Measuring Empowerment sharing insights..... Dee Jupp PhD independent Social Development Consultant

1. Measuring Empowermentsharing insights.....Dee Jupp PhDindependent Social Development Consultant

2. Robert Chambers has generously promoted this asa breakthrougha win-win for all concernedbut...it took a long time (and tenacity) to get others to take it seriously. This is the story.....

3. A Social Movement..... A youth club in 1970s (post War of Independence) Focus on land rights started in 1983. Late 90s (as Rights agenda emerged) attracted donor interest. Grew to cover 2/3rds Bangladesh and over half million members.

4. 'We are funding a land rights organisation. The return on investment is simply productivity of the land acquired by the poor 'DFID AdvisorBut groups met enthusiastically week in week out even where there was little prospect of acquiring land....

5. 'I know in my heart they are doing good work but not in my head'DFID AdvisorIndeed, any visitor could see that there was something different about these groups...So how could we convince 'the head' ?

6. The answer- • a participatory grassroots review! • Develop the(normative) framework, • Conduct participatory exercises, • Establish a baseline • Write up (carefully selected!) • illustrative case studies • But we all know these rarely convince!

7. Aggh.. STOP!!! • Membership organisation • Benefits of membership • Ask them!

8. Participatory review with groups... • broad categories of inquiry, • open ended questions emphasizing 'how?' • and 'why?', • use of PRA to facilitate analysis • Generated over 8000 statements describing • benefits and difficulties

9. Sifting through these led to a EUREKA moment! • They fitted into categories! • Political • Social • Economic • Capacity • Sifting further, the statements showed progression...... • awareness • confidence/ capability • effectiveness, self sustaining

10. 132 indicators • know these come from groups • facilitated by another group member • clarified • discussed • evidence provided • scored with happy/ sad faces • plans made Important milestone.... readily give time!

11. Then comes our analysis.... • Weighted scores- to emphasize progression • Aggregate scores • Process for different purposes

12. Clear comparisons and possibilities to interrogate particular indicators Clear comparisons

13. Validity Inferences between two measurements can be demonstrated Groups find the statements meaningful and allow them to plan and take action Since all groups go through the process, possible to avoid sampling bias or use conventional sampling methods Acceptable level of standardization and structure

14. What makes this different? • Indicators generated by those experiencing • empowerment • Information generated is primarily useful for the • members • Simple to make assessment but not simplistic • Analysis enabled by aggregation and • quantification • Time and effort valued by the members • Facilitated without outsiders

15. Challenges! The skeptics....... Mistrust of self assessment No controls for comparison Too detailed and too time consuming Costly Empowerment is a moving target The reluctant pioneers..... wanted to conform staff felt judged exposed programme inflexibility

16. lessons Listen to what people themselves experience Ensure the process is valuable for the participants (endows validity) Use analytical frameworks after data collection rather than to decide what data should be collected Ensure there is no blueprint for progression- recognize difference Don't give up with skeptics!