One of the key requirements of capacity building is to recognise that the social whole is more than the sum of its individual components. People form social systems which provide for a range of needs not met through market transactions - households, communities of interest, locality and neighbourhoods create networks of mutual obligation, care, concern, interest and even conflict (access to other points of view).

In the development and organisational learning literature these networks, norms and trust which facilitate co-operation for mutual benefit are referred to as 'social capital'. Social capital can be thought of as the framework that supports the process of learning through interaction, and requires the formation of networking paths that are both horizontal (across agencies and sectors) and vertical (agencies to communities to individuals).The quality of the social processes and relationships within which learning interactions take place is especially influential on the quality of the learning outcomes in collaborative approaches. Taken one step further, this suggests that social capital plays an important role in fostering the social networks and information exchange needed to achieve collective action if and when so needed.

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Community Capacity Building explained - AIFS

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