Beyond dwelling: Factors leading to the improvement of social capital in informal settlements: a case of Uppr Project in Gopalgonj, Bangladesh

Having a large number of informal settlements Bangladesh is facing evictions randomly for the sake of large infrastructure development. According to UNDP (2013), about 115 evictions happened from 1996 to 2004 in several cities of Bangladesh which made about 3 million people homeless. Adding that in the Gopalganj Molavi para community more than 345 households, about 2,000 people lost their land due to eviction (Mostafa, 2019). Therefore, they lost access to jobs and services as well as lost physical assets and social networks. Addressing this, Bangladesh Government has initiated the Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Programme (UPPR) to empower the urban poor. Gopalganj slum is also facilitated by land tenure security to 346 evicted families and affordable housing schemes (UNDP, 2013) which improve not only their physical assets but also social capital. Several researchers have identified social networks as the core value of social capital (DFID, 1999; Pieper et al., 2019; Yoo and Lee, 2016). Moreover, without community participation, it is impossible to uplift the living condition (Nikkhah and Redzuan, 2009). Payne (2002) mentioned that secure shelter is the prerequisite to access their livelihood (social capital,....). Therefore, the study aimed to identify how did the participatory approach and land tenure to improve Social Capital after this UPPR project in Gopalganj.

The participatory approach was based on the concept of micro-planning, a thematic approach of slum upgrading focused on the participation in decision making, designing, and implementation (Hamdi and Gorthert, 1988; Abbott, 2002). Also, land tenure explained with the concept of community land trust (CLT) and settlement land mapping(SLM) considering as a means of capacity building and empowerment. Social capital is explained with the social sustainability framework (Pieper et al., 2019) which is connected with social cohesion. The study is under explanatory research type and a single Case Study strategy has been used with the mixed method. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used from questionnaires, interviews, secondary data, and accessing websites.

To analyze the obtained data the descriptive analysis has conducted along with inferential tests, for instance, t-test, chi-square test, correlation, and Cronbach's alpha test to check internal validity. The research findings indicate that the level of interaction increased moderately and the nature of the interaction has become more integrated than before, as the level of participation in decision-making is quite higher more than half of the people participated in designing. However, the lack of participation in implementation hampered the quality of interaction which impact their saving credit activities. Addressing Land tenure, it can be summarized that land tenure indicates strong positive relation through empowering the community and moderate positive influence through skill-building. Another dimension is found that, the participation of availing the collective land tenure influence to improve social capital, not the tenure itself which indicates a potential relationship between the participation and the land tenure.

Finally, the study ended with some recommendations regarding the possible actions to improve social capital through community involvement. Maximum participation throughout the project should be ensured and it's better to provide funds as a housing loan rather than a grant to improve social interactions and capital.