Definisi dan Teori Pemberdayaan

Definisi dan Teori Pemberdayaan

01.  Empowerment is defined as a group’s or individual’s capacity to make effective choices, that is, to make choices and then to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes (Alsop et al, 2006:10). (Pemberdayaan didefinisikan sebagai kapasitas kelompok atau individu untuk membuat pilihan yang efektif, yaitu untuk membuat pilihan dan kemudian mentrnsformasikan pilihan tersebut ke dalam tindakan dan hasil yang diharapkan).

02.  Empowerment involves qualitative changes. Precise numerical measurements of the kind that are used to capture changes in production, consumption and income, cannot be applied to the changes that take place as a result of empowerment. Empowerment involves a process that in undertaken by an individual or a group, leading to a change in the degree of control they have over certain assets, plus a change in the relationship they have with other people (Bartlett, 2004:12).

03.  Empowerment involves a process. Some transformations can take place within the space of a few hours, but other may take years (Bartlett, 2004:12).

04.  The process of empowerment means a transition from a state of powerlessness to a state of more control over one’s life, fate, and environment. The process is aimed at changing three dimensions of a social condition, i.e., to bring about a change in: people’s feelings and capacities; the life of the collective that they belong to; and the professional practice that gets involved in the situation (Sadan, 2004:13).

05.  The Empowerment Process

The Empowerment Process is an energetic transformation process developed and taught by Janet E. Swartz, M.A. Janet provides individual sessions either in person or on the telephone, as well as workshops for participants to gain self-sufficiency for self-empowerment and self-healing in body, mind, and spirit.

The Empowerment Courses are taught in a weekend, workshop format. This allows sufficient practice time for students to gain confidence in their ability to create transformations for themselves as well as to guide others through the transformation process The Empowerment Process™ may easily be adopted by educators, counselors, and healing arts practitioners and included as part of their current practices.

06.  The Empowerment Process:

• Is a transformational system that allows our awareness to move to new, elevated places of understanding and freedom. We learn to let go of useless burdens, simplify and clarify confusions, and resolve issues that we hold in our energetic system as “stories.”
  • Helps us release stored emotions and physical discomforts that we habitually hold on to as energy constrictions that can impair our health.
  • Allows us to transform so that we can move beyond our small ego, and gain a universal perspective so that we are able to recognize and enjoy our divine nature.
• Gives us the experience of living in the infinite and eternal present moment, a place where we can appreciate and live in the comfort of inner peace.

http://www.empowermentprocess.com/

07.  Empowerment processes are of central importance to rights based development. For DFID, “A human rights approach to development means empowering people to make their own decisions, rather than be passive objects of choices made on their behalf.” (Bartlett, 2004:2).

08.  The term empowerment is commonly used to indicate both an outcome, in which a person or group enjoys a state of empowerment, and a process, an action that moves a group or person from a lower to a higher state of empowerment (Alsop et al., 2006:3).

09.  Empowerment is defined as a group’s or individual’s capacity to make effective choices, that is, to make choices and then to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes (Alsop et al., 2006:10).

10.   The role of empowerment in the elimination of poverty has been widely examined. The World Bank has proposed that empowerment is one of three ‘critical pillars’ of poverty reduction (Bartlett, 2004:2).

11.  Finally, DFID’s ‘renewed enthusiasm’ for agriculture, as a key to poverty reduction and the elimination of hunger, recognizes the importance of ‘empowering poor people to realise their rights to assets, markets and services, particularly to land (Bartlett, 2004:3).

12.  Empowerment is the driving force of people-centered development, and all of us – consultants, project managers and field workers – can do a better job if we recognize and foster the empowerment of the people we work with (Bartlett, 2004:3).

13.  The process of empowerment. At the heart of empowerment is a process that people undertake by themselves. Whether or not they are given the means for empowerment or they take it, the crucial consideration is what they do with it. Only when people are carrying out their own analysis, making their own decisions, and taking their own action… only then can we say that they are empowered (Bartlett, 2004:5).

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15.  Empowerment, however, is a complex and often misunderstood concept. It is located within the discourse of community development and is connected to concepts of self-help, participation, networking and equity. While it has acquired a considerable aura of “respectability”, even “social status” within the vocabulary of development, it has not yet acquired a socially agreed content. It is also one of those concepts whose full implications people do not realize when they use it (Gergis, 1999:5).

