INVESTING AND REINVESTING IN SOCIAL CAPITAL: THE SPILL-OVER EFFECTS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN SELF-HELP GROUPS

The limitations of individual level interventions in changing behaviors to improve global maternal, newborn and child health have generated more interest in the patterns of social influence and decision making embedded in families, friends and communities. The purpose of this study is to expand the understanding of village dynamics in India and how first degree social and advice networks and cognitive perceptions of 185 recently delivered women (RDW) in areas with and without women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) affect immediate breastfeeding. Data was collected in 6 blocks and 36 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India. The expansion of RDW’s social worlds and creation of social capital through the organization of Self-Help Groups in their villages allowed us to examine basic relationships and advice formation as well as perceptions of interconnectedness of known groups. RDW living in SHG villages and blocks had consistently higher numbers of relationship ties, health advice ties and higher density of health advice networks than RDW living in the non-SHG areas. RDW’s perceived knowing ties were also significantly higher between family and health workers in the SHG areas with related higher immediate breastfeeding rates. These results suggest that SHGs can accelerate community social capital and promote more accountability in the health system to engage with families and support the change from traditional to more evidence-based health practices.

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Why Do the Bonded Fear Freedom?

Psychology and Developing Societies ◽

10.1177/097133361002200203 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 249-297 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sunit Singh ◽

Rama Charan Tripathi

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Silica Sand ◽

Social Intervention ◽

Tribal People ◽

The Public ◽

Self Help ◽

Agency Beliefs ◽

Self Help Groups ◽

Personal Functioning

The article discusses the case of the Kol tribal people who have been working as bonded labourers in the stone quarries and silica sand mines near Allahabad, India. It analyses the conditions and factors that have been responsible for keeping them bonded for many generations. The article details and discusses a social intervention made by us to ensure sustainable freedom for these bonded tribal. The intervention focused on conscientisation of the public and government departments and also of the larger community. It sought to reduce fear of freedom of the bonded, and attempted to change their agency beliefs. It also focused on developing the binding and bridging components of social capital to improve their inter-personal functioning in order to strengthen the SHGs (self-help groups) which they had formed and also the Federation of the SHGs.

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Microfinance in Fishery Sector: Social Capital as an Agent of Empowerment

International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering - 2 ◽

10.35940/ijrte.d5235.118419 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 7059-7063

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Future Study ◽

Fishing Communities ◽

Future Research ◽

Microfinance Institutions ◽

Self Help ◽

The Social ◽

Group Members ◽

Self Help Groups

The paper is a critical review of studies to understand the role of social capital in the empowerment of fishing communities who avail the assistance of microfinance institutions. The findings showed that studies on empowerment of communities by social capital were less. However, a substantial amount of studies analysed the concept of deployment of social capital as an assertion for the repayments of the loans obtained from the microfinance institutions. In addition to the above, the number of studies on the function of social capital in the empowerment of fishing communities who obtained financial assistances from microfinance institutions was rare. Although a few studies that investigated the attainment of knowledge and balanced utilisation of the available resources were obtained, studies that concentrated extensively on the on the beneficiaries in the fishery sector were found to be scarce. There were a sparse number of studies that elucidated the characteristics of the microfinance institutions as well as the groups of the beneficiaries of these institutions that affect the generation of a strong social capital among the group members. In conclusion, this review opens up various avenues for future research. Studies that scrutinise the difficulties of the members of self-help groups in the fisheries sector in employing the knowledge gained and resources attained from social capital established in their group and the consequent changes in their performance in their business can be carried out. Apart from the aforementioned future study opportunity, comprehensive studies on the policies to develop the social capital of the groups of the beneficiaries of the microfinance institutions can be carried out

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Can weak ties create social capital? Evidence from Self-Help Groups in rural India

World Development ◽

10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105534 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 146 ◽

pp. 105534

Author(s):

Ashwini Deshpande ◽

Shantanu Khanna

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Rural India ◽

Weak Ties ◽

Self Help ◽

Self Help Groups

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Self-help groups as platforms for development: The role of social capital

World Development ◽

10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105575 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 146 ◽

pp. 105575

Author(s):

Carly Nichols

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Self Help ◽

Self Help Groups

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Trust and Social Capital in the Old City of Hyderabad: A Study of Self-Help Groups of Women, India

The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man ◽

10.1177/0972558x211004752 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0972558X2110047

Author(s):

Rosina Nasir

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Mutual Trust ◽

Migrant Women ◽

Financial Success ◽

Urban Context ◽

Self Help ◽

Self Interest ◽

Rational Choices ◽

Self Help Groups ◽

Formation Of Groups

Why do people trust each other? Do people form groups through mutual trust or self-interest? How does the theory of rational choice and accompanying individualism affect the concept of social capital? Are social cohesiveness in groups and financial success related? Such questions generate interest in conditions promoting association and group emergence, such as trust, reliability, reciprocity, and shared values, which are inherent factors for cohesion. Self-help groups (SHGs) in an urban context are used to comprehend the aforementioned questions. The proposed study is based on the following hypothesis: the formation of groups is not based on trust but on material- and non-material- need-based individual rational choices that force them to cooperate with each other. It is found that a sense of insecurity among migrant women, an emotional need, led the formation of the imagined communities and has paved the way to construct trust. Thus, trust is found to be secondary in construction and sustainability of social capital. Castes, regions, and religions are strong factors; however, they are found to be less effective for the migrants than native SHG members. Therefore, among migrants, trust channelized itself vertically around a sense of fear.

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