Local development nowadays is considered the key supporting element for the total development of communities and creating social cohesion. The implementation of development and releasing human potential can be brought about by individuals, communities which include development agencies and NGOs, or by governmental institutions. 

A designed plan for this purpose is the most effective and convenient way for accomplishing the expected benefits of empowering a community and increasing local development. 

Directing a community toward progress has several reinforcing factors for local development so people can increase control over their lives. 

Namely, the knowledge to start this journey, experience, academic ground and internationalization can be stated as the most crucial elements. 

The progress shaped in a region will positively affect public health and residents' knowledge, as well as their living conditions. 

By understanding the importance of community empowerment and finding accurate ways to implement them, the local development created can be succeeded and sustained.

Community Empowerment and its Goals

When talking about a community we are talking about a specific place. But what gives this place identity is the people who live there. Communities are groups of people that may or may not be spatially connected, but who share common identities, concerns, or interests. These communities could be local, national, or international. 

WHO defines community empowerment as “the process of enabling communities to increase control over their lives.”1 

Empowering a community can help us create better places and this can be done by identifying what is needed and allowing residents a say in their local area. When a person takes action toward personally meaningful goals with the gained skill and knowledge, he/she can also draw community support to move towards those goals. 

According to a survey done by a community empowerment program in the UK, “participation in a community empowerment initiative may result in improved wellbeing, feelings of power and control, sense of belonging and trust. People who are involved for longer or more deeply involved are more likely to see these impacts.”2 

The objectives of empowering a community are: 

• Providing youth with education, skills, and a job network to advance their vision of a connected future so they can act as agents of positive social change.  
• Providing small financial assistance and financial literacy training for women because girls’ and women’s education is necessary to achieve social, economic, and political development.  
• Identifying and solving local barriers to agricultural opportunities and creating sustainable livelihood so the residents can live a life that is economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable. 
• Reaching equality in a community by advocating for social justice. 
• Building participation as a cultural value. 

Who are the Major Players in Community Empowerment?

Community empowerment means people have the resources and required skills to control and influence various types of social groups and manage their affairs. But how is it going to happen and who is going to help?  

The main chess pieces

To empower a community as a body, we need to pay close attention to the major organs of this body. Individuals are the main players with the ability to transform their surroundings. 

The fact is that everyone has something positive that they can contribute to a community such as creativity, strength, and the willpower to act as a leader. Individuals need to consider the satisfaction and favor of their community. 

The relationship between people also adds unique characteristics to this group that no individual has. When cooperation and participation in community development becomes a value, individuals and groups work in favor of their community and this ignites people's will to make a peaceful change. 

NGOs also play a major role in reshaping a community. They support people and give them skills as input and organize them to achieve certain goals. NGOs like TwoWings are the converters and their output is a more powerful community. 

Making organic and constructive changes is not possible for any of these players alone, so they need to join hands and focus on their common goals to make a difference in their surroundings. 

Tools Needed for Community Empowerment

Changing a community is complex, it has no exact formula and you can’t always get the same results from the same actions, but it certainly needs some tools. Knowledge gained by academic education or experience is one essential tool needed. 

Another tool is the process of globalization. Globalization in community empowerment finds a real meaning when people truly believe that the progress and success of all humans around the world are linked together. 

Our support to empower a community regardless of the location injects a new power and sustainability into the world that benefits us all. We should give speed to the flow of information to trade knowledge between communities and build a capacity for constructive improvement. 

People also need closer companionship and the experience of NGOs to help them organize their efforts. Along with the knowledge and experience needed, efforts to attract investment and monetary resources are a part of the process. Also, with smart entrepreneurship most local and regional development strategies work. Although there is no formula here to follow, we believe that there is a unique recipe for each community that needs to be found. 

All the tools above will either directly result in better circumstances in a community or will address the challenges in another way. 

Here are other types of empowerment that complement community progress and contribute to sustainable development: 

• Social Empowerment: The ability to change social norms and circumstances.  
• Educational Empowerment: Having access to education no matter where you live and how much your family earns. 
• Economic Empowerment: Being able to utilize financial tools to manage financial assets and investments and generate income by employability.  
• Political Empowerment: Feeling that your opinion is represented and heard by the government and through a person that represents your characteristics, political views, and mentality. 
• Psychological Empowerment: Being able to identify the impacts of various biases and cognitive errors in yourself and others and feeling empathy toward them. Also being able to address these biases in yourself. 

