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

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。发展学者和政策规划者认为合作生产者组织是减贫战略的核心组成部分，但对使其中一些组织比其他组织更成功的社会动力知之甚少。这项研究的重点是解释这些群体经济表现差异的社会因素，以及经济发展对家庭和村庄生活质量的影响。研究小组将研究社会和空间网络、联合资本和领导责任在形成经济和社会成果方面的作用。研究将集中在乌干达最大的农村发展项目--农业生产力提高项目。该项目涉及6万多名农民和2,500个村级组织。APEP的既定目标是提高小农的生产力和营销能力。其成功率因村而异。据认为，这些差异与地方领导人传播信息、建立信任关系和促进问责制做法的出现的能力有关。根据多层次和多方法的研究设计，将在农民，村庄和教区层面收集数据，并将包括观察数据，社交网络和行为游戏，以捕捉行为者战略互动背后的动机，并提供关于人际，联想，和空间（村间）网络对经济成果的影响。这项研究有助于从一个建议性的社会资本的经验为基础的理解转变。此外，支持这项研究的理论区分了社会资本--被定义为个人和群体通过社交网络获得利益的能力--及其来源机制（即，社会规范，信任，互惠）和后果（即，创新采用、组织建设、经济绩效）。

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).