REBUILDING A COMMUNITY TOGETHER: A CASE STUDY ON SOCIAL CAPITAL AND INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN KIREHE DISTRICT, RWANDA
(2012) MIDM71 20121LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
- Abstract
- A variety of contemporaneous factors contribute to the existence of sustained rural poverty, such as inefficient infrastructure, poor access to markets, difficulty in accessing credit, land tenure issues, gender inequality, lack of crop diversity, unsustainable or unproductive farming practices, and limited access to inputs and technology. With this in mind, integrated approaches to rural development have been popular among the donor community since the 1970’s, with integrated development projects seeking to simultaneously address interrelated root causes of rural poverty. Projects that take integrated rural development approaches must engage a variety of individual actors, communities, and institutions in a diverse set of activities for a... (More)
- A variety of contemporaneous factors contribute to the existence of sustained rural poverty, such as inefficient infrastructure, poor access to markets, difficulty in accessing credit, land tenure issues, gender inequality, lack of crop diversity, unsustainable or unproductive farming practices, and limited access to inputs and technology. With this in mind, integrated approaches to rural development have been popular among the donor community since the 1970’s, with integrated development projects seeking to simultaneously address interrelated root causes of rural poverty. Projects that take integrated rural development approaches must engage a variety of individual actors, communities, and institutions in a diverse set of activities for a given geographic zone of intervention, which is not an easy task.
Integrated rural development projects face additional difficulties in post conflict areas. Post conflict areas have experienced tremendous shocks that catastrophically disrupt the effective function of existing social networks and institutions. The concept of social capital, defined by Putnam (1995) as the “features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit,” is a useful means of trying to understand the relationship community members have with social networks and institutions in rural post conflict areas, and can be used to guide research and policy decisions.
This research case study used field research and document reviews to examine social capital relationships in two integrated rural development projects in Kirehe District, Rwanda to gain a better understanding of the role social capital relationship plays in planning and executing development work. Models for analysis suggested by Woolcock and Narayan (2000) were used to frame research using four theoretical views of social capital: communitarian, networks, institutional, and synergy. The aim of the research was to apply social capital theory in gaining a holistic understanding of the interaction between social capital relationships and integrated rural development in a post conflict area. Results identified several areas where social capital relationships were having both positive and negative effects on project impact and sustainability, highlighting the relevance of understanding social capital when conducting both development research and policy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2543806
- author
- Coo, Clint LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIDM71 20121
- year
- 2012
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Rwanda, Post Conflict Development, Integrated Rural Development, Social Capital
- language
- English
- id
- 2543806
- date added to LUP
- 2012-07-02 15:40:07
- date last changed
- 2012-07-03 08:32:20
@misc{2543806,
abstract = {{A variety of contemporaneous factors contribute to the existence of sustained rural poverty, such as inefficient infrastructure, poor access to markets, difficulty in accessing credit, land tenure issues, gender inequality, lack of crop diversity, unsustainable or unproductive farming practices, and limited access to inputs and technology. With this in mind, integrated approaches to rural development have been popular among the donor community since the 1970’s, with integrated development projects seeking to simultaneously address interrelated root causes of rural poverty. Projects that take integrated rural development approaches must engage a variety of individual actors, communities, and institutions in a diverse set of activities for a given geographic zone of intervention, which is not an easy task.
Integrated rural development projects face additional difficulties in post conflict areas. Post conflict areas have experienced tremendous shocks that catastrophically disrupt the effective function of existing social networks and institutions. The concept of social capital, defined by Putnam (1995) as the “features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit,” is a useful means of trying to understand the relationship community members have with social networks and institutions in rural post conflict areas, and can be used to guide research and policy decisions.
This research case study used field research and document reviews to examine social capital relationships in two integrated rural development projects in Kirehe District, Rwanda to gain a better understanding of the role social capital relationship plays in planning and executing development work. Models for analysis suggested by Woolcock and Narayan (2000) were used to frame research using four theoretical views of social capital: communitarian, networks, institutional, and synergy. The aim of the research was to apply social capital theory in gaining a holistic understanding of the interaction between social capital relationships and integrated rural development in a post conflict area. Results identified several areas where social capital relationships were having both positive and negative effects on project impact and sustainability, highlighting the relevance of understanding social capital when conducting both development research and policy.}},
author = {{Coo, Clint}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{REBUILDING A COMMUNITY TOGETHER: A CASE STUDY ON SOCIAL CAPITAL AND INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN KIREHE DISTRICT, RWANDA}},
year = {{2012}},
}