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Community Empowerment Drivers
Power: This driver is not just bestowed upon an individual, it has to be self-generated. Empowerment starts when community members acquire self–respect, and confidence, and realize as well as awaken their inner strength. When individuals gain power, self-respect, confidence and awareness of their inner strength, it ensues the onset of agency – the capacity to act on and achieve one’s aspirations.
Networking: This entails the ability of community members to realize the outstanding strength impeded in networking. Tactical mobilization , associating together and networking empowers them individually and as a group.
Action: The importance of unified action plans to realise individual and collective goals cannot be overemphasized. This not only portrays unity, coordination and focus but it facilitates the speedy accomplishment of set goals by the community.
Poverty: This is not limited to a lack of just material assets, but it is also seen as a driver of socioeconomic and politically destructive instruments that disempower and trap the members of a community.
Forms of Community Empowerment
Capacity and Knowledge: Capacity building and knowledge impartation among community members is an essential form of empowerment. This will bring both material and psychological benefits and also transcend the confidence level and drive change in their lives. There is a wide range of skills and knowledge available for exploration, and it includes formal and basic education, conflict resolution and transformation skills, leadership skills, advocacy and negotiation skills, public finance management and budget tracking skills, ICT skills, etc.
Community Cohesion and Inclusiveness: Only peaceful, inclusive and cohesive communities are best suited to challenge the abuse of power, injustice, and inequality and also able to realize their common vision of peace and development. This form of empowerment will facilitate and support peacebuilding activities, inclusive leadership to curb gender inequality, equity and violence; and effective decision-making processes. A community that is empowered operates on grounds of inclusivity and equity, where the distribution of resources is equitable as well as effective. Policies and practices that support such equity are critical, as much as the voices of individuals in the community. Implementation of community empowerment interventions must take some broader, structural societal forces into consideration. These forces include the impact of systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, or even classism.
Confidence and Attitude: This psychological form of empowerment aids in fulfilling and building the confidence of community members, and instilling a non-violent negotiation attitude that indicates that their lives can be improved through non-violent actions. The government or some community members can empower communities with life skills, build their awareness of socio-economic and political rights and obligations of government, support their aspirations, and show them how they can have their needs without strenuous struggles and independence on external bodies.
Community Cooperation and Organization: Globalization adds another dimension to the process of community empowerment. In the world today, the local and global communities are uniquely linked such that the action in one expressly influences the impact on the other. Therefore, community corporations and organisations will promote global, mutual trust and solidarity, self-help initiatives, inter-community networking and collaboration among community members. They will be able to address individual and collective problems, grooming strong inter and intra-community bonds that birth invaluable corporation and support during chaotic events and times. Also, collective actions can be conveniently taken and goals achieved with little to no dependence on external assistance.
Community Participation and Influence: For the feasibility of community independence, the mobilization of community leaders, including women and marginalised groups is most important. This grassroots mobilisation will empower communities and its members to develop a common vision, action plan and engage the government, influencing its decisions. Community participation is significant in influencing government decision-making to achieve a collective long-term goal, with the potential of subsequently shifting the dynamics of power.
Conclusion
Empowerment is concerned not only with a psychological sense of control but also with the equal distribution of resources, attention to material, and political empowerment on the societal level. A collective empowerment process is unlikely to take place unless individuals are empowered. Educated and confident individuals are able to contribute to and lead community initiatives in a more active manner than ignorant ones, thus their participation in collective action is critical making this empowerment vital. Community empowerment is a necessity in addressing the social, cultural, political and economic determinants adversely influencing the health sector and is seeking to collaborate with other sectors in finding solutions nationally and globally. Empowering communities is the only sustainable way of reversing the dominance of government, private bodies and individuals. Notably, only communities that are knowledgeable, confident, cohesive, inclusive and organized can and will become agents of change and are able to participate in decision-making to uphold their basic social, political, economic and environmental rights.