16.  The concept of empowerment has evolved within the development discourse. It has dethroned the term “participation”, which lost some of its currency since the 1980s. Empowerment came into vogue in response to the situation where people could “participate” in a project without having the power to decide on the critical issues related to the project. However, empowerment appears to mean different things to different people (Gergis, 1999:6).

17.  According to Rappaport [1987], “empowerment conveys both a psychological sense of personal control or influence and a concern with actual social influence, political power and legal rights”. McArdle [1989] defines empowerment as “the process whereby decisions are made by people who have to bear the consequences of those decisions”. This implies that it is not the achievement of goals, as much as the process of deciding that is important. However, people who have achieved collective goals through self-help are empowered, as they have through their own efforts and by pooling their knowledge, skills and other resources achieved their goals without recourse to an external dependency relationship (Gergis, 1999:6).

18.  In the 1990s, there has been a new paradigm shift in development thinking. Empowerment has been at the center of this paradigm shift and the attempt to re-conceptualize development and development strategies aimed at poverty alleviation, particularly in the rural areas. In line with this new thinking, the Human Development Report [UNDP 1993:1] states that “development must be woven around people, not people around development – and it should empower individuals and groups, rather than dis-empower them”. This rethinking has been brought about by the fact that despite decades of development assistance accompanied by growth in some instances, the number of people who are in absolute poverty continues to increase. (Gergis, 1999:3).

19.  Most perspectives on empowerment emphasize the need to build capacity in societies to respond to the changing economic and political environment. For example, following its establishment in September 1998, the Black Economic Empowerment Commission (BEEC) of South Africa has defined Black Economic Empowerment as “an integrated and coherent socio-economic process, located in the context of national transformation that is aimed to redressing the imbalances of the past” [Enterprise, 1999]. This definition of economic empowerment encompasses several aspects of the empowerment concept as defined above. The stated objective of Black Economic Empowerment (BEEC) is to ensure broader and more meaningful citizen participation in the development process in South Africa in order to achieve sustainable development, growth and prosperity (Gergis, 1999:6).

20.  The fundamental goal of empowerment is to help individuals within the society to improve the quality of their own lives and share equitably in the benefits of economic growth. Growth that depends on constant infusions of grants or subsidized financing from government or other donors is inherently unsustainable. Empowerment is about helping people unleash their creative and productive energies to achieve sustainable growth and continuous improvement in their living standards (Gergis, 1999:6-7).

21.  More generally, empowerment means engaging the relevant stakeholders in a given process by applying the principles of inclusiveness, transparency and accountability. As such, the empowerment concept goes beyond the notions of democracy, human rights and participation, to include enabling people to understand the reality of their environment (social, economic, political, ecological and cultural) and to take the necessary actions to improve their well-being (Gergis, 1999:7).

22.  To empower means either to strengthen one’s belief in his (her) selfefficacy or to weaken one’s belief in personal powerlessness. Therefore, any real empowerment must be “self-empowerment”. There must be an internal urge to influence and control [Conger and Kanungo, 1988]. People are empowered when they feel an enhancement of their abilities to control, influence or cope with their social or economic roles (Gergis, 1999:6-7).

23.  Community empowerment, that is the government, private sector and society will empower the poor so that they are able to exercise their economic, social and political rights, control decisions that affect their lives, express their aspirations, and identify their own problems and needs (SMERU, 2003: )

24.  Masyarakat mencapai pemberdayaan diri melalui partisipasi aktif dalam pengetahuan diri sendiri (self-knowledge), seperti penemuan kembali cara-cara lokal menginterpretasi dan hidup dalam dunia itu (McMichael, 1996:256).

25.  Kartasasmita (1995b:18) menegaskan bahwa memberdayakan masyarakat adalah upaya untuk meningkatkan harkat dan martabat lapisan masyarakat kita yang dalam kondisi sekarang tidak mampu untuk melepaskan diri dari perangkat kemiskinan dan keterbelakangan.

26.  Masyarakat (dalam pemberdayaan) harus merundingkan kompleksitas kelas, gender, dan hubungan-hubungan kultural yang membentuk masyarakat itu dan menghubungkan mereka dengan konteks nasional dan global yang lebih luas (McMichael, 1996:256).

27.  The Empowerment Team defines empowerment as increasing the capacity of individuals and groups to make choices and to transform these choices into desired actions and outcomes. (Alsop, 2004:4).

28.  An empowerment approach has direct relevance to rights-based approaches to development, which are based on a sense of justice and equity in relations between people, as well as the idea that individuals have a set of entitlements for which the state is responsible to advance, promote, and protect.(Alsop, 2004:vii).

