Everything is an end and by reciprocity, everything is a mean

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Everything is an end and by reciprocity,
everything is a mean  
Building Social Capital The case of the Romanian
Social Development Fund Workshop on
Understanding and Building Social Capital in
Croatia, 6-7 March 2002
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• Basic working assumptions
• Success in identifying and developing social
  capital would lead to quality growth, hence
  poverty alleviation
• Social capital is to be considered both a means
  and an end in this endeavor
• Poverty is a complex phenomena and can not be
  solved through linear sectorial policies, but
  through a bottom up model of intervention.

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• A first step the strive for increasing trust
  (build the culture of trust)
• Make transparency operational
• Reinforce horizontal links both within your
  organization and within beneficiary communities
• Look for and value pragmatism
• Value the balance between collective and
  individual interest
• Challenge old mental frames and value the courage
  to be different
• Value long term vision.

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How we did we build this culture of trust? By
counting on the Pygmalion effect selecting
people inclined to be positive and and training
people in a positive attitude. By selecting
intervention sites with higher levels of social
capital at first instance as to be able to
demonstrate success By continuously striving
for both refining social capital measurement
tools as well as for better measurement practices
applied through the increasing number of
professionals acting in the field.
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We have aimed at developing three types of social
capital Bonding facilitate people alike coming
back together in community groups Bridging
identify differences and facilitate cooperation,
reciprocity and building consensus amongst
different community groups Linking create an
environment where people learn to relate to other
stakeholders (banks, local authorities, media,
constructors, etc)
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Before After
                   
 
Bridging



Bridging
 
Bonding  

Linking
 
Bonding
 
Linking
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If you are thinking of your present relationships
with the following persons, would you say that
they are better, the same or worse than a year
ago?
out of the total stated options
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• Tangible results to date (during three years of
  operation)
• Half of the eligible communities in Romania have
  applied to RSDF (about 2300 poor villages)
  meaning the creation of as many community groups
• 520 community projects have been funded
  (community roads, water systems, bakeries, milk
  processing units, etc)
• 20 million USD being committed to these
  community projects (and more then 2/3 disbursed)
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And less tangible
  results following

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Do you think that most of the people can be
trusted?
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Examples of snow ball effect at community
level Folk festivals with inviting all
neighboring communities, district authorities and
press Saw dust collection and environment
protection Successful Advocacy for kindergarten
reopening in the community A community active
school program where children and teachers get
out in the community doing applied lessons in
community development A program of sharing
participatory tools and practices with the local
authority A summer camp inviting children from
the Community Active Schools program in a
neighbor district Contribution to increase
participation in newly formed local forest owner
association A new application for RSDF for a
water supply system.
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Examples of macro policies influence

• The important cultural shift has enabled a more
  opened attitude from other programs towards
  emphasizing their bottom up approach.
• In this way, the community driven culture is
  spreading in the
• Rural Development Program
• Irrigations program
• Biodiversity preservation
• Cultural heritage program
• Forest Management Program
• Anti-Poverty Commission
• agencies for cooperation as USAID
• Also, private Foundations as the King Baudouin
  Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the
  German Marshall Fund, the Foundation for an Open
  Society support more and more this community
  driven approach.