Community Self Management, Empowerment and Development
Link  to  Key Words

English version of this documentDeutschA versão portuguesa deste documentoRumanian
.Hindi
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
.
The Six Important Words
.
Capacity:
.....
Exertion is needed to get stronger
Capacity:
.
The ability, power or strength of a community or an organization.
.
(Deutsch: Leistungsfähigkeit, Español: capacidad, Filipino/Tagalog: , Francais: capacité,   हिन्दी (Hindi): क्षमत, Romãnã: , Capacitate, Somali: Awooda).
.
Capacity Development:
.
Increasing the "capacity" (ability) of a community or an organization. Empowerment. Strengthening . See Elements of Strength for a list of sixteen elements of capacity building.
.
The difference between capacity development and capacity building lies with the conception of where the force of growth originates.
.
The term "capacity building" implies that some agency outside the community or organisation supplies the energy to increase its capacity.
.
It is informed by the concept of "social engineering."
.
The term "capacity development," in contrast, implies that the energy for growth is internal to the community or organisation.
.
See the slogan by Julius Nyerere; a community develops itself.
.
(Deutsch: Leistungsaufbau, Español: desarrollo de la capacidad, Filipino/Tagalog: , Français: bâtiment de capacité, développement de capacité, fortifier de la communauté, हिन्दी (Hindi): षमता विकास, Português: desenvolvimento de capacidade, Romãnã: , Somali: Awoodsiinta,).
.
Empowerment:
Exertion is needed to get stronger
Empowerment:
.
The empowerment of a community (or organization) is an increase in its strength, improvement in its capacity (ability) to accomplish its goals. . Like capacity development, it is a process of becoming stronger. See "Measuring Empowerment" for a list of the sixteen elements of power or capacity, and a participatory method of measuring its increase.
.
The empowerment methodology, in contrast to the charity approach, aims at strengthening the community rather than encouraging it to remain dependant upon outside resources. . The empowerment methodology, therefore, does not make everything easy for the community, because it sees that struggle and resistance, as in physical exercise, produce more strength.  See Community Empowerment.
.
See Jihad for an interesting metaphor.
.
(Deutsch: die stärkung, Español: potenciación, Filipino/Tagalog: pagpapalakas, Français: empowerment, हिन्दी (Hindi): , Italiano: empowerment), Português: fortalecendo, Romãnã: ,  Pyccкий: Рaзвития).
.
Empowerment Methodology:
.
The training material here is aimed at attacking poverty at the community level, where mobilisation and management training are aimed at empowering low income communities.  The theory behind the skills and techniques here is sociological.
.
The successful community worker, an applied sociologist, can not do the best job, however, unless she or he is familiar with some of the basic principles that lie behind the offering of skills or describing the programmes to be set up.
.
It is built up of several important principles:
1. While assistance can be offered, it should not be charity assistance which promotes dependency and weakness, but partnership, assistance and training that promotes self reliance and increased capacity;
2. Recipient organisations or communities should not be controlled or forced into change, but professionals trained as activists of mobilisers should intervene with stimulation, information and guidance;
3. Organisms become stronger by exercising, struggling, and facing adversity. Empowerment methodology incorporates this principle for social organisations;
4. Hands on participation, especially in decision making, by the recipients, is essential for their increase in capacity;
5. We need to aim at the participants from the beginning taking full control, exercising full decision making, and accepting full responsibility for the actions which will lead to their increased strength.
This is the core set of principles of the empowerment methodology.
.
Strengthening:
Exertion is needed to get stronger
Strengthening:
.
Empowerment. Increasing capacity or ability to achieve objectives. . Make stronger.
.
(Deutsch: Die Stärkung, Español: potenciación, Filipino/Tagalog: pagpapalakas, Français: empowerment, हिन्दी (Hindi): , Romãnã: ,  Somali: xoojinta).
.
Sustainability:
.
The word "sustainability" is important in development assistance. (The word is not found in most dictionaries). It refers to the "ability" of something to be "sustained" (carried on) after outside support is withdrawn. For the community that builds a water supply, the repairing, cleaning and using the pump after it is constructed, is the desire. .. For an external donor, it is the continuation of the project or its outputs after the donor withdraws. For you, the mobilizer, it is the continuation of the community strengthening social process after you move on. For environmentalists and ecologists, sustainabilty requires that an activity can be sustained (eg biologically) by the physical environment, that non-renewable resources are not used up.
.
(العربيّة (Arabic): الاستمرارية,Deutsch: die nachhaltigkeit, Español: sostenimiento, Filipino/Tagalog: demokrasya, Français: durabilité, हिन्दी (Hindi): निरंतरता, Italiano: sostenibilita, Português: sustentabilidade, Romãnã: durabila).
..
Democracy:
.
