International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

“Empowerment” generally refers to development approaches that “enable” the beneficiaries, especially the poor and marginal and excluded groups such as women, to take initiatives to solve their own problems of poverty, exclusion, and chronic dependency ( Narayan 2005 ; →  Dependency Theories ; Development, Gender, and Communication ). The role of government and nongovernmental agencies is to encourage and support local organization efforts, help local groups define their own needs, and respond to requests for training and other technical or capital assistance. Beneficiary groups are expected to initiate →  participatory communication within their communities, establish communication networks with other beneficiary groups, and build cooperative linkages with government and nongovernmental agencies. Because personal and social isolation is so much a part of social passivity and exploitation, communication strategies of organization, networking, group communication, and community media are central to empowerment methods (→  Citizens' Media ). Models of development emphasizing local control and initiative emerged because highly centralized decisions often imposed approaches that were not related to local needs and were not able to build on local cooperation, understanding, and voluntary contribution. Neo-colonial power elites and those in positions of privilege in systems of class ... log in or subscribe to read full text