Abstract:
In contemporary development policy and planning social capital is seen as important as
economic capital for the advancement of the deprived populations, especially poor women as
it is identified as a resource that is available to anyone. However, social capital is not a unitary
concept and can manifest itself in diverse qualities and forms. The present paper is based on a
study of female-headed households in three districts of Sri Lanka, namely Colombo, Kandy
and Matara. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected; quantitative data were
obtained through a sample survey of 534 female heads of households and qualitative data were
gathered through in-depth interviews