29.  Menurut Kieffer (1981) dan Suharto (1997) pemberdayaan mencakup tiga dimensi yang meliputi kompetensi kerakyatan, kemampuan sosio-politik, dan kompetensi partisipatif (Ismail Nawawi, 2006:94).

30.  Schuler, Hashemi dan Riley (Ismail Nawawi, 2006:95-97) mengembangkan delapan indikator pemberdayaan, yang mereka sebut sebagai empowerment index atau indeks pemberdayaan.  Kedelapan indikator tersebut adalah sebagai berikut:

1. Kebebasan mobilitas : kemampuan individu untuk pergi ke luar rumah atau wilayah tempat tinggalnya, seperti ke pasar, fasilitas medis, bioskop, rumah ibadah, ke rumah tetangga. Tingkat mobilitas ini dianggap tinggi jika individu mampu pergi sendirian.
2. Kemampuan membeli komoditas kecil; kemampuan individu untuk membeli barang-barang kebutuhan keluarga sehari-hari (beras, minyak tanah, minyak goreng, bumbu): kebutuhan dirinya (minyak rambut, sabun mandi, rokok, bedak, sampo). Individu dianggap mampu melakukan kegiatan ini terutama jika ia dapat membuat keputusan sendiri tanpa meminta ijin pasangannya; terlebih jika ia dapat membeli barang-barang tersebut dengan menggunakan uangnya sendiri.
3. Kemampuan membeli komoditas besar; kemampuan individu untuk membeli komoditas besar; kemampuan individu untuk membeli barang-barang sekunder dan tersier, seperti lemari pakaian, TV, radio, koran, majalah, pakaian keluarga. Seperti halnya indikator di atas, poin tinggi diberikan terhadap individu yang dapat membuat keputusan sendiri tanpa meminta ijin pasangannya; terlebih jika ia dapat membeli barang-barang tersebut dengan menggunakan uangnya sendiri.
4. Terlibat dalam pembuatan keputusan-keputusan rumah tangga; mampu membuat keputusan secara sendiri maupun bersama suami/istri mengenai keputusan-keputusan keluarga, misalnya mengenai renovasi rumah, pembelian kambing untuk diternak, memperoleh kredit usaha.
5. Kebebasan relatif dari dominasi keluarga: responden ditanya mengenai apakah dalam satu tahun terakhir ada seseorang (suami, istri, anak-anak, mertua) yang mengambil uang, tanah, perhiasan dari dia tanpa ijinnya; yang melarang mempunyai anak, atau melarang bekerja di luar rumah.
6. Kesadaran hukum dan politik; mengetahui nama seorang pegawai pemerintah desa/kelurahan; seorang anggota DPRD setempat; nama presiden; mengetahui pentingnya memiliki surat nikah dan hukum-hukum waris.
7. Keterlibatan dalam kampanye dan protes-protes; seseorang dianggap ’berdaya’ jika ia pernah terlibat dalam kampanye atau bersama orang lain melakukan protes, misalnya terhadap suami yang memukul istri; istri yang mengabaikan suami dan keluarganya; gaji yang tidak adil; penyalahgunaan bantuan sosial; atau penyalahgunaan kekuasaan polisi dan pegawai pemerintah.
8. Jaminan ekonomi dan kontribusi terhadap keluarga: memiliki rumah, tanah, asset produktif, tabungan. Seseorang dianggap memiliki posisi tinggi jika ia memiliki aspek-aspek tersebut secara sendiri atau terpisah dari pasangannya.

31.  However, the Plan cannot reduce poverty significantly without systematic efforts to augment and harmonize the three fundamental components of empowerment: the economic, the political and the socio-cultural (UNDP, 2004:12). – UDAH

32.  However, empowerment becomes sustainable only in an environment where policies and institutional reforms complement grassroots initiatives to address political, social and conomic empowerment simultaneously – in short, the policy environment generally termed “pro-poor” (UNDP, 2004:16).

33.  Educational attainment: Rich et al mengatakan bahwa Knowledge is a critical human choice in its own right. It is also valued as a constituent of the human capabilities to do other things (contribute to productivity, self-respect and relative power or empowerment) and is encapsulated as instrumental empowerment (UNDP, 2004:127).

