Resource
Event

Strengthening resilience against shocks and stressors in L&MICs

11 May 2023, GMT +1 - British Expertise , 3ie

Hear how experts will discuss the rationale behind 3ie’s latest evidence gap map and delve into the implications of the findings.

View Event
Event

Resilience Evidence Forum

20 Jun 2023, GMT +3 - Global Resilience Partnership

Join the Global Resilience Partnership for a three-day, interactive gathering to discuss what works and what doesn’t in building resilience.

View Event
More Resources
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