Social capital is defined as the norms, networks and associations that facilitate cooperative action. It can be divided into a behavioural or activity component of what people do – how they participate in groups – and a cognitive or perceptual component of what people think – whether they trust other people. While a growing body of literature focuses on social capital in developing and developed countries, the term has been criticised both conceptually and in terms of its policy relevance.

Young Lives is the first study that comprehensively measures social capital in the developing world and links it to a wide range of measures of child well-being. The authors of the paper argue that social connection may help mothers to know more (e.g. the age at which their child should be immunised), think differently (e.g. be more positive about educating girls), and act (e.g. get a sick child to a health centre more quickly). It can also enable mothers to feel differently due to emotional support, etc.

This paper summarises and reviews current debates around social capital, describes the approach and methods Young Lives uses to attempt to measure social capital and provides a comparative analysis of social capital across the four Young Lives study countries. It additionally highlights some of Young Lives initial, national-level analyses of social capital in relation to nutritional status, health and educational performance. The authors draw out some of the common themes from on-going research, identify policy implications and suggest future research priorities.

Keywords: social capital, well-being, policy-influence, research