2 EMPOWERMENT IN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
2.3 Organizational Aspects of Empowerment
2.3.8 Communal Aspects of Empowerment
The communal aspects of empowerment relate to organizational and psychological aspects in many ways. However, since the present inquiry deals with NGOs that characteristically work with communities, this aspect will be treated separately from the two. The discussion falls into two main parts: theoretical understandings of communal empowerment, and practical understanding of communal empowerment. The first part will deal with the academic literature on the subject. The second part will consider the non-academic but authoritative literature on empowerment in the development literature.
Theoretical Understandings of Communal Empowerment
Development interventions are usually carried out in community contexts. Therefore, they relate to the field of sociology. For example, in an African setting, development initiatives are aimed at improving the lives of marginalized groups such as: women, poorest of the poor, disabled, refugees, and HIV positive persons. The initiatives share a lot with similar initiatives among marginalized groups in the more developed countries (see, e.g., the examples of marginalized groups and beneficiaries of social intervention in Gutiérrez et al. 1998).
When discussed in the community context, the concept of empowerment becomes charged with political and civil rights connotations (e.g., Adams 1996, 5–11; Eklund 1999, 39). The political and civil rights related understandings of empowerment see it as touching the issues of democratization, advocacy, consciousness-raising, and anti-oppression (Adams 1996).
Adams has also suggested that in the sociological debate, empowerment is often seen as something which is done to a person. Interestingly, he sees an inherent danger in such thinking. Attempts to empower may turn disempowering. Another danger that Adams has pointed out is to tie empowerment too closely to enabling acts. In line with his introductory comments, Adams avoids coining a simple definition of empowerment.
What seems to come through from his treatise is that empowerment in a social setting is characterised by notions of self-help, ability to manage problems, people having a control over their circumstances, reduction of hierarchies and bureaucracy, cooperation, and common experiences. As a whole, empowerment in a community setting springs from notions of personal empowerment, but when channelled through a group or an organization, it loses its selfish connotation. Adams sees empowerment as concrete, subjective, experiential, and intuitive. This is in opposition to the notions of distance, perspective, reflection, systematic knowledge, and understanding that are associated with professional social action. In all, the tension between personal empowerment and community empowerment is ever present in his discussion. (Adams 1996, 12–24.) Eklund (1999) has contributed to the empowerment debate in a community setting in her dissertation From Citizen Participation towards Community Empowerment. On one hand, she has attempted to define empowerment in the context of community action.
On the other hand, in her operationalization of the empowerment concept, she has coined a useful list of dimensions mirroring key processes in empowerment. The same can be said of the indicators she has suggested for community empowerment. Since Eklund has drawn from researchers that have been referred to in the earlier discussions, it is not necessary to restate all nuances in her summaries. She has distinguished four dimensions in empowerment: personality, cognitive, motivational, and contextual/other.
The following is a table of the aspects of her interpretation of empowerment in a community context that have not been addressed elsewhere.
Table 6. Eklund’s four dimensions of community empowerment.
Source: Adopted from Eklund 1999, 76–79.
Personality dimension
Chance control Belief in powerful others
Control ideology (belief that one can influence social and political systems)
Emotional variables (understanding other people, meaningful content of life, fulfilment)
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Cognitive dimension
Political efficacy (the belief that it is possible to influence political processes and community decision making Internal political efficacy: the belief to possess personal skills to influence political systems External political efficacy: the belief that political systems are responsive to change efforts Sense of political efficacy (the feeling that individual political action does have, or can have an impact upon the
political process; a feeling that political and social change is possible
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Motivational dimension
Desire to control the environment
Sense of civic obligation (the belief that one ought to participate in the political process as a responsibility to others; a belief that oneself and others should engage in the political processes; a sense of concern for the common good and connectedness to others
Sense of causal importance and purposefulness that feeds a feeling of hope
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Contextual/other dimension
Involvement in collective action (in order to exercise control in the social and political environment; perceiving e.g. a programme as a channel for influencing decision making
Consciousness rising
Understanding of programme purpose
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Eklund’s categories are not novel in themselves. Similar categories have been employed, for example, by Andrus and Ruhlin (1998), Fetterman (2001), and Siitonen (1999) – not to mention the host of scholars Eklund has indicated in her work. Some items in her categorization a particularly noteworthy. For example, the motivational and cognitive dimensions are specified in terms of beliefs to influence through concerted action and in individual influence. The categories are similar in content to Siitonen’s context and ability beliefs (1999, 158). However, they are coloured, as mentioned, by community context.
