Social Capital and Joint Forest Management: A Case Study of a Village Forest Committee in Karnataka

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Introduction: The main focus of the dissertation is locating social capital or lack of it in Community based development projects. Joint Forest Planning and Management (JFPM) Programme in Karnataka, that requires beneficiary communities to work in collaboration with the implementing agency (Karnataka Forest Department) was taken as a case. The concept of social capital was applied to observe the structure and pattern of participation in the JFPM programme in the context of multiple-stakeholders and their association with each other. Key question(s): (a) What are the factors that drive communities to work as a collective group for a common cause (JFPM)? (b) Whether social capital formation in the present case resembles other models or is different and why? (c) Is it due to the local practices or due to the influence of external agencies (NGOs or the state)? Methodology: The research work is an analytical and descriptive study based on both primary and secondary sources and data collection. Participatory observation method was followed and data collected from a Village Forest Committee. Main Findings: The findings suggest that (a) It is not merely monetary or economic benefits that drive communities to work for a particular cause as a collective, but also concern for the issue in question, motivation and to an extent, socio-cultural historical background of the community. Factors driving collective action vary from place to place and from time to time (b) The success of a development process and its sustenance especially in programmes like JFPM depends on the accumulation of social capital in the association. But sustaining social capital in an association in the long run is more important and this is the function of participation. Accumulation of social capital in any association necessarily depends on how the process of participation takes place in it, who participates, why, at what level and how. Formation, accumulation and sustenance of social capital is unique to each community (c) Traditional leadership compared to popular leadership tends to produce better outcome. Traditional leadership coming form within the community has a strong influence on the accumulation and sustenance of social capital and conservation and development activities, rather than the external influence. Policy Implications: (A) The concept of social capital is key to the successful outcomes in developmental projects involving community participation and hence, the funding, implementing and facilitating agencies need to concentrate on this aspect. Facilitating agencies need to be trained thoroughly regarding the significance of the concept of social capital and the potential it holds.(B) Funding, implementing and facilitating agencies should realise that there is no single factor or combination of factors that drive community based development projects. Hence the implementation manual needs to have the flexibility of adapting to changing conditions from place to place and from time to time. (C) Intensive and continuous (not nominal) leadership training is required in the pre-project period and during the course of the project.