Better Relationships, Enhanced Development: The Role of Social Capital and Community Based Organizations in Development for Rural Bangladesh

The aim of this Masters Thesis was to investigate whether social capital is translated into performance by the Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to reach collective goals for the development of the community in rural Bangladesh. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. This research was carried out in eight villages of Bangladesh and two hundred households were surveyed under the scope of the study. A positive relation was found among social capital, CBO performance and rural development. Strong CBOs emerged in the villages endowed with high social capital. Collective actions take place more frequently in the villages with high social capital and strong CBOs . A significant relation was found between household well being and stock of social capital