Social Capacity Building Background

Social capacity building is about strengthening the human and social capital of individuals, as well as deepening and integrating the local organisational capacity and social networks of a community.

An individual’s human capital is characterised by his/her knowledge and different skills important for his/her ability to generate economic welfare through work. It is often useful to distinguish between general and specific, cognitive and non-cognitive skills. General skills are acquired through formal education, specific skills typically through learning-by-doing. Cognitive skills are characterised by the ability to learn, such as reasoning, perception, memory, and logical thinking, whereas non-cognitive skills are characterised by individual or social skills, which may be highly valued by an employer, such as perseverance, reliability, self-discipline, and inter-personal skills. Some of these skills are embedded in the personality, but most skills can be acquired or strengthened with the appropriate training. It is the aim of the Rockwool Foundation to assist in the development and availability of such training.

When considering social capital, it is important to distinguish between social capital of an individual and the social capital embedded in a community although these are naturally closely linked. Social capital of an individual is generally thought of as his/her family, kinship and friendship connections, his/her participation in formal or informal networks or groups, but also his/her attitudes, values and beliefs, which often guide social behaviour. Social norms are also an important element when characterising social capital of a community, as these determine the type of behaviour expected from community members. In communities, where formal legislation can be hard to uphold, the degree of social capital can be very strong because social norms often have a preventive effect against what is perceived as criminal or unwanted behaviour. In such societies, when deviating from the social norm, one risks being subject to social sanctions.

Social capital in communities, however, goes beyond the importance or strengths of social norms. It is also characterised by the local organisational capacity and social networks of the community. There are two types of social networks, intra-group networks between people of similar background and interests and extra-group networks between people of dissimilar background. Social capital within intra-group networks creates stronger bonds among the network members, whereas social capital within extra-group networks is characterised by creating bridges. It is generally found that when both bonding and bridging networks are present, synergy effects emerge and the social capital of a community is strengthened. It is the aim of the Rockwool Foundation, not only to strengthen social capital through these networks, but also to give strong attention to local organisational capacity. Non-governmental and community based organisations are some of the best social capacity builders, because they are able to strengthen the local organisational capacity to such an extent that local groups can tackle new tasks and challenges by undertaking collaborative action.