Understanding of Social Capital in Gender-based Participatory JFM Programme: An Evidence from West Bengal

This paper presents an empirical investigation to measure the level of social capital in a gender sensitive planning on joint forest management programme in West Bengal. The study suggests that the pre-existing traditional characteristics of community solidarity, mutual trust and coordinated action are the inner dynamic for the development of social capital in JFM villages compared with non-JFM villages. Within JFM villages such a dynamics of social capital is more pronounced in female FPC-villages in general and among very poor (landless) category of households in particular, and the food livelihood insecurity cannot destroy such institution of social capital.