The Journal of Community Development (Rural-Urban)

The Journal of Community Development (Rural-Urban)

Social Capital Networks and Sustainable Rural Management (Study case: Ghaleganj County)

Authors
Elham Akbari 1
Maryam Yazdanparast 2
Leila Avazpour 3
1 Department of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
2 Social Business Institute, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3 Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22059/jrd.2023.366896.668819
Abstract
As a fundamental requirement for national progress, rural development must take precedence over other initiatives in development strategies. Among the most effective strategies for the sustainable and all-encompassing development of rural communities is maximizing the capabilities and participation of individuals, particularly villagers, in every aspect.
The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of social capital on the local progress of the villages of Goldasht, Jangalabad, and Gazabad in Ghalaganj County, situated in the southern region of Kerman province. This will be achieved through the utilization of social network analysis over two distinct time periods: prior to and subsequent to the execution of the community empowerment initiative. The required data were gathered in this manner through the distribution of a network analysis questionnaire and conducting direct interviews with 251 members of the local microcredit fund, employing a full network approach.
The results indicate that the density index for two ties of trust and collaboration has increased in all villages examined since the empowerment plan was implemented; Gazabad village has the maximum density associated with the tie of trust (90.1). An increase in population density results in the development of trust, participation and social capital at the individual level. The increase in the reciprocity index further demonstrates the significance and efficacy of the empowerment plan in fostering trust and collaboration among nations, bolstering social capital, and ultimately enhancing individual empowerment.
The confidence of microcredit fund members has increased and their willingness to participate has been strengthened as a result of the empowerment project’s implementation, according to the results. This underscores the effectiveness of the community-based approach as a means to augment social capital. Therefore, administrators and policymakers can devise strategies to enhance sustainable rural management by utilizing these findings.
Keywords
Dry land Development
Empowerment
Ghaleganj County
Participation of Local Communities
Social Capital
  • Akbar, M. S., & Aldrich, D. P. (2018). Social capital's role in recovery: evidence from communities affected by the 2010 Pakistan floods. Disasters, 42(3), 475–497. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12259

 

  • Alcorta, L., Smits, J., Swedlund, H. J., & Jong, E. (2020). The ‘Dark Side’ of Social Capital: A Cross-National Examination of the Relationship Between Social Capital and Violence in Africa. Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 149(2), 445-465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02264-z
  • Bodin,Ö., Crona, B., & Ernstson, H. (2010). Social Networks in Natural Resource Management: What Is There to Learn From a Structural Perspective? Ecology and Society, 11(2). http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/resp2/
  • Bogart, L. M., Matovu, J. K., Wagner, G. J. Green, H. D., Storholm, E. D., Klein, D. J.... & Kambugu, A. (2020). A pilot test of game changers, a social network intervention to empower people with HIV to be prevention advocates in Uganda. AIDS and Behavior, 24(9), 2490-2508.
  • Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Johnson, J. C. (2013). In: J. Seaman (Ed.), Analyzing Social Networks. Sage Publications Ltd, Thousand Oaks, Ca. 304 p
  • Bosher, L., Penning-Rowsell, E., & Tapsell, S. (2007). Resource accessibility and vulnerability in Andhra Pradesh: caste and noncaste influences. Development and Change, 38, 615-640. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00426.x
  • Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York, NY: Greenwood.
  • Burt, R., (2003). The social capital of structural holes. The new economic sociology: developments in an emerging field. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, New York, USA p: 148-189
  • Burt, R. S. (2000). The network structure of social capital. Research in Organizational Behavior, 22, 345-423.
  • De Haan, A. (2001). Social exclusion enriching the understanding of deprivation. University of Sussex.
  • Feola, G., Lerner, A., Jain, M., Montefrio, M., & Nicholas, K. (2015). Researching farmer behaviour in climate change adaptation and sustainable agriculture: Lessons learned from five case studies. Journal of Rural Studies, 39, 74-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.03.009
  • Ghorbani, M. (2016). Report of the Project of Analysis and Assessment of the Social-Policy Networks of Grassroots Association, Institutions and Sustainable Development Funds RFLDL Project (Sarayan District- South Khorasan). University of Tehran. (In Persian)
  • Ghorbani, M., Avazpour, L., & Rasekhi, S. (2016). Social Capital Analysis of Rural Women Network in Line with Empowerment of Local. Quarterly of Social Studies and Research in Iran, 5(2), 273-294. https://jisr.ut.ac.ir/article_59243.html?lang=en (In persian)
  • Ghorbani, M., & Azadi, H. (2021) A social-relational approach for analyzing trust and collaboration networks as preconditions for rangeland comanagement. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 75, 170-184.
  • Ghorbani, M., Javadi, A., Rasekhi, S., Yazdanparast, M., & Azadi, H. (2022). Bonding Social Capital of Rural Women in Southwest Iran: Application of Social Network Analysis. Journal of Rural Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12430
  • Ghorbani, M., Naderi, A., Janeˇckov´a, K., Skleniˇcka, P., Azadi, H., & Witlox, F. (2021). Sustainable Co-Management of arid regions in southeastern Iran: Social network analysis approach. Journal of Arid Environment, 192, 104540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104540
  • Hanneman, R. A., & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to social network methods. California, USA: University of California Riverside, 322P.
  • Joshi, A., & Aoki, M. (2014). The role of social capital and public policy in disaster recovery: A case study of Tamil Nadu State, India. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 7, 100-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2013.09.004
  • Leddy, A. M., Whittle, H. J., Shieh, J., Ramirez, C., Ofotokun, I., & Weiser, S. D. (2020). Exploring the role of social capital in managing food insecurity among older women in the United States. Social Science & Medicine 265, 113492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113492
  • Li, X. L., & Feng, J. (2021). Empowerment or disempowerment: Exploring stakeholder engagement in nation branding through a mixed method approach to social network analysis. Public Relations Review, 47(3), 102024.
  • Meyer, M. L. (2019) Social by default: characterizing the social functions of the resting brain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(4), 380-386.
  • Mubaya, C. P., Njuki, J., Mutsvangwa, E. P., Mugabe, F. T., & Nanja, D. (2012). Climate variability and change or multiple stressors? Farmer perceptions regarding threats to livelihoods in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Journal of environmental management, 102, 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.02.005
  • Musavengane, R., & Simatele, D. M. (2016). Community-based natural resource management: The role of social capital in collaborative environmental management of tribal resources in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 33(6), 806-821.
  • Putnam, R. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: Americas declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65-78.