34.  Empowerment in one dimension can play a catalytic role in bringing about change in other dimensions depending on the context and stage of development. The expansion of human knowledge and capabilities, for instance, has an indirect influence on economic and political empowerment. However, evidence shows that empowerment promoting development interventions within a particular dimension does not necessarily lead to empowerment in other dimensions (Malhotra and Mather 1997; Kishor 1995 and 2000; Hashemi et al 1996; Beegle et al 1998 dalam UNDP, 2004:125).

35.  Kata pemberdayaan bukanlah suatu kata baru, melainkan telah muncul pada pertengahan abad ke-17 dengan makna legalistik “berinvestasi dengan kewenangan, memberikan kewenangan.” Setelah itu digunakan dengan cara yang lebih umum dengan makna “membolehkan atau memungkinkan” (to enable or permit). Sumber?

36.  [002]empower – verb: To give them authority or official permission to do it. Empower someone to do something (usually).

http://www.allwords.com/word-empowerment.html

37.  Pemberdayaan merupakan suatu istilah yang populer dalam layanan kesehatan mental terutama di Amerika. Hampir setiap program layanan kesehatan mental mengklaim memberdayakan para “kliennya,” bahkan dalam prakteknya ada sedikit definisi operasional dari istilah tersebut yang sangat tidak jelas bahwa program-program yang mempergunakan istilah tersebut dalam cara yang dapat diukur berbeda dari program-program yang tidak mempergunakannya. Walaupun kurang adanya definisi, kata itu (pemberdayaan) telah biasa menjadi retorika politik, dengan fleksibilitas makna yang begitu luas sehingga kata itu tampak berbahaya kehilangan makna yang melekat sama sekali. Para politisi konservatif Amerika telah mempromosikan “reformasi” kesejahteraan, misalnya,  dengan mengklaim bahwa dengan memotong keuntungan akan “memberdayakan” para penerima  (yang kemudian, agaknya, akan menjadi mampu mencukupi kebutuhannya sendiri)! Penggunaan-penggunaan yang demikian membuatnya sulit  untuk mengklaim bahwa “pemberdayaan” merupakan suatu konsep yang bermakna. Masalah penggunaan istilah itu secara bermakna bahkan menjadi lebih problematik di negara-negara lain dan bahasa-bahasa lain

(http://www.power2u.org/articles/empower/working_def.html)

38.  Pemberdayaan memiliki unsur-unsur yang umum dalam konsep-konsep seperti rasa harga-diri (self-esteem) dan kemanjuran-diri (self-efficacy), tetapi konsep-konsep ini tidak sepenuhnya menangkap dengan jelas tentang pemberdayaan.  Pemberdayaan memiliki seperangkat karakteristik sebagai berikut:

1. Memiliki daya membuat-keputusan.
2. Memiliki akses terhadap informasi dan sumber.
3. Memiliki rentangan pilihan dari mana untuk membuat pilihan-pilihan (bukan hanya ya/tidak, baik/buruk).
4. Ketegasan.
5. Suatu perasaan bahwa individu dapat membuat suatu perbedaan (penuh harapan).
6. Belajar berpikir kritis; tidak belajar pengkondisian; melihat hal-hal secara berbeda, misalnya:.

• Belajar mendefinsikan kembali siapa kita (berbicara dengan suara kita sendiri).
• Belajar mendefinisikan kembali apa yang dapat kita lakukan.
• Belajar mendefinisikan kembali hubungan-hubungan kita dengan kekuatan yang melembaga.

1. Belajar tentang dan mengekspresikan amarah.
2. Tidak merasa sendiri; merasa bagian dari suatu kelompok.
3. Memahami bahwa masyarakat memiliki hak-hak.
4. Mempengaruhi perubahan dalam kehidupan seseorang dan kehidupan masyarakat.
5. Belajar ketrampilan-ketrampilan (misalnya, komunikasi) yang mana individu menentukan sebagai hal penting.
6. Mengubah persepsi orang lain tentang kompetensi dan kapasitasnya untuk bertindak.
7. Keluar dari rapat tertutup.
8. Pertumbuhan dan perubahan yang tidak pernah berakhir dan atas inisiatif sendiri.
9. Meningkatkan kesan-diri (self-image) yang positif dan mengatasi stigma. (http://www.power2u.org/articles/empower/working_def.html).

