‘Social capital’ and ‘civil society’ are important components in the discussion on capacity building. Civil society is the space, between household and state, where collective action takes place (Narayan, 2005, 19). Churches, community and volunteer organizations, clubs, and grassroots movements are all a part of civil society. Narayan (2005) defines social capital as the “norms and networks that enable collective action” (p. 12). It is the relationships and connections that help to increase individual livelihoods and serve to strengthen civil society. Social capital empowers individuals by creating support networks and more diverse opportunities for survival. Communities may be rich in bonding social capital – mutually beneficial relationships that tie them together – but weak in bridging capital – the networks that connect them with external structures such as government. Both forms of social capital are needed. It is important, however, to recognize the inherent value of empowerment on the local level. Though macro-level change and improved governance are indeed desirable outcomes of empowering communities, the building of local capacity and bonding capital are worthy ends in themselves. Enhancing social capital and strengthening civil society are two necessary components of the overall goal of local capacity building and empowerment.[i]
FOOTNOTE
[i] It is interesting to note that efforts are under way to measure social capital as well as the strength of civil society by country. The Civil Society Index (CSI) is a project of CIVICUS ("CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation," 2010)
REFERENCE
Narayan, D. (2005). Measuring Empowerment : Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Herndon, VA, USA: World Bank, The.
In 2010 I conducted research on the concept of capacity building for a disaster and relief mitigation graduate course at Eastern University. I share excerpts from my research here, in a series of posts called Capacity Building: What Does it Take?
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