SDC Experience and Practice on Empowerment in South Asia

What does empowerment mean to donor agencies? What role do they play in empowerment processes? These were questions asked by a Task Team established under POVNET over the period 2009 – 2010 to consider ways in which poor women and men can be empowered to participate in and benefit from growth. As a body under the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) with a varied membership of international development agencies, POVNET was well placed to ask such questions. The issue was tackled by asking members to provide narratives (stories) of particular situations in which they had been involved in empowerment processes, emphasising the potentially differing perceptions of the different stakeholders. In particular, they were asked to critically analyse their own role. SDC provided three such “stories of empowerment”, drawn from its activities in Bangladesh, Madagascar and Mali. These stories will be published in summarised form through POVNET , but they are provided here in full version. Sharique: Empowerment and engagement in local governance in Bangladesh

Sharique: Story of empowerment and engagement in local governance in Bangladesh; Witteveen A.,2010 Download (PDF,244 KB): [eng]