PHA-Exchange> Measuring Empowerment: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives

[Claudio]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) 

Measuring Empowerment: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives

 

New World Bank Book Explores How to Empower the Poor 

Edited by Deepa Narayan - ISBN:  0-8213-6057-4 SKU:  16057 - April 2005

 

Website: http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/product?item_id=3839257  

 

WASHINGTON, DC, April 20 2005 -  It is widely accepted that effective poverty reduction depends on the ability to empower poor people to move out of poverty, yet the concept of empowerment tends to be poorly understood in development circles.  A new book  Measuring Empowerment: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives - explores various aspects of empowerment and its relationship to poverty reduction.   

 

The book brings together the research and experience of 27 development experts from different disciplines who were asked to address the question of how best to define and measure empowerment.  The book is edited by Deepa Narayan, editor of the powerful three-part series Voices of the Poor, which chronicled the first-hand accounts of poverty from 60,000 poor men and women from developing countries.

 

Inequality in power is pervasive and embedded in institutions from the local to global levels. Therefore, changes in the opportunity structure dictated by formal and informal rules are critical.

 

Differences between social groups are often more relevant to development and empowerment questions than individual differences.  However, most research and measurement efforts focus on individuals.  The book builds a framework to ensure that empowerment becomes part of the development agenda so that the poor are treated as invaluable partners in development, and are finally treated as a resource and not the problem.

 

Related limks: Workshop Papers: website

Session 1: Frameworks and Concepts
Session 2: Gender and Household
Session 3: Subjective Well-Being and Power
Session 4: Community/Local Governance
Session 5: National Level

 

Can anybody review this for our list?

I have earlier written about what is really empowering. If interested, see essay No. 39 in www.humaninfo.org/aviva 

Claudio

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