Unit 4
Commonwealth Values and Youth Development

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Empowerment

We must become the change we want to see in the world.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

The process of empowerment has to address all of the meanings of power described above. Empowerment is about:

  • helping to increase the skills and capacity of individuals
  • helping people to become more self-confident
  • helping groups to work together
  • helping to create a more equitable division of resources and decision-making.

Young women who receive basic computer training in a mobile van which visits rural communities in Chandigarh, India. Notice that the word ‘helping’ is used in each of these points. Empowerment is not something that someone can give to anyone else. It is not like a package that can be neatly wrapped up and delivered. In reality, empowerment is usually ‘self-empowerment’. Just as you cannot force anyone to learn, you also cannot force them to become empowered.