Social capital is an important resource and can be used in setting up and
developing SSEOs. Social Capital is all of these concrete elements and it evolves through
relationships between people and organisations:
Trust: having relations of trust with people and organisations so that you feel confident
and comfortable working with them;
Reciprocity and mutuality: having the sort of relations with people and organisations
which mean that you do something for them without expecting immediate payback; that you
help each other out; that you are prepared to work together on schemes of common advantage;
Social networks: being in touch with a wide range of people and organisations so that
you get to know them; to learn to trust them and work together; to give and get information;
Shared norms of behaviour: realising that you share ideas with others of how things
should be done; that you can build a common vision; that you broadly agree on what is
acceptable and what is not;
Sense of commitment and belonging: realising that sharing a commitment to an area or
to a group can uncover a shared understanding of issues and lead to a common sense of
purpose.
