Practicing Social Capital in Local Development: How the Method Applies to Real-World Cases

The proposed method for the evaluation of the endowment of social capital in LEADER has been developed following different sequential steps. In this chapter, we show that this stepwise process can be applied to European Local Action Groups (LAGs), it can be used for comparing values across indicators for both monitoring and evaluation, and the results obtained can unveil the intervention logic of “social capital” at different steps of aggregation. As promised in the introductory chapters of the book, we show the steps taken for opening the “black box” and identify how this method fits within the 2014–2020 programming period and specifically contributes highlighting the value added of LEADER.