Empowerment Guide

The purpose of this guide, published by MS ActionAid Denmark, is to give inspiration, new ideas and examples of how to initiate political empowerment of poor and marginalised people. It asks questions such as: Who are the local actors? Who are marginalised and what skills and socio-political background do they have? How can marginalised people, who may be reluctant to influence decision-making or demand rights, be stimulated to mobilise themselves, and what are the available local channels and means to do so? Who among the local population have the skills, personality and courage to be drivers of change in the political empowerment process such as in mobilisation and organisation of groups? Through this type of questioning, the guide seeks to:

• raise conscious reflection and improve the ability to raise critical questions;
• improve the analytical skills, specifically related to political power issues;
• make linkages between local, national, regional and international levels;
• encourage a context-specific approach and methodological flexibility; and
• give examples of different tools and methods

The Empowerment Guide is based on some key principals of MS ActionAid Denmark (MS AA), namely, a rights-based approach to poverty eradication, and the connection between poverty and human rights. At the heart of their rights-based approach is a focus on holding governments and duty bearers accountable for the fulfilment of human rights. MS AA also ascertains that political empowerment is a process in which marginalised people move from being passive to active citizens, aware of their rights and obligations and able to enact them. As such, the resource is relevant for anyone working on political empowerment processes, including members of community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and international agencies.

The handbook is divided into two sections. The first describes the five elements of political empowerment (mobilising, raising awareness, furthering participation, strengthening organising, and taking action) including a discussion about possible barriers to these. Section two is a toolkit that includes: tools for mobilisation and setting up groups/CBOs as well as leadership and management tools. In these sections, the Empowerment Guideline explores what political empowerment (PE) is and suggests different activities to facilitate it, but do not provide a step-by-step formula for PE work. The authors instead suggest that the groups who are in the process of politically empowering themselves should decide what is important and relevant for their own empowerment. Case studies from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique provide examples of how this has worked by sharing individual stories, group experiences, and programme initiatives arising from political empowerment change processes.

MS ActionAid-Denmark recommends pairing the Guide with its companion publication called the Accountability Sourcebook, which provides the reader with an analytical framework for understanding accountability relationships between the state and its citizens, and an action focus on how NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) can hold state institutions, service providers and duty bearers to account using an evidence-based approach which incorporates a range of tools and methods.