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Living in Belfast I felt rich, rich in the fact that I had social capital in abundance. I'd worked in the NGO / voluntary sector for the best part of 16 years and built up a huge network of contacts, friends, acquittance's with whom I could lean on for favours. This was extremely beneficial when I needed help setting up a new project, getting introduced to influential people and to earn a few extra pounds. It was easy to pick up facilitation work, IT training, and other bits and pieces, very easy. There was a time I was turning work down and passing it on to other people in my network. I felt secure, confident and valued in my social group of friends, colleagues and acquaintances. My social capital was probably worth more than my salary. In fact if I had of lost my job in Belfast I think I could have earned more working for myself than getting a paid salary.The excitement of moving to Dublin meant that when I was weighing up all the pro's and con's I undervalued my social capital. I remember giving it a glancing thought but I certainly didn't sit down and think it through! What doors could I go knocking on asking if they'd any work? Who could I let know that I was available for, well, whatever work that came along? The answer was no-one, nada, not a single person! It wasn't until redundancy came that I realised I'd very little social capital in the Capital city.
Social Capital, how much have you got? How would you use yours? How can you get some more?