Eklund provides helpful insights into the concept of empowerment in community context also by identifying useful indicators to observe empowerment levels in the community. In her list of indicators (1999, 79), it is possible to identify different categories where indicators can be placed. One can determine indicators that relate to
perceptions, results, and capacities. The following table is an effort to group Eklund’s indicators into these three categories.
Table 7. Empowerment indicators for perception, result, and capacity categories.
Source: Derived from Eklund 1999, 79
Perceptions Results Capacities ______________________________________________________________________
Stronger sense of community Equity of resources in communities Capacity to identify problems and their solutions
Identification of oneself as part of Increased participation in community Capacity to analyze the
the community activities world critically
Raised level of psychological Capacity to manage time empowerment
Improved neighbourhoods Capacity to organize people for action
Improved quality of community life Capacity to identify service providers
Improved social justice Capacity to cooperate to achieve a goal
Participation in decision making and Capacity to work in teams
political action
Achievements in redistribution of resources Capacity to grasp factors
or in decision making that influence
decision making Capacity as a group to identify problems, select goals, and act for social change
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From the characteristics presented in the table, one could easily describe an empowered community. In an empowered community, individuals have a strong sense of community and see themselves as an integral part of it. The members of the community are able to work together. They demonstrate this ability by identifying problems, figuring out problems, and organizing for concerted action to influence their environment. To this end, the community is able to mobilize resources and identify parties that can help it to achieve its goal. Through such processes, an empowered community is able to attain measurable goals.
Erben and others have made similar conclusions to Eklund on empowerment in relation to health promotion that encompasses the society at large. They agree with Henderson and Thomas, Minkler, and Daly, and Cobb that in a communal setting empowerment means the improvement of individual and collective skills to regain control over living and working conditions. Furthermore, it is the aim and means of community organization. Thirdly, empowerment can be interpreted as a constant process of enabling individuals and groups to participate in community action. The researchers put heavy emphasis on alliances as a means of empowerment. Empowerment occurs when people interact. The interaction should be characterized by mutual respect, tolerance, and social support. To them, alliances are the means to gain political influence and power that is key to change and impact crucial issues in a society. (Erben et al. 1999.)
Principles, Frameworks, and Approaches of Community Empowerment
Governments and NGOs have set up guidelines and frameworks for their empowerment effort. The documents where they are presented cannot be considered as academic.
However, it is important to present a few examples of these documents to provide the reader with a glimpse of material that guide development activities in relation to empowerment. Although, these documents cannot be considered scientific in the strictest sense of the word, they have a similar function on a practical level as scientific theories – they guide planning and praxis, and they provide the background for evaluation and research.
NORAD (1999) has published a handbook on gender and empowerment assessment. It defines empowerment as:
• Power to make decisions
• Power to have your voice heard
• Power to put things on the agenda
• Power to negotiate on something that is not negotiable
• Power within yourself to challenge past customs
The clauses that are indicative of NORAD’s understanding of empowerment are well in line with the scientific theories on it. The ideas of influence, having one’s voice heard, and to change the existing state of affairs have been noted by a number of researchers as ingredients of empowerment, especially in community contexts (e.g., Adams 1996;
Eklund 1999; Fetterman 2001; Gutiérrez et al. 1998; Nayaran 2002). The assessment of
empowerment covers ten factors. The ten factors can be divided into three main categories that they aim to address: the immediate and basic needs, participation, and quality of life.
