Empowerment An intentional, ongoing process involving mutual respect, critical reflection, caring and group participation through which people lacking an equal share of valued resources gain greater access to control over those resources. Rappaport stated that empowerment focuses on people’s strengths and directs attention to social change – one of the orienting concepts of community psychology

Empowerment’s Roots Back again to the 1960s for the roots of empowerment where activists, community organizers and educators joined with disenfranchised groups to transform social relationships and redistribute social power. The word was first used in the mid-1970s in describing how social workers can engage African American communities to regain power over their lives.

A Question of Semantics Empower - to give somebody power or authority; to give somebody a greater sense of confidence or self-esteem Empowered - having been given the power to make choices relevant to one's situation Empowering organizations – have structures and cultures that encourage and facilitate empowerment Empowerment - the granting of political, social or economic power to an individual or group; the process of supporting another person(s) to discover and claim personal power

By FATIMA SIDIYA | ARAB NEWS - Published: Dec 1, 2010 (AN photo) A Forum on the “Participation of Women in National Development” ended with a series of recommendations to improve the lot of women in the Kingdom and empower them. Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, head of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Makkah Region, speaks to journalists at the forum. Challenging a ban on women driving, he said: “Clerics have studied the issue and no one has come up with a verse that would forbid women driving ... I do not consider it to be forbidden.”

Components of Empowerment Efforts to gain access to resources - the elements available for the satisfaction of human needs and desires Objects, conditions, characteristics, energies Resources are a battleground for power Scarcity paradigm – Western societies Synergy paradigm – Collectivist societies Participation with others to achieve goals and to create social change Understanding of the sociopolitical context

Power Perceived vs. actual power Power over vs. Power to Sources of power: Legitimate power Reward power Coercive power Referent power Expert power For disenfranchised groups the personal sources of power - referent and expert power - may be more critical in their efforts to access and control resources. Power to Empower

Aspects of Psychological Empowerment: Intrapersonal aspect - Self-esteem, sense of control, self-efficacy Interactional aspect - How people understand and seek to influence their social environment Behavioral aspect - Citizen Participation

Microsystem Level Empowering organization – offers opportunities for members to gain control over their lives. Members develop skills such as leadership and resource management, boosting self-esteem Empowered organizations – engage in change efforts, mobilize community resources, influence policy decisions or establish alternative systems of service delivery

Elements of Empowerful Organizations: An inspiring belief system Opportunities for involvement Leadership Organizational Structure Innovation Celebration of Identity

Guiding Principles Empowerment and context – links individual well-being with larger social and political processes Empowerment and social change – addresses the unequal distribution of and access to resources that is at the root of many problems in society Empowerment and diversity –co-empowerment for multicultural society, collaborative empowerment, synergy Empowerment and values – emphasis on people’s rights, should we empower all groups, morality as a resource prevails over the morality of the powerful Empowerment and strengths – directs attention toward health and competence, collaborative relationships, eco-identities