Participatory Approach and Community Empowerment

Empowerment is the process by which people in general, and poorer segments in particular, acquire the capability to understand, analyze and effectively respond to situations affecting their lives and livelihoods. Historically, empowerment has been achieved through a process of organization of people to voice demands for political and economic rights. In the context of poverty, empowering the poor through concerted efforts could be seen as long-term solution to poverty alleviation and ultimately, eradication of poverty. In this sense, creation and enhancement of basic capabilities-both economic and political-should be seen as an enabling process for achieving empowerment of the poor.

When we talk about participation for poverty alleviation, we are affirming that all people involved in the development process need to work together, on equal footing, if development interventions are to have any real hope of success and sustainable achievements. Participation for development means that all people affected by the development process, and regardless of age, gender, ethnic background, religion etc., have a right to participate in their society, to express their needs and to work together with others to help to get their needs met. In this way, the right to participation is also a responsibility; if participation is to work, people must be willing to join in the development process, and they must be enabled to do so to the best of their abilities.

Enabling people to work towards their own development is part of the process of community empowerment. Defining what we mean by the “community” is never easy. Groups of people living in the same geographical area do not always have same needs or goals in life. But, in working for poverty alleviation, it is vital that people gain from the synergy of working together and organizing for community development. People who live in poverty and social disadvantage to not feel that they have any ability to get their voices heard or their needs met. Using participatory approaches can help them identify new ways of finding solutions to their problems. As groups of people begin to realize that there are ways in which their efforts can make a difference, they feel more powerful and are better able to contribute to the development process.

Participatory approaches are all those methods by which we can encourage people’s active and equitable contribution towards their own, and their society’s development. Using participatory approaches can ensure that development interventions are better targeted; that they are more appropriate to people needs, and can be more effective, efficient and have better impact. Since using participatory approaches implies a process of sharing information and understanding between governments, development organizations, civic organizations and communities, the traditional boundaries between development “ providers” and “beneficiaries” are broken down and people feel greater “ ownership” of the development process.