A Ladder of Empowerment

Abstract

Empowerment is often envisioned as a solution to poverty acceptable to both the political right and left. Yet the question that is rarely asked or answered is, What is empowerment? While the empowerment literature provides a rich array of techniques and goals through which individuals and groups seek to alter their circumstances, it is contradictory in assumptions and emphases and provides little coherence or structure with which to make informed decisions. This paper develops a typology, a ladder of empowerment, based on existing empowerment literature, so that planners and others may gain a clearer understanding of empowerment and its varied potential.

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