EMPOWERMENT

PERSPECTIVE
 EMPOWERMENT

 It is complex and multifaceted, and is both a process

itself and an outcome of a process of change.
 Empowerment is central to social work. Social
workers strive to empower individuals so they can
overcome personal challenges
 It also aims to empower groups and communities,
particularly those with histories of oppression and
marginalization. Social work can—and should—
involve advocating for policies that promote greater
social justice and equity.
 EMPOWERMENT

 Empowerment perspective of social work focuses on

promoting self-development and awareness and
helps people address the oppressive forces that block
them from thriving.
 EMPOWERMENT PERSPECTIVES
  Involves using intervention methods to guide people
toward achieving a sense of control.
 People may feel helpless in their lives for any number of
reasons, but empowerment theory focuses on how
oppression contributes to this experience.
 It centers on helping marginalized people at individual,
group and community levels gain the personal,
interpersonal and political power to improve their lives.
Additionally, the model seeks to challenge systems that
prevent or hinder people from having their needs met.
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
Direct Power Blocks
  structures that stop people from achieving goals
such as better employment, advanced education or
safe housing.
 Social workers can help promote awareness of direct
power blocks and energize social movements against
them by developing programs that help individuals
overcome marginalization. 
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
Indirect Power Blocks
  refer to internalized oppression
 Groups with histories of mistreatment often absorb the negative
messaging of the abuse they receive. They develop stories about
their limited options and ability to achieve and then pass those
ideas down across generations. However challenging, these
deeply ingrained thoughts need to be resolved.
 Social workers can investigate proven interventions, such as
trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), which
evidence shows can change thinking patterns to help clients work
through their internalized oppression.
 DIMENSIONS OF EMPOWERMENT

Self-Efficacy
  Individuals must build their power by cultivating the belief that
they can change their circumstances. This requires addressing
some of the indirect power blocks interfering with their self-
actualization.
 Social workers can guide individuals through therapies that
help clients explore their beliefs, why they hold them, and how
to change them. They can also help individuals develop coping
skills to adjust to their environments.
 DIMENSIONS OF EMPOWERMENT

Critical Consciousness
  Individuals need to develop a deep understanding of
the complex social, economic and political realities in
their environments that negatively affect them. This
involves examining their roles in these environments
and seeking out potential ways to work around the
structures blocking them. Establishing this type of
consciousness allows people to share their
experiences and connect with others in the same or
similar situation.
 DIMENSIONS OF EMPOWERMENT

Tool Development
Building awareness is important, but
without the interventions that address
negative thinking patterns and unfair
social and political realities, people can
only get so far.
 TOOL DEVELOPMENT
Micro-level Tools
 Therapy that uses techniques to emphasize peoples’ strengths, helps
them develop skills needed to confront social and political difficulties,
and offers alternatives to dysfunctional and self-defeating thought
patterns can cultivate self-worth and empower people to overcome
indirect power blocks.
 Case management can empower individuals to become their own
advocates. Social workers can encourage clients to take an active
part in identifying their needs and teach them how to register with an
employment agency or find health services that can empower them
to become their own advocates. Establishing this autonomy is key to
social work, which strives to build strength and independence.
 TOOL DEVELOPMENT
Micro-level Tools
 Insight techniques, which social workers implement when they
deliver case management, therapy or social programs, can
empower clients to achieve their goals through a self-
examination process in which clients evaluate how they can
change their situations and solve problems.
 TOOL DEVELOPMENT
Macro-level Tools
 Political advocacy engages government agencies in efforts to change
laws and policies that disproportionately impact marginalized or
disadvantaged groups in negative ways.
 Program development can be used to educate the public about social
issues and engage community members. This might involve working
with community members in a program to revitalize a neighborhood,
organize a social campaign, or canvass for a proposed law.
 Research projects can identify factors that contribute to social
inequities or measure the effects of discrimination and other
oppressive forces on specific populations, providing data that
informs evidence-based practices.
 Empowerment Theory Social Work in
Action
 Empowerment theory social work uses a five-step problem-
solving model to achieve its goals:
1. Identify problems.
2. Define strengths.
3. Set goals.
4. Implement interventions.
5. Evaluate successes on a collaborative level.
 To successfully implement the model, social workers must
develop key understandings, consider diverse perspectives and
ask critical questions.
 How Can Social Workers Empower
Groups and Communities?
 Know the group’s history of oppression. How did the oppression
originate? How does this oppression manifest in the present?
 Understand the group’s strengths and resilience. How have the
people adapted and coped with the oppression? What has
allowed the community to survive and succeed in the face of the
stress and abuse they’ve encountered?
 Recognize the diversity within the group. How do elements such
as race, class, gender and sexual orientation complicate and
change the impact of oppression on different members of the
group? In what ways can these factors affect the way oppression
plays out?
 Public Policy Reform and
Empowerment
 While developing autonomy and self-determination can play a
crucial role in overcoming obstacles to one’s empowerment,
this type of work alone cannot overcome widespread social
injustice. People must take a critical look at the systems of
oppression and find strategies that lead to change. Challenging
societal norms allows individuals and communities to discuss
the economic models and other structures in society that
affect equity and then consider alternatives.
 Public Policy Reform and
Empowerment
 Social workers can engage groups and communities in
discussions about issues that affect them locally and globally
and encourage them to take action.
 Public policy reform is often a necessary part of fixing systemic
problems that keep people marginalized and perpetuate
power imbalances. Making changes to laws, policies and
systems may be the only way to reduce or eliminate some
barriers to equality.
 Public Policy Reform and
Empowerment
 Empowerment theory social work can create opportunities for
advocacy that address social, economic and political
inequalities. It can also help build awareness of the stressors
placed on oppressed groups. Such awareness can spur on the
examination of the national, state and local policies that
disempower people, and inspire collective action against those
policies.
 Public Policy Reform and
Empowerment
 Empowerment theory social work can create opportunities for
advocacy that address social, economic and political
inequalities. It can also help build awareness of the stressors
placed on oppressed groups. Such awareness can spur on the
examination of the national, state and local policies that
disempower people, and inspire collective action against those
policies.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Mechanism Definition
Knowledge Access to education, training and information from
formal or other sources
Agency Capacity to act independently and make choices –
(a) Self-identity comprised of three components:
(b) Decision-making (a) self-confidence and self-efficacy to set and achieve
(c) Effecting change goals
(b) ability to make informed decisions that are
recognised and respected
(c) belief in own ability to take action to effect change
based on own goals
Opportunity structure Existence of an enabling environment of social,
political, institutional and community support to
foster individual and community development
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Mechanism Definition
Capacity-building Harness community capacity to provide or advocate
for services or self governance, and to seek
accountability from government service provision
agencies
Resources Access to physical and financial resources, or skills for
seeking resources, to develop communities

