An identification and interpretation of the organizational aspects of community empowerment

Abstract

Community empowerment is central to community development and yet making this concept operational in a programme context remains elusive. Based on doctoral work, this paper identifies and interprets nine organizational ‘domains’ for community empowerment. These organizational domains are not absolutes rather they serve as a point of departure for further discussion about straightforward ways to define and measure community empowerment as a process. This paper is seen as a step toward clarifying and making this concept operational to guide practitioners who wish to apply and measure community empowerment in a programme context. The implications for community development and research are discussed.