Community Engagement, Solidarity and

Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600

Citizenship
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Name:
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

S.Y. 2020-2021 Second

Grade Level/Section: HUMSS 12
Trimester
MODULE 6 – CESC Subject Teacher: KIMBERSON P. ALACYANG

Empowerment and Participatory Development

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define empowerment, its core concepts, and the empowerment analytic framework;
2. Apply the empowerment analytic framework in the monitoring and analysis of
empowerment processes and its outcomes in one’s life;
3. Analyze strategies of empowerment through community action;
4. Explain participatory development and ways on how to encourage people’s
participation;
5. Appraise the value of social equity and and gender equality in the context of
participatory development; and
6. Develop commitment and conviction to participatory development for community
well-being.

II. DISCUSSION

Empowerment is usually equated to:

• Having the ability to make one’s own decisions, control, fight for one’s rights, and say something
and be listened to;
• To be free, independent, and recognized and accepted as equal citizens who can make a
difference.

Empowerment as a process is defined as “enhancing the capacity of the individual or group to make
purposive and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcome”.
I. Three Types of Empowerment (Eyben, 2008)
1. Social Empowerment - refers to the capacity of an individual to make effective choices so that his
or her own place in society will be respected and recognized in terms of what he or she wants to
live by, or not on what others dictate.
2. Economic Empowerment – refers to one’s capacity to make effective choices so that he or she
can contribute to economic growth and benefit from a fair distribution of the advantages of such
economic growth.
3. Political Empowerment – refers to the individual’s capacity to make effective choices in order to
increase equity in political institutions and for him or her to be engaged in the democratic process.

II. Domains of Empowerment (Alsop, 2006)

1. Society – includes intra-household relationships and intra-community relationships.
2. Market – includes labor, goods and services.
3. State – includes realm of justice, politics and public service.

III. Levels of Empowerment (Alsop, 2006)

1. Local – refers to immediate neighborhood or community.
2. Intermediary – refers to the larger community in which a person is not engaged on a daily basis. It
falls under residential and national/macro level.
 Community Engagement, Solidarity and
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Citizenship
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Name:
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

S.Y. 2020-2021 Second

Grade Level/Section: HUMSS 12
Trimester
MODULE 6 – CESC Subject Teacher: KIMBERSON P. ALACYANG

3. Macro – refers to a large context in which a person operates. This is generally considered the
national level.
4. Supra-macro – refers to the international or global community.

Types of Empowerment Domain of Empowerment Levels of Empowerment

Local
Intermediary
Social Society
Macro
Supra-macro
Local
Intermediary
Economic Market
Macro
Supra-macro
Local
Intermediary
Political State
Macro
Supra-macro

IV. Empowerment Analytical Framework (Alsop, 2006)

According to Alsop (2006), an individual or group’s degree of empowerment is shaped by the
combination of agency and opportunity structure.
(Agency + Opportunity Structure = Degree of Empowerment)
1. Agency – refers to an individual or group’s ability to make meaningful choices and purposively
choose options. The agency of an individual or group is determined largely by their assets
endowment. Such assets are:
a. Financial – sources of income, debts, and savings
b. Human – education (numeracy & literacy), skills and health status
c. Informational – access to informal and formal sources such as television, newspaper,
internet
d. Material – ownership of land, infrastructure and technology
e. Organizational – membership to organizations
f. Psychological – sociability, self-confidence, dynamism, exclusion, happiness
g. Social – social capital, networks and relationships.
2. Opportunity Structure – refers to the contextual factors that affects an individual or group’s ability
to transform agency into effective action. The contextual factors refer to the formal and informal
institutions that affect the individual or groups access to assets and the extent to which the assets
can be deployed to achieved desired outcomes.

V. Empowerment Components
To genuinely help people achieve empowerment, the World Health Organization Community-Based
Rehabilitation Guidelines (2010) laid down the following Empowerment Components:
1. Self-advocacy and Communication – refer to working with vulnerable people to improve their
ability to speak up for themselves, communicate and engage with others, and increase their
ability to self-advocate.
a. Self-advocacy – is about people having a voice of their own, knowing about their rights
and responsibilities and being able to make choices and decisions.
 Community Engagement, Solidarity and
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Citizenship
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Name:
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

S.Y. 2020-2021 Second

Grade Level/Section: HUMSS 12
Trimester
MODULE 6 – CESC Subject Teacher: KIMBERSON P. ALACYANG

2. Community Mobilization – refers to working with vulnerable people to bring them together and
raise their awareness so they can address social inequalities in wealth, power and prestige.
3. Political Participation – refers to working with vulnerable people so that they can participate in a
broad range of activities where they can develop and express their political sentiments in the
society and how it is governed.
4. People’s Organization – refers to working with vulnerable people so that they can establish a
registered and recognized organization, gain legal personality and formally work together to
ensure social, economic and political empowerment can be collectively achieved.

VI. Participatory Development

Participatory – if empowerment refers to the capacity to make choices that produce desired
changes, participatory, on the other hand, refers to people’s involvement in the social, economic
and political processes that affect their lives.
Participatory Development – means eliciting the involvement of local population in creating
policies and in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programs and
projects that are designed to empower and help them make effective choices.

VII. Strategies recommended to encourage people’s participation (Mathbor, 2008; Aref, 2009)
1. Conscientization/comprehension of social
problems
2. Needs identification and goal determination
3. Developing and enhancing confidence,
skills, and knowledge
4. Consultation, dialogue, and involvement in
decision-making
5. Delegation of tasks and being accountable
6. Ownership and control resources
7. Sharing benefits of the development process
and outcomes
8. Involvement of women in the development
process
9. Establishing partnership and conducting self-
evaluation
10. Environmental protection
 Community Engagement, Solidarity and
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Citizenship
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Name:
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

S.Y. 2020-2021 Second Trimester Grade Level/Section: HUMSS 12

MODULE 7 – CESC Subject Teacher: KIMBERSON P. ALACYANG

VIII. Stages of Participation

1. Needs Assessment – involves expressing opinions about desiring improvements, prioritizing goals, and
negotiating with agencies or external organizations.
2. Planning – concerns the formulation of objectives, the formulation of goals, and the assessment of plans.
3. Mobilizing – involves raising awareness in the community about needs, and establishing or supporting
organization structures within the community.
4. Training – entails the participation in formal and informal activities that will enhance suck skills like
communication, construction, maintenance, and financial management skills.
5. Implementation– concerns the engagement in management activities; direct contribution and
application of the plans, programs, and/or projects.
6. Monitoring and Evaluation – involve participation in the appraisal or work done, recognizing
improvements that can be made, redefining needs.

III. REFERENCES
• Alsop R. (2006) Empowerment in Practice: Analysis and Implementation. Washington: World Bank
• Abenir, M. (2017) Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship. Makati City: Diwa Learning System
Inc.
• Mathbor, G. (2008) Understanding Community Participation. In Effective Community Participation in
Coastal Development. Chicago: Lyceum Books, Inc.
• Taguibao, J. (2017) Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship. Quezon City: Vibal Group Inc.

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