Defining And Measuring ‘Empowerment’ In Community Based Projects

Abstract

‘Empowerment’, like community, is one of those terms that everyone seems to agree with but which turns out to be equally difficult to pin down. Inglis (1997) suggests that ‘empowerment’ involves the ability to adapt and cope with change at an individual level, which he contrasts with ‘emancipation’ which involves structural change with a collective impact. In the current policy context for community education, where resourcing is dependent on proving outcomes, it is important to be clear about how empowerment is defined and how evidence for its attainment can be measured