39.  Unsur-unsur kunci pemberdayaan adalah akses terhadap informasi, kemampuan membuat pilihan, ketegasan, dan rasa-harga diri. Pemberdayaan memiliki dimensi individual dan kelompok.  (http://www.power2u.org/articles/ empower/working_def.html)

40.  Pada intinya bahwa konsep pemberdayaan itu adalah ide tentang kekuasaan. Kemungkinan pemberdayaan tergantung pada dua hal. Pertama, pemberdayaan memerlukan bahwa kekuasaan dapat berubah. Jika kekuasaan tidak berubah, jika kekuasaan melekat dalam posisi atau masyarakat, maka pemberdayaan tidak mungkin, atau pemberdayaan itu  tidak dapat dikonsepkan dalam cara apapun yang bermakna, jika kekuasaan itu berubah, kemudian pemberdayaan itu mungkin. Kedua, konsep pemberdayaan tergantung pada ide bahwa kekuasaan dapat diperluas (expand). Poin kedua ini merefleksikan pengalaman lazim kita  daripada bagaimana kita berpikir tentang kekuasaan. Cherly E. Czuba. (http://www.joe.org/joe/ 1999october/comm1.html) .

41.  In Vietnam, UNICEF has supported programmes that link credit with literacy and life-skills messages. Credit is provided within a group-based system of lending in which two of five women have working children. The credit is conditional on the children of all borrowers attending school. (Peter Puckland,1999).

42.  In India, 15 families, spanning three generations, use discarded cotton rags and waste paper to create an all-natural paper. They use their skills to keep them from abject poverty. This is an example of how the traditional skills of poor people can be used to raise them out of poverty. This is achieved with the support of governnent policies, international marketing strategies, and the support of an international agency to maintain quality and market promotion. (Prepared from: Choices: The Human Development Magazine, UNDP 1997.).

43.  If you have a disability and are being empowered then this implies that you illegally lost that capability and are having to be re-empowered. Maybe instead of being empowered we should refer to it as regaining our human rights or rights which we were never supposed to have lost in the first place.  (http://www.suite101.com/ article.cfm/disability_advocacy/18997/2)

44.  Power is often related to our ability to make others do what we want, regardless of their own wishes or interests (Weber, 1946). Traditional social science emphasizes power as influence and control, often treating power as a commodity or structure divorced from human action (Lips, 1991). Conceived in this way, power can be viewed as unchanging or unchangeable. Weber (1946) gives us a key word beyond this limitation by recognizing that power exists within the context of a relationship between people or things. Power does not exist in isolation nor is it inherent in individuals. By implication, since power is created in relationships, power and power relationships can change. Empowerment as a process of change, then, becomes a meaningful concept.

(Nanette Page dan Cheryl E. Czuba dalam

http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/ym/mail.html ).

45.  “Empowerment” has many meanings and uses, as reflected in these examples:

• Wingspan Youth Development Services defines empowerment as character education and leadership development. The organization’s theme is described by a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt: “We must do that which we think we can not.” Ada di: http://www.wingspanyes.org/
• The focus of African-American Community Empowerment, Inc. of Morris County, N.J., is reflected in its motto: “People helping people to attain personal growth through community empowerment.”. Ada di:  http://www.aceofmorris.org/
• The Midlands Intertribal Empowerment Group defines its purpose as preserving and supporting Native American culture in South Carolina.
• The Government of India has a Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the city of Los Angeles, Calif., has a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

1. Ada hubungan timbal balik  antara aset dan kapabilitas indibidual dan kemampuan bertindak secara kolektif. Hubungan dua arah ini benar untuk semua kelompok dalam masyarakat, walaupun fokusnya adalah penduduk miskin. Penduduk miskin yang …, terdidik, dan aman dapat berkontribusi secara lebih efektif pada tindakan kolektif, dan pada waktu yang sama, tindakan kolektif dapat memperbaiki akses penduduk miskin pada pendidikan dan kesehatan yang berkualitas (World Bank, 2002:12).
2. Kelebihan utama pemberdayaan masyarakat miskin melalui kelompok (organisasi) adalah bahwa penduduk miskin: (1) dapat memobilisir sumber-sumber. Sumber untuk memperbaiki …, pendidikan, dan keamanan aset, (2) dapat mengekspresikan pilihannya, penggunaan suara, dan memegang pemerintahan dan para pemberi layanan publik yang dapat bertanggung jawab dalam memberikan layanan yang berkualitas dalam bidang pendidikan, kesehatan, air, sanitasi, pertanian, atau kawasan lainnya, dan (3) dapat memberbaiki akses pada pengembangan bisnis dan layanan finansial (World Bank, 2002:12).
3. Pemberdayaan adalah ekspansi aset dan kapabilititas penduduk miskin untuk berpartisipasi dalam, bernegosiasi dengan, mempengaruhi, mengawasi, dan memegang institusi-institusi yang dapat dipertanggungjawabkan yang mempengaruhi kehidupan mereka (World Bank, 2002:11).
4. Kelompok masyarakat menegah (intermediate civil groups) memiliki peranan kritis untuk dimainkan dalam mendukung kapabilitas penduduk miskin, menerjemahkan dan menginterpretasikan informasi pada mereka, dan membantu menghubungkan mereka dengan pada negara (pemerintah) dan sektor swasta (Wordl Bank, 2002:13).

