NETWORK – BASED SOCIAL CAPITAL AND CAPACITY
BUILDING PROGRAMS: AND EXAMPLE FROM ETHIOPIA
Shoba Ramanadhan, Soseda Kebede, Jeannie Mantopoulos and Elizabeth Bradley
Presented by: Jeromeo Jose (MAHESOS)
Introduction One particular focus of the Global health
agenda is to development of sufficient workforce capacity.
Management and leadership training programs have improved process related outcomes Improvement of human capital
Another benefit Improvement of social capital
Network perspective on social capital The extent to which an individual can
realize the benefits of social capital is a function of that individual's position in a given social network
Focused on:resources that can be accessed by network
membersstructure of relationships or linkages in a
network of interest
Case description Setting
Two-year executive-education Master of Hospital and Healthcare Administration (MHA)
Study design and respondentscross-sectional study at the end of the first year
of the MHA program to describe the social networks that developed during the year
Data were collected with a self-administered survey of two groups of respondents: trainees and supporters.
Case description Data collection and measures
Focused on two networks:○ Trainee Network (25)○ Trainee-Supporter Network, (63) trainees and
supporters (educators and mentors, 38)Measures of interest
○ Network density, isolates, components○ Degree○ Informational and functional exchanges
Analysis Sociometric network analysis
assess the connections between all members of each network of interest, supporting evaluation of network growth and resource exchange
Results - trainees
Descriptive measuresMeasure Pre-MHA Year 1Network-level measures
Density 0.04 0.13Isolates 7 0Components 2 1Individual-level measures
Degree Mean: 1.92SD: 1.79
Mean: 4.88SD: 4.42
Trainee out-degree Mean: 1.04SD: 1.43
Mean:3.00SD: 4.62
Trainee in-degree Mean: 1.04SD: 1.25
Mean: 3.00SD: 1.67
Ramanadhan et al. Human Resources for Health 2010 8:17 doi:10.1186/1478-4491-8-17
Informational and functional exchanges
Results – trainee -supporter
Descriptive measuresMeasure Pre-MHA Year 1Network-level measures
Density 0.03 0.13Density between and within groups of trainees and supporters
Among trainees: 0.04From trainees to supporters: 0.03From supporters to trainees: 0.00Among supporters: 0.05
Among trainees: 0.13From trainees to supporters: 0.20From supporters to trainees: 0.12Among supporters: 0.09
Isolates 8 2Components 1 component + isolates 1 component + isolatesIndividual-level measures
Degree Mean: 3.52 / SD: 3.11 Mean: 14.22 / SD: 10.81Out-degree Mean: 1.87 / SD: 2.88 Mean: 8.14 / SD: 10.81In-degree Mean: 1.87 / SD: 1.77 Mean: 8.14 / SD: 5.68Trainee-supporter out-degree Mean: 1.04 / SD: 1.46 Mean: 8.26 / SD: 5.82
Ramanadhan et al. Human Resources for Health 2010 8:17 doi:10.1186/1478-4491-8-17
Informational and functional exchanges
Discussion and evaluation Networks have developed - number of
connections within the network was associated with likelihood of resource exchange
Limited resources for communication may have inhibited network development of some network members
Discussion and evaluation Evidence of the benefits of diverse
connections for program participants and found that program participants were able to gain different categories of resources from different types of network members
Lessons learned:Increase network-based resourcesEffective if integrated as explicit goals of programsDevelopment of relationships should extend both to
fellow trainees as well as supporters of the traineesImportance of enabling environment
Conclusions Network-based social capital may be a
useful addition to the goals and evaluation
Social capital deserves further attention in capacity-building efforts
Capacity-building programs can build stronger healthcare workforces in low- and middle-income countries