Table 8. Categories and factors of NORAD gender and empowerment assessment.
Source: NORAD 1999.
IMMEDIATE & PARTICIPATION QUALITY OF
BASIC NEEDS LIFE
PROVISION OF INCREASED INDENTIFICATION OF BARRIERS INCREASED ACCESS TO BASIC SOCIAL IN PROJECT PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITY FOR
INFRASTRUCTURE COMMUNITY
PROMOTION OF OPPORTUNITIES ORGANIZATION ENHANCED ACCESS TO TO PARTICIPATE IN PROJECT
RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY ACTIVITIES INCREASED CONTROL OVER RESOURCES
IMPROVED HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY
IMPROVED EDUCATION & ENHANCED DEMOCRATIC
TRAINING RIGHTS
ENHANCED INCOME OPPORTUNITIES
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Mason, McNulty, and Aubel (2001) have composed a manual for community empowerment for CARE. They relate empowerment quite closely to participation but emphasize that participation alone is not empowerment. Yet, the differences do not come out very clearly in their manual. In the section defining community empowerment, the following characteristics have been judged crucial: a) all groups have a voice in decision making, b) concern for common good prevails over personal ambition, c) the community recognizes and prioritizes needs of all members, d) the community can take action locally to solve problems, change behaviours and access services, e) and the community is able to plan, implement, and evaluate activities or projects on their own. Mason, McNulty, and Aubel have drawn attention to putting the needs of the community ahead of personal interests. This, of course, is frequently addressed in relation to fighting corruption and other political contexts. Inability to commit to a common cause might be one of the key ingredients in why empowerment efforts fail. Ethics, empathy, and values have also been recognized as playing a significant part in empowerment (e.g., Antikainen 2005; Kincheloe 2003; Kuokkanen 2003; Siitonen 1999; Spreitzer et al. 1999). However, values, ethics, empathy, and empowerment seem to be debated in relation to collegiality, work ethics, common
vision, working environment, and just decisions rather than in terms of commitment and sacrifice for common good (e.g., Kuokkanen 35–36; Siitonen 1999, 156–157). It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find academic research in terms of philanthropy, values, and ethics related to it as the catalysts for empowerment.
DANIDA (1999) has evaluated its development efforts in relation to human rights and democratization. In the section that presents the findings and recommendations of the evaluation team, there are a few issues that are of special interest in the context of empowerment and development activities. First of all, there are explicit comments that link empowerment to the popular development concept of ownership. The evaluators comment that although the two terms do not denote the same thing, the concept of ownership comes very close to empowerment. Secondly, the evaluation suggests that the degree of empowerment correlates with the kind of decisions the stakeholders are able to make. Ownership has connotations of responsibility and decisions relate to power – both are relevant aspects of empowerment in community context. Finally, the evaluation suggests that participation in relation to empowerment tends to be instrumental and not transformational. Instrumental participation could be thought of as using the recipients of aid as tools to improve project planning and implementation.
Transformational participation, on the other hand, would allow the participants the authority and resources to control all aspects of the development process.
The understanding of the United Nations on empowerment could be researched from a number of documents. One of the key documents is the annual Human Development Report. Interestingly, its references to empowerment are quite scarce and it is not defined in any way except in relation to gender empowerment. The level of gender empowerment is measured from three aspects: political participation and decision-making, economic participation and decision-decision-making, and power over economic resources. In gender empowerment, economic participation is looked at from two perspectives: 1) female and male proportions of positions as legislators, senior officials, and managers, 2) and female and male proportions of professional and technical positions. In addition, the Human Development Report 2004 refers to empowerment in the context of globalization. Increased exposure to cultures, travel, and new experiences are suggested as empowering or disempowering depending on a person.