Social Capital and Resilience in Fragile and Conflict Affected Urban contexts

Social capital can be broadly understood as the networks, relationships, norms, institutions and social trust that facilitate interactions, exchange, coordination and cooperation within and between social groups.

While the forms and nature of social capital vary across contexts, social capital is often grouped in three main categories. 

1. Bonding social capital, which encompasses interpersonal relationships based on collective identity and solidarity, often among families, friends, and communities who share
   commonalities based on religion, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status, etc.
2. Bridging social capital, which encompasses the relationships involved in accessing outside resources and creating connections between groups (e.g. host and displaced populations),
3. Linking social capital, which encompasses the relationships connecting individuals and groups to formal institutions and service providers and to the resources and services they provide.

One of the unexpected outcomes of Concern’s programmes is their contribution to building social capital. Across multiple countries, programme participants report that involvement in group activities, such as mother-to-mother support groups or village savings and loans associations, has resulted in an increase in their social capital and relatedly, their resilience; by, for example, improving their mental health or developing a support network. 

To build on the experiential learning from Concern’s programmes and develop an evidence base for strengthening the impact of our future programmes, Concern commissioned in-depth research into the links between social capital and resilience in fragile and conflict affected urban contexts. 

Funded by Irish Aid, ‘The Role of Social Capital in Urban Fragile and Conflict-Affected Contexts’ (SoCap) project is a three-year research study (2024-2027) conducted in partnership with University College Dublin, University of Vermont, Gwoup Konbit (Haiti), and Consilient (Somalia). The study will systematically analyse the interactions between social capital, resilience, the urban environment, and conflict among youth in Cite Soleil, Haiti and among internally displaced people in Banaadir, Somalia and in Borama, Somaliland.  

The mixed methods study is being conducted in three stages, each of which will seek to deepen our understanding of social capital in the contexts in which we work and how it can contribute to resilience. 

• Phase 1 (2025): What are the sources of social capital?
• Phase 2 (2026): How does social capital differ within and across specific marginalised groups?
• Phase 3 (2027): How does social capital among marginalised groups contribute to (and undermine) different pillars of resilience? 

During the inception of the project, the research team produced two briefs. The first brief distils the key findings from a systematic review of literature on social capital and resilience in humanitarian and development contexts. The second brief explores how community representatives can participate in reviewing and approving research that will be conducted in their community. It proposes the establishment of a community review board that supplements an institutional ethics committee in granting ethics approval for the proposed study design, adding to the existing body of work on participatory research approaches.