I coordinated a team from Centre for Thriving Places to deliver a Rapid Review for the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. The review aimed to find and synthesise evidence from evaluations of interventions about what works to increase social capital.
We looked for quantitative evidence that assesses whether a project, programme or other intervention affects:
- neighbourhood belonging – “I feel like I belong to this neighbourhood’
- social network support – “I believe that someone would be there for me if I needed help’
- community cohesion – “I believe that my neighbourhood is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well’
This was undertaken through a rapid search of academic evidence and a call for evidence from frontline organisations.
The research was undertaken between April 2022 and September 2022 and the results are now available on the What Works Centre for Wellbeing’s website.