The need to foster strong social capital as a means of increasing Guyana’s competitiveness

Jul 16, 2008 Letters

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Dear Editor,
As I do my own analysis – looking at where we are, where we would like to be and where we can be as a country, also searching for solutions which could energise our development agenda and civilise the effects of globalisation on our economy and the other small economies in the Caribbean, I came up with the following:

We have to focus more attention on building a strong social capital in Guyana and the Caribbean. However, for the purpose of this letter I will concentrate my attention on Guyana.

As we look at crime and other social ills in our society, the nature of road accidents, the attitude of our youths towards education, especially our boys, the impact of HIV and AIDS on our society, the quality of our entertainment, I cannot help thinking about the need for us to have a more strategic approach to building strong social capital in Guyana.

Over the years we have focused as a country on building several aspects of our economy for e.g. the political capital, physical capital, economic capital, human capital, etc.

However, we have somehow neglected nurturing our social capital. Although mainstream economists only until recently began to seriously examine and recognise the value of social capital to development, social capital in my view is one of the most important aspects of any society.

It is what I call the ‘thread’ that sews the other aspects of the society together or the ‘other capitals together’.

At the heart of social capital are values, morals and norms; thus, we can have excellent physical capital – nice, fancy, big buildings, smooth roads, modern bridges and other impressive infrastructure; intelligent politicians, highly qualified human resources and poor values, poor principles, no respect for the Rule of Law or Human Rights, etc.

A strong social capital will help us to better respond to our development challenges, in positioning Guyana in the global economy and in integrating us. In addition, incorporating social capital issues into our development analysis can raise the bar for social policy in Guyana.

We need to see development in Guyana as a process of transformation which goes beyond policies concerned with how society treats the poor and other vulnerable groups. It could be an attempt to transform our society through the nurturing of new relationship between social norms and development.

Even as we try to resolve issues on corruption, crime and security, conflict prevention and greater social cohesion, it will require an understanding of the economic and social causes and the designing of policies that strengthen social capital. 

Preventing conflict requires countervailing pressures such as strong institutions which includes public, private and civil society and specifically strong communities. Where social capital is dysfunctional institutions which were established to address the needs of society in periods of stability can become overwhelmed. It is therefore imperative that focus should be on repairing these institutions and simultaneously rebuilding our social capacities.  

How do states and civil society connect? Narayan and Woolcock (2000) argue that states must invest in the organisational capacities of the poor and help them build bridges with other social groups. They suggested that participatory processes can prove to be very useful for this purpose.

During the years leading up to the 2006 General Elections, we saw a deliberate attempt by various sectors – the Government, international donor community, private sector and civil society to build a strong social capital in Guyana. I would like to urge those parties to continue to deliberately channel more energies and resources into building greater social capital in Guyana.

The International Donor Community has a fundamental role to play in helping to develop social capital in Guyana since International aid is one of the most effective weapons in the war against poverty.

Social capital is now being viewed as a factor that influences productivity. Social networks have value, and like physical capital (machines), and human capital (education), social contacts influence the productivity of groups and individuals. Social capital is embodied in relationships it includes norms and networks that facilitate collective action.

As we strive to strengthen and nurture greater social cohesion, it is all about building a dense network of reciprocal social relations.

The stronger our social relations, the greater ‘trust’ will be in our society since trust is an outcome of strong social capital. Hence programmes such as the UNDP’s “Social Cohesion” and “Enhancing Public Trust, Security and Inclusion” are attempts to build stronger social capital. 

It was very encouraging to hear Dr. Roger Luncheon expressing the Government’s interest in supporting the efforts of religious and other social groups as he was commenting on the road accidents as a result of the recent spate of road deaths.

This statement could be seen as recognition of the virtues of strong social capital to development and how it can influence the productivity of our nation.

Narayan and Woolcock (2000) noted that a new consensus is emerging about the importance of social relations in development. Social relations they noted provide opportunities for mobilizing growth – enhancing resources but do not exist in a vacuum and the nature and extent of interactions between communities and institutions hold the key to understanding development prospects in any society. 

The Caribbean Community, Secretary General, Mr. Edwin Carrington, stated that “… building that Caribbean structure requires much more than the bricks supplied by the political, legal and economic Masons. It requires the people of the region to be the mortar which holds the bricks together and makes the structure sturdy.”

Hence, in our efforts as a country and as a region to build the right development capacities among our peoples, groups and sectors so that they would indeed emerge as the mortar to hold Guyana and the Caribbean by extension, together; as we withstand the pressures of Globalisation and make regional integration a reality, we need to focus more on building stronger social capital.

I would like to end this letter with a reference to a very interesting concept implemented by the Government of Bhutan, in its efforts to promote home-grown solutions in line with its national policy of gross domestic happiness.

This is an approach the Bhutan government has to development that seeks to achieve harmony between economic forces, the environment and spiritual and economic values (UNDP, HDR Bhutan 2000).

This approach is one reason Bhutan has been relatively successful in limiting corruption throughout its society.

Audreyanna Thomas

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