 

  • Ramón-Hidalgo, A. E., Kozak, R. A., Harshaw, H. W., & Tindall, D. B. (2018). Differential effects of cognitive and structural social capital on empowerment in two community ecotourism projects in Ghana. Society & Natural Resources, 31(1), 57-73.
  • Ramón-Hidalgo, A. E., Harshaw, H. W., Kozak, R. A., & Tindall, D. B. (2020) What a Small Group of People Can (’t) Do: An Analysis of Capable Agents for the Mobilization of Social Capital in Two Ghanaian Ecotourism Projects. Sociology of Development, 6(3), 338-367.
  • Sabatini, F. (2009). Social Capital as Social Networks: a New Framework for Measurement and an empirical analysis of its determinants and consequences. Journal of Socio-economics, 38(3), 429-442.
  • Setini, M., Yasa, N., Supartha, W., Giantari, G., & Rajiani. I. (2020). The Passway of Women Entrepreneurship: Starting from Social Capital with Open Innovation, through to Knowledge Sharing and Innovative Performance. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market and Complexity, 6, 25.
  • Sharafi, L., Zarafshani, K., Keshavarz, M., Azadi, H., & Passel. S. (2020). Drought risk assessment: Towards drought early warning system and sustainable environment in western Iran. Ecological Indicators, 114, 106276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106276
  • Scott, J. (2017). Social networks analysis. SAGE Publications Ltd, 248P.
  • Smiley, K. T., Howell, J., & Elliott, J. R. (2018). Disasters, local organizations, and poverty in the USA, 1998 to 2015. Population and Environment, 40(2), 115–135. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45180222
  • Thornton, T., & Leahy, J. (2012). Changes in social capital and networks: a study of community-based environmental management through a school-centered research program. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 21(1), 167-182.
  • Wang, Y., Zhu, Y., & Yu, M. (2019). Evaluation and determinants of satisfaction with rural livability in China’s less-developed eastern areas: A case study of Xianju County in Zhejiang Province. NEcological Indicators, 104, 711-722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.05.054

Yoon, D. K.  Kang, J., &  Brody, S. (2016) A measurement of community disaster resilience in Korea, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 59(3), 436-460. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2015.1016142