The word, "democracy," comes from ancient Greek language, where "demo" means the people (as in demography) and "cracy" means power (as in bureaucracy or aristocracy).
.
The word democracy, then, means power to the people. Ironically, ancient Greece was not very democratic in that the economy was based upon the labour of slaves.
.
There are different kinds of democracy: eg representational democracy where the people elect representatives (eg Members of Parliament) to make decisions for them, and participatory democracy where the people are involved in making decisions. .  As a mobilizer, you are urged to promote democracy, ie in the community project, but you are not obligated to imitate the British parliamentary system.  Look for what is socially appropriate.
.
(Deutsch: demokratie, Español: democrático, Filipino/Tagalog: demokrasya, Filipino/Tagalog: , Français: démocratie, हिन्दी (Hindi): लोकतन्त्र, लोकतन्त्रीकरण, Italiano: democrazia, Romãnã:  democratizare).
.
Democratization:
.
A process of social change towards increased political decision making power for all people.
.
(Deutsch: Demokratisierung, Español: democratización, Filipino/Tagalog: , Français: démocratisation, हिन्दी (Hindi): लोकतन्त्रीकरण, Italiano: democratizzazione, Romãnã: democratizare).
.
Partnership:
.
A "partnership" is a relationship in which there is some equality between the parties in the agreement. In the key word, "independent," above, it was noted that we are all, to some extent, interdependent. While your work leads to a community breaking out of dependency, it cannot become totally independent. . The realistic aim, then, is for communities to get into partnerships with municipal or district authorities, and work towards more equal relationships.
.
(Deutsch: partnerschaft. Español: asociación, Filipino/Tagalog: samahan, Français: association, हिन्दी (Hindi): भागीदारी, Italiano: partenariato, Português: parceria, Romãnã: partneriat).
.
Participation:
.
"Participation" is used in several contexts on this web site. "Community Participation" means that all members of a community participate in decision making that affects the community (not merely consultation or contribution).  See PAR.  See also Civic Engagement . "Participatory Training" means that the trainees learn by doing, ie participating as an effective method for learning skills. Participants do not learn as effectively when they are listening to a lecture or to a presentation. "Participatory Management" means that management is not left only to the managers, but is everybody's business.  "Participatory Appraisal" (PRA) means that the affected community or organization is stimulated to participate in assessing the situation and determining priority needs.
.
(Deutsch: partizipation, Español: participación, Filipino/Tagalog: pakikilahok, Français: participation, हिन्दी (Hindi): भागीदारी, Italiano: participazione, Português: participação, Romãnã: participare).
.
Transparency:
.
Transparency is a very important element of strengthening a community (see elements of empowerment). The word "transparent" here means the ability to see through something. . When civil servants try to do things (ie make decisions, allocate resources) in secrecy, hiding their activities from the people, they are not being transparent. They are giving the people the "mushroom treatment."
.
This promotes mistrust, apathy, and marginalization (important factors of poverty and community weakness). Your job as a mobilizer is to promote transparency. You do it by explaining what it is, and that the people have a right and a responsibility to know what is going on (awareness raising). . You also do it by ensuring that it is a key element of the community organizations that you form or re-organize. Laws, such as the "Freedom of Information Act," or similar laws which ensure that details of government spending must be of public record, available to the people, are intended to promote governmental transparency, although some officials will attempt to subvert the spirit of such laws.
.
If you hide a problem, cover it up or deny that it is there; you surely hinder its solution. . If, instead, you uncover it, admit it, and honestly examine it, you are well on the way to solving the problem. Transparency strengthens.
.
(Deutsch: die transparenz, Español: transparencia, Filipino/Tagalog: naaaninag, Français: transparence, हिन्दी (Hindi): पारदर्शीता, Italiano: transparenza, Português: transparência, Romãnã: transparenta, Somali: Waadix).
 ––»«––
.
Demokratisierung
Democratization
Democratización
Démocratisation
लोकतन्त्रीकरण
Democrazia
Democratização
Democratizare
Demokrasya
Empowerment
Empowerment
Potenciación
Renforcement
अधिकारिकरण
Empowerment
Capacitação
Consolidare
Pagpapalakas
Partnerschaft
Partnerships
Asociación
Partenariat
भागीदारी
Partenariato
Parceria
Partneriat
Samahan
Partizipation
Participation
Participación
Participation
सहभागिता
Partecipazione
Participação
Participare
Pakikilahok
Nachhaltigkeit
Sustainability
Sustentabilidad
Durabilité
निरंतरता
Sostenibilità
Sustentabilidade
Durabila
Maipapatuloy
Transparenz
Transparency
Transparencia
Transparence
पारदर्शीता
Trasparenza
Transparência
Transparenta
Naaaninag
.
Link  to  Key Words