Sustainability Ability of communities to develop and support

initiatives towards long-term sustainability
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
 A different combination of mechanisms
operates depending on who is being
empowered – an individual; a community; or
an organisation.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Individual empowerment:
Individual empowerment was described as a process of
transformation that enables individuals to make independent
decisions and take action on these decisions to make changes in their
lives.

A core mechanism identified for individual empowerment was

agency. In these data, individual agency comprised three core
components – an individual’s self-identity; their decision-making
capacity; and their ability to effect change

Individual empowerment is not achieved with agency alone;

knowledge and the presence of an enabling environment for change
were also identified as mechanisms.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Individual empowerment:
Knowledge contributed to informed decision-making,
self-confidence, and self-efficacy, which enables
individuals to recognise problems, understand potential
solutions and identify sources for assistance.

Existence of an enabling environment of institutional

structures and social norms was shown to facilitate or
hinder individual empowerment. The relationship
between agency and an enabling environment was
seen as the core to individual empowerment.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Community empowerment:
Community empowerment was described as the process of
enabling communities to mobilise towards change.

Five mechanisms were seen to foster community empowerment:

agency; capacity building; resource provision; opportunity
structure; and sustainability.

Community empowerment was described as the ability of a

community to set its own priorities, make decisions, and take
action. However, it was seen as broader than individual agency as
it also involves a community advocating for, or providing,
resources or services for itself.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Community empowerment:
Community empowerment also involved capacity building, whereby
communities build networks or community groups, then mobilise
these groups to take action on certain issues.

Resource provision is another mechanism of community

empowerment identified, which involved direct provision of supplies
or services to a community to facilitate capacity-building initiatives.

It was acknowledged that community empowerment requires an

enabling environment that recognises community groups, is
responsive to community advocacy, and is accountable to the
community itself.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Community empowerment:
Sustainability was also highlighted as a component of
community empowerment that enables a community to
be self-sufficient. Sustainability was seen both as a
mechanism for community empowerment and an
outcome of it.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Organisational empowerment:
Empowerment of organisations was described in two contexts:
1. where empowerment of a local partner organisation is a focus of
collaboration
2. where it is a by-product of collaborative activities.

The five mechanisms that foster community empowerment were also

described for organisational empowerment

Organisational empowerment was described as the ability of an organisation

to set goals and priorities, make operational decisions and take action to
implement programmes or activities.

Capacity building, resources and sustainability were seen as critical

components of achieving organisational agency and were often inter-linked.
 MECHANISMS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Organisational empowerment:
An enabling environment was seen as an important mechanism
for organisational empowerment. This was described as the
existence of effective partnerships between local and national or
international organisations to develop activities or deliver
services and create financial sustainability.
As in community empowerment, there were mixed opinions on
whether resource provision promotes capacity or creates
dependence on external support, potentially reducing
sustainability.