Background The role of social capital for promoting health has been extensively studied in recent years but there are few attempts to investigate the possible influence of social capital on HIV prevention,particularly in developing countries. The overall aims of this thesis are to investigate the links between social capital and HIV infection and to contribute to the theoretical framework of the role of social capital for HIV prevention. Methods Key informant interviews with leaders of organizations, networks, social groups and communities and focus group discussions with members and non-members of the social groups and networks were conducted to map out and characterize various forms of social capital that may influenceHIV prevention. A quantitative community survey was carried out in three case communities toestimate the influence of social capital on HIV risk behaviors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to estimate the HIV prevalence in the urban district representing a high HIV prevalence zone to determine the association between social capital and HIV infection. Main findings In early 1990’s many of the social groups in Kagera region were formed because of poverty and many AIDS related deaths. This formation of groups enhanced people’s social and economic support to group members during bereavement and celebrations as well as provided loans that empowered members economically. The social groups also put in place strict rules of conduct, which helped to create new norms, values and trust, which influenced sexual health andthereby enhanced HIV prevention. Formal organizations worked together with social groups and facilitated networking and provided avenues for exchange of information including healtheducation on HIV/AIDS. Individuals who had access to high levels of structural and cognitive social capital were more likely to use condoms with their casual sex partners compared to individuals with access to low levels. Women with access to high levels of structural social capital were more likely to use condoms with casual sex partners compared to those with low levels. Individuals with access to low levels of structural social capital were less likely to be tested for HIV compared to those with access to high levels. However, there was no association between access to cognitive social capital and being tested for HIV. Individuals who had access to low levels of both structural and cognitive social capital were more likely to be HIV positive compared to individuals who had access to high levels with a similar pattern among men and women. Conclusion This thesis indicates that social capital in its structural and cognitive forms is protective to HIV infection and has played an important role in the observed decline in HIV trends in the Kagera region. Structural and cognitive social capital has enabled community members to decrease number of sexual partners, delay sexual debut for the young generation, reduce opportunities for casual sex and empower community members to demand or use condoms. It is recommended that policy makers and programme managers consider involving grassroots’ social groups and networks in the design and delivery of interventions strategies to reduce HIV transmission.

Individual shortcomings and the need for resources stimulates organizations desire to establish collaborative relations with each other. An organization tends to prefer to collaborate with other familiar organizations. The information available to an organization about its peers is necessary for its ability to appreciate the suitability of potential partners as well as their capabilities and ability to contribute to a successful collaborative relation. In a three stage analytical process, social network analysis and statistical network modelling is applied to investigate the correlation between patterns of communication and the extent to which organizations establish collaborative relationships. With a theoretical framework of resource dependence theory and social capital, data on information exchanges, resource exchanges and common advocacy among humanitarian 55 organizations is mapped. The first analytical stage explicates the structures of the collected information exchanges and evaluates the prevalence of coordination facilitating communication structures. The second stage appreciates the extent of inter-organizational involvement in collaborative relationships. The third step combines these results to demonstrate the covariance between the prevalence of coordination facilitating structures and extent of collaborative relations. The results indicate that the collected information exchanges exhibit few coordination facilitating structures and the organizations are only to a very limited extent engaged in collaborative relationships with each other. While consistent with previous research on the importance of communication for coordination, these observations illustrate the negative consequences of lacking communication. This analysis contributes with added empirical experiences to solidify our understanding of organizational behavior in inter-organizational interaction and tendencies to establish collaborative relations.

