Physical Education, Social Capital, and Community Development in Post-Conflict Communities in Borno State

Physical education and community sport have been theorised as generators of social capital in post-conflict settings through building trust, bridging social divisions, and fostering community agency, yet these dynamics have not been theoretically elaborated or empirically examined in the specific context of Borno State's post-conflict community recovery. This dissertation investigates the role of physical education and community sport in generating social capital and supporting community development in post-conflict communities in Borno State, North East Nigeria. A theoretical framework integrating Putnam's social capital dimensions of bonding, bridging, and linking capital with sport for development theory and post-conflict reconstruction literature guides the study design. Multi-site qualitative research is conducted across eight communities in three local government areas, involving participant observation of school physical education programmes and community sport events, life history interviews with 40 community members, and semi-structured interviews with 15 school administrators, sports programme coordinators, and local government officials. Findings reveal that physical education and community sport generate predominantly bonding social capital within established community groups, with bridging capital development between displaced and host communities occurring only in deliberately structured mixed-participation sport programmes. Linking capital to government resources and formal development networks is facilitated through sport advocacy roles. Contextual challenges including gender segregation norms, security constraints on outdoor activities, and facility destruction during conflict significantly shape social capital generation pathways. The dissertation contributes original theoretical and empirical scholarship on sport-based social capital in post-conflict sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords: physical education, social capital, community development, post-conflict, Borno State