Social and Spatial Networks, Social Capital, and Leadership Accountability in Rural Development: A Study of Uganda's Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Development scholars and policy planners regard cooperative producer organizations as a core component of poverty reduction strategies, but little is known about the social dynamics that make some of these organizations more successful than others. This research focuses on the social factors that explain variation in economic performance of such groups, and the consequences of economic development on the quality of life of households and villages. The research team will examine the roles of social and spatial networks, associational capital, and leadership accountability in shaping economic and social outcomes.The research will focus on Uganda's largest rural development project -- the Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project (APEP) -- which involves over 60,000 farmers and 2,500 village-level organizations. APEP's stated goal is to increase small farmers' productivity and marketing capabilities. Its rate of success varies across villages. It is thought that the variations are related to local leaders' capacities to spread information, elicit trust relationships, and facilitate the emergence of accountability practices. Following a multilevel and multimethod research design, data will be collected at the farmer, village, and parish levels and will include observational data, social networks, and behavioral games, to capture the motivations behind actors' strategic interactions and provide valuable insight on the effect of interpersonal, associational, and spatial (inter-village) networks on economic outcomes.The research contributes to the shift from a suggestive to an empirically grounded understanding of social capital. Also, the theory that underpins the study distinguishes between social capital -- defined as the ability of persons and groups to secure benefits through social networks -- and its source mechanisms (i.e., social norms, trust, reciprocity) and consequences (i.e., innovation adoption, organizational building, economic performance).