Raise Your Voice with Education

Education not only empowers a community but as Nelson Mondella says; 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” 

Education raises the voices of the unheard and helps suppressed people confront challenges. Educated people always have the upper hand in workplaces and politics.  

Education gives you a voice to speak up

Educating minorities like women and varied ethnical groups give us new leaders and decision-makers. If it wasn’t for education, these minorities wouldn't be able to make change with their bright and groundbreaking ideas. 

Education also facilitates entrepreneurship and employability and leads to an economic boost. We believe education is the infrastructure of community empowerment and we cannot achieve this goal unless we take education seriously. 

Health and Wellbeing Improvement

Before the coronavirus, we barely could imagine a world paralyzed by spreading disease. But we saw how our social structure shrank and changed because of quarantine. Now we know the importance of health conditions, not only for living a normal day-to-day life but for the intellectual progress of a community. That’s why it is so important to keep our bodies safe and promote health in our surroundings.  

One of the advantages of empowering a community is how it affects the health and well-being of the people. Health is one vital aspect that can transform communities' living conditions. Community empowerment programs enable people to have more control over improving well-being to reduce health inequalities and practice health-enhancing behaviors. 

Individuals and groups need to pool limited resources and take collective actions to improve health outcomes. Health empowerment is done through building partnerships with other sectors with mutual concerns and enhancing health literacy among people. 

In a world where not everyone has access to safe, clean water and sanitary products, the support of sectors experienced in providing safe water is of utmost importance. Also, having additional food security by initiating plots to plant trees and vegetables for family and local neighborhood use guarantees a safe and sustainable food source that contributes to the health and wellbeing of community members, especially kids and women. 

The World Health Organization reports “Such health education that goes beyond spreading information and requires interaction, participation and critical analysis leads to health literacy and personal and social benefit, enabling effective community action, and by contributing to the development of social capital”.3 

Community Empowerment at a Glance

The key to community empowerment is to make people feel valued and engaged in developing their living spaces and changing them into inclusive and enjoyable places where they can thrive. Individuals and NGOs, in constructive cooperation with government agencies on local, national, and international levels, play main roles in improving the communities and fostering a sense of pride and value. 

Resources of government agencies can give individuals and the community an extra boost and make the process easier. More knowledge and resources mean lower risk which assists the process of community development actions without harming the community by following government-induced safety protocols. Creating better places, agricultural opportunities, education, and financial assistance are key strands to regeneration and planning empowerment programs. Putting communities at the heart of creating places will ensure that places not only meet the needs of local people but are inherently connected to them. 

Handmade symbol of community Empowerment

The importance of community empowerment practice is that the approach provides a more systematic means for community development in a programmed context. Knowledge and education are the basis and key elements of these programs. With proper training and gaining life skills, humans can defeat unemployment and poverty, health issues, and inequality powerfully and better than before. They just need to gain these opportunities with a little support from individuals, groups, organizations and governments. 

TwoWings is one of the non-profit foundations honored to support the empowerment of local communities by partnering with local NGOs in 12 different countries worldwide. With the focus on education, TwoWings tries to enable capacity building for all necessary skills, knowledge qualities, and attitudes for the betterment of the world in peace and prosperity.   

(You can read more about TwoWings programs here.) 

Considering the specific conditions of each geographical area, the local NGOs provide education and some basic equipment needed by communities while the conscious participation of local people improves their living conditions for the better  

References: 

1. WHO, the 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion, Track 1: Community empowerment, Nairobi, 2009, Health Promotion (who.int) 
2. A M Bagnall, J Trigwell, C Heisse, A Quick, K Southby, J Woodward, J South, D Button, Impact of a community empowerment programme in disadvantaged UK neighbourhoods: results of a survey, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 30, Issue Supplement_5, September 2020, ckaa166.146, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.146 
3. Public Health Wales NHS Trust, Principles of Community Engagement for Empowerment, 2019, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/