1. Community coalitions by examples: from networks to social capital
Ignacio Ramos Vidal

2. The role of coalitions to promote community development
The problems that affect the community are too complex and persistent to be solved by a single institution
Wide dimensions, costs and multidimensional nature of many social demands
Coalitions often works across sectors, and are formed by public entities and private actors
O’Toole, 1997; Provan & Fish, 2012
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

3. Main features of coalitions
A coalition is a set of organizations (or individuals) that:
Works together to deal social problems
Develops their task in a collaborative way
Often adopts a network structure
The decision making process is (or should be) bottom up (born from the community itself)
Formal Institutions X √
Community
Bornstein et al., 2015; Chavis, 2001
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

4. What do community coalitions?
Are involved in all stages of program development (diagnosis, design, implementation and evaluation)
Improve the delivery of health and social services
Amplifies the effects of social and community interventions
Identify the problems that are influencing on the community well-being
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

5. Examples of coalitions
Global action coalitions
Local action coalitions
International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA)  Fight against Zika virus
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS  Empower youth population to face HIV pandemic
National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media (
Community coalition in South L.A improve neighbourhoods, schools and community environment
Community coalition in Ayacucho (Peru)  youth participation and health risk prevention
Community Coalition for Family Wellness (South Glenn Falls, NY)

6. If the coalition really works….
An increase of sense of community is probable that occurs
Multilevel empowerment process is activated
Civic engagement is revitalized
The community is prepared to address new social problems
Social cohesion could be restored and enhanced
Chilensky et al. 2016; Douglas, 2015
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

7. Some challenges to coalition success
Manage the resources in an efficient and transparent way
Capacity to adapt the structure to new needs
Create a system for conflict resolution (solve internal frictions or fights among members to gain visibility)
Promote a participatory and distributive leadership
Chavis, 2001; Minkler, 2012
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

8. “Tips” for coalition success and institucionalization
Facilitate the appropriation of interventions developed by the coalition’ members (Success distribution)
Implement protocols to make more accessible the ways to collaborate with the coalition
Increase the coalition visibility in the community context
Reduce the barriers to participate and increase the benefits associated with engage in actions
Wells et al.,2007; Shapiro et al., 2015
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

9. Networks and Intervention Programs
The main function of coalitions is provide programs (ie., risk prevention & health promotion)
Programs should be analyzed from a structural perspective
Many agencies collaborate in all the stages of program development
The links mantained by the participating organizations (and the structure derived) may determine the success of the actions developed by the coalition
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

10. Analyzing from a conventional viewpoint
You can observe the participants of a coalition like a mere sum of nodes isolated
Assuming that coordination and interaction patterns are not influencing on coalition goals
There is no interdependence nor influence between agencies
All the actors (agencies) has the same power
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

11. Analyzing from a structural viewpoint
If you observe the coalition as a network:
Assuming that relationships among members affects the coalition survival
Changes in coalition structure impacts on program delivery
Alterations in the positioning of organizations explains coalition success/failure
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

12. Implementing and evaluating programs through SNA
Identify if there are nodes or subgroups isolated
Identify the actors that participate in the program
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
PROGRAM DESIGN
Identifying opinion leaders to act as change agents
Using community members as recruiting agents
Attending to social media and other communication needs
Increase cohesion during implementation
Evaluate centrality scores of actors that are receiving the intervention
Analyze if the intervention is changing the coalition structure
IIMPLEMENTATION
MONITORING
Documentation of the behavior of leaders
Evaluate the feasibility of program continuity
Evaluate the contagion dynamics within the network (influence)
Gest et al., 2011;Valente et al., 2015

13. Evaluating coalitions through SNA tools
Coalition actions are usually coordinated by a small set(s) of central actors (the Core)
The Core is composed for no more than 20% of the organizations involved in the coalition
Peripheral actors shows a low degree of connections with core members also showing poor connections with periphery
SNA allows to evaluate empirically the presence of subgroups and core-periphery structure that characterize most networks
Valente et al.,2008
Chu et al., 2015
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