O objetivo deste trabalho é propor um instrumento de medição de desempenho em Comunidades Virtuais de Aprendizagem (CVA). Para isso foram utilizadas as variáveis da teoria do capital social. Todo o trabalho está direcionado à construção de uma matriz composta pelas variáveis: (a) capital social estrutural, sob o enfoque econômico, aqui relacionado aos fatores de infra-estrutura tecnológica e utilização de ambientes virtuais, bem como às políticas de incentivo ao uso de recursos de Tecnologia da Informação; (b) capital social cognitivo, gerado por meio da criação da cultura virtual e (c) coesão social sob o enfoque ações coletivas, analisadas a partir da interação e colaboração entre seus participantes no tocante à promoção de tais ações. A pesquisa parte do pressuposto de que a geração de conhecimento em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem está relacionada à alfabetização digital e à conseqüente utilização dos ambientes virtuais pelos participantes da comunidade em estudo. A metodologia está fundamentada na análise etnográfica do ambiente estudado, nas técnicas de coleta por meio de questionário, bem como na análise da construção de um discurso do sujeito coletivo. Uma visão estruturada dessas questões relativas ao desempenho de uma CVA está representada na Matriz do Capital Social resultante. Esta visão converge para os requisitos almejados nas análises de desempenho, ou seja para o estabelecimento de metas de gestão e a avaliação de seus resultados. / This paper has the objective of proposing a measuring tool for performances in Virtual Learning Communities (VLC). For this purpose, variables of the theory of social capital have been used. The whole work heads for the building of a matrix with the following variables: a) structural social capital under economic focus, here related to factors such as technological infra-structure and the use of virtual environments, as well as policies to encourage the use of resources of Information Technology (IT); b) cognitive social capital, generated through the creation of virtual culture, and c) social cohesion under the focus of social actions, analyzed from the point of view of the interaction and cooperation of their participants in respect to the promotion of such actions. The research starts from the presupposition that knowledge generation in virtual learning environments is related to digital literacy, and the use of virtual environments by the participants of the studied community is a consequence. The methodology is based on the ethnographic analysis of the environment under study, on the techniques of collecting data through questionnaires, as well as on the analysis of the construction of a discourse of a collective subject. A structured view of these questions related to the performance of a VLC is represented in the resulting Social Capital Matrix. This view converges to the requisites desired in the different performance analyses or, in other words, to the establishment of management goals and the assessment of their results.

O objetivo deste trabalho é propor um instrumento de medição de desempenho em Comunidades Virtuais de Aprendizagem (CVA). Para isso foram utilizadas as variáveis da teoria do capital social. Todo o trabalho está direcionado à construção de uma matriz composta pelas variáveis: (a) capital social estrutural, sob o enfoque econômico, aqui relacionado aos fatores de infra-estrutura tecnológica e utilização de ambientes virtuais, bem como às políticas de incentivo ao uso de recursos de Tecnologia da Informação; (b) capital social cognitivo, gerado por meio da criação da cultura virtual e (c) coesão social sob o enfoque ações coletivas, analisadas a partir da interação e colaboração entre seus participantes no tocante à promoção de tais ações. A pesquisa parte do pressuposto de que a geração de conhecimento em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem está relacionada à alfabetização digital e à conseqüente utilização dos ambientes virtuais pelos participantes da comunidade em estudo. A metodologia está fundamentada na análise etnográfica do ambiente estudado, nas técnicas de coleta por meio de questionário, bem como na análise da construção de um discurso do sujeito coletivo. Uma visão estruturada dessas questões relativas ao desempenho de uma CVA está representada na Matriz do Capital Social resultante. Esta visão converge para os requisitos almejados nas análises de desempenho, ou seja para o estabelecimento de metas de gestão e a avaliação de seus resultados. / This paper has the objective of proposing a measuring tool for performances in Virtual Learning Communities (VLC). For this purpose, variables of the theory of social capital have been used. The whole work heads for the building of a matrix with the following variables: a) structural social capital under economic focus, here related to factors such as technological infra-structure and the use of virtual environments, as well as policies to encourage the use of resources of Information Technology (IT); b) cognitive social capital, generated through the creation of virtual culture, and c) social cohesion under the focus of social actions, analyzed from the point of view of the interaction and cooperation of their participants in respect to the promotion of such actions. The research starts from the presupposition that knowledge generation in virtual learning environments is related to digital literacy, and the use of virtual environments by the participants of the studied community is a consequence. The methodology is based on the ethnographic analysis of the environment under study, on the techniques of collecting data through questionnaires, as well as on the analysis of the construction of a discourse of a collective subject. A structured view of these questions related to the performance of a VLC is represented in the resulting Social Capital Matrix. This view converges to the requisites desired in the different performance analyses or, in other words, to the establishment of management goals and the assessment of their results.