Social Capital

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H.K. S.K.H. Tung Chung Integrated Services
Social Capital in Tung Chung Community
Presented by Crystal Cheng Date 8/3/2002
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• Content
• A case study
• Features of Tung Chung
• Meaning of social capital
• Social capital and a caring community
• Reflection

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A Case

• Positive change in the process
• From helpee to helper
• From self-help to mutual help
• From individual to community level

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Features of Tung Chung Community

• Established and occupied in July, 1997
• Population of around 22,000 with majority of
  which are young nuclear families
• Situated close to the Airport and isolated from
  the urban areas
• Most of the inhabitants working at the Airport
• Lack of recreational and leisure facilities
• Not enough job opportunities
• Comprehensive transportation network but
  expensive travelling cost
• Well provision of kindergartens, primary and
  secondary schools but under-enrolment

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TCIS
Vision

• To Build a caring community

Mission

• Individual Caring and Overall Concern

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Definition of social capital

• Woolcock (1998)
• Social capital as encompassing the norms and
  networks facilitating collective action for
  mutual benefit
• Adler Kwon (1999)
• Social capital is a resource for individual and
  collective actors located in the network of their
  more or less durable social relations

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Meaning of social capital

• Core elements
• trust, cooperation, mutual benefit, reciprocity,
  social network
• a resource and can be invested with an
  expectation of future returns

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Social capital and a caring community
Vision for a caring community(???-????) shared
common belief, value, interest and concern so as
to increase the community
cohesion
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• Strategies
• Social networking
• geographic social capital network
• multi-level and multi-entry

• Types
• Personal network
• Neighbouhood helping network
• Volunteer network e.g. from aged 5 to 76
• Mutual aid network e.g. unemployment
• Community empowerment networks e.g. MAC
• Home-school-community

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• Impact to Tung Chung Community
• ?transaction cost
• ?social cost
• ?responsiveness to community needs and
  resource return of investment of social capital
• ?sense of belonging ?social cohesion

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• Indicators
• ?rate of volunteer
• ?rate of acceptance of disadvantage groups e.g.
  MR, differential cultural minority groups etc.
• ?employment rate
• ?crime rate
• ?school drop-out rate

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• Reflection
• seems to be an old wine in a new bottle
• compatible with the vision, mission and service
  delivery model of our integrated services
• as a popular concept under the present economic
  depression and social unstable circumstances
• match with Government policy in promoting social
  cohesion so as to build a caring and
  compassionate society (Community Investment and
  Inclusion Fund)
• stimulate to have systematic further exploration
  on social capital in Tung Chung

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• Thank You!