14. Core Members
Peripheral Members 18 25 30 32 9 13 21 24 28 23 4 7 16 17 27 22 31 20 29 6 10 19 14 11 26 8 2 5 1 15

15. Core Members
Peripheral Members 18 25 30 32 9 13 21 24 28 23 4 7 16 17 27 22 31 20 29 6 10 19 14 11 26 8 2 5
Core Members 1 15

16. Core Members
Periphery Members 18 25 30 32 9 13 21 24 28 23 4 7 16 17 27 22 31 20 29 6 10 19 14 11 26 8 2 5
Core
Periphery 1 15

17. In the first steps many coalitions shows:
Many organizations isolated or with very few connections
A centralizated distribution of relationships
A dense core with few actors
Subgroups formed on the basis of task especialization
Few interactions among sub-units and stakeholders
Seggregation derived from geographical dispersion
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

18. Signs of positive coalition evolving
Reducing the number of organizations isolated
Increase reciprocity
Augmenting cohesion (i.e., density, transitivity)
Decrease network centralization (three parameters)
Increasing the core size
Boosting the average degree of clossenness
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

19. Structural Social Capital (Types and Levels)
Bonding
TYPES
Hybrid
Bridging
Structural Social Capital
Collective
(whole coalition)
LEVELS OF ANALYSIS
Individual
(single actors)
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

20. Types of Structural Social Capital
Bonding Social Capital
Bridging Social Capital
FEATURES
Networks are cohesive
Based on trust, affinity, norms and reciprocity
Members are similar and are linked by strong ties
PROFITS ASSOCIATED
Reinforce norms and values
Maintain the stability of coalition
Strengthen trust in members
FEATURES
Networks are fragmented
Showing different subgroups
Members are heterogeneous and are linked by weak ties
PROFITS ASSOCIATED
Generate innovations
Access to new resources
Potential capacity to respond to new needs and changing environments

21. Bridging Social Capital
Bonding Social Capital

22. Multiple subgroups and Medium Density
Single component and High Density

23. Structural Social Capital (Whole Vs Individual)
Whole Network (Coalition Level)
Each network configuration defined different types of social capital
A coalition can take advantage adapting the structure to context demands and program needs
The coalition life cycle may need to adopt mixed strategies in different stages
This decision depends on: (a) Kind of actions developed by the coalition; (b) the projection (local Vs. global); and (c) the complexity of the environment

24. Structural Social Capital (Whole Vs Individual)
Individual Level
The focus are the relationships that each actor maintain with other members of the coalition
Each organizations has differential power to exert influence on network structure
The position determines the role developed in the coalition

25. Structural Social Capital (Whole Vs Individual)
Individual Level
The kind of ties and the contacts to which the actor is linked defines his individual social capital
Be central or peripheral has differential effects
See organization 7 and 10

26. Structural Social Capital (Individual Level)
This organization established several connections
Is a core node (high centrality)
The potential to influencing on other actors is great in center than in periphery
May be a key node to diffuse information in core and periphery 7

27. Structural Social Capital (Individual Level)
This organization mantain few connections
Is a peripheral node (low centrality)
The potential to exert influence on other actors is great in periphery than in center
May be a key node to diffuse information to periphery actors
Integrate pendants actors 10 10

28. Conclusions
Coalitions are an effective strategy to face community problems
SNA is a powerfull tool to evaluate and improve the actions delivered by the coalition
The programs implemented should be accompanied of an increase of empowerment
The final (and desirable) step is that community become the main owner of the actions
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

29. Some resources….
Community Coalition for Family Wellness
Community coalition for Haiti:
Community coalition for suicide prevention:
Community coalition for drug prevention (Mexico):
Mixed methods, social networks and community interventions: international workshop

30. Community coalitions by examples: from networks to social capital
Ignacio Ramos Vidal