50.  While empowerment has been identified to be of instrumental value in contributing to developmental efectiveness, good governance, and growth, empowerment is equally of value intrinsically in improving people ’s lives. (Alsop, 2004: vii).

51.  An empowerment approach has direct relevance to rights-based approaches to development,which are based on a sense of justice and equity in relations between people,as well as the idea that individuals have a set of entitlements for which the state is responsible to advance,promote,and protect. (Alsop, 2004:vii).

52.  Pemberdayaan itu merupakan suatu proses yang menantang asumsi-asumsi kita tentang sesuatu itu ada atau dapat menjadi ada (Page & Czuba, 1999:1).

1. Inti konsep pemberdayaan adalah ide tentang kekuasaan (power). Kemungkinan pemberdayaan tergantung pada dua hal. Pertama, pemberdayaan memerlukan bahwa kekuasaan dapat berubah. Jika kekuasaan tidak berubah, jika kekuasaan itu inheren dalam posisi atau diri orang-orang, pemberdayaan itu tidak mungkin, atau pemberdayaan itu tidak dapat dikonsepkan dalam cara apapun yang bermakna. Dengan kata lain jika kekuasaan itu dapat berubah, maka pemberdayaan adalah mungkin. Kedua, konsep pemberdayaan tergantung pada ide bahwa kekuasaan itu dapat diperluas (expand). Poin kedua ini merefleksikan pengalaman umum tentang kekuasaan daripada bagaimana kita berpikir tentang kekuasaan (Page & Chuza, 1999:1).

54.  Secara umum pemberdayaan didefinisikan sebagai suatu proses sosial multi-dimensional yang membantu penduduk untuk mengawasi kehidupannya sendiri. Pemberdayaan itu merupakan suatu proses yang memupuk kekuasaan (yaitu, kemampuan mengimplementasikan) pada penduduk, untuk penggunaan bagi kehidupan mereka sendiri, komunitas mereka, dan masyarakat mereka, dengan berbuat mengenai isu-isu yang mereka tentukan sebagai hal penting (Page & Czuba, 1999:3).

1. Ada tiga komponen dalam definisi pemberdayaan sebagai dasar untuk pemahaman manapun tentang pemberdayaan. Pemberdayaan adalah multi-dimensional, sosial, dan suatu proses. Pemberdayaan bersifat multi-dimensional terjadi dalam dimensi sosiologis, psikologis, ekonomis, dan dimensi-dimensi lain. Pemberdayaan juga terjadi pada tingkatan-tingkatan yang beragam, seperti individu, kelompok, dan masyarakat. Pemberdayaan, berdasarkan definisi tersebut, merupakan suatu proses sosial, karena terjadi dalam tata hubungan dengan orang-orang lain. Pemberdayaan merupakan suatu proses yang sama dengan jalan setapak (path) atau perjalanan (journey), proses yang berkembang jika kita bekerja melalui jalan itu. Aspek-aspek lain dalam pemberdayaan bisa berbeda menurut konteks spesifik dan penduduk yang terlibat, tetapi hal ini tetap bersifat konstan. Selanjutnya, satu implikasi penting dari definisi pemberdayaan bahwa individu dan masyarakat secara mendasar terkait (Page & Czuba, 1999:3).
2. Model pemberdayaan kemiskinan menempatkan ekonomi rumah tangga ke dalam pusat medan kekuasaan sosial di mana akses relatif pada basis-basis kekuasaan sosial bisa diukur dan dibandingkan (Friedmann, 1992:66).
3. Model pempedayaan (dis)empowerment) juga dipandang sebagai model pemberdayaan atau, secara akurat, suatu model pemberdayaan-diri kolektif (collective self-empowerment) (Friedmann, 1992:70).

58.  Zimmerman (1995) presented three areas in the lives of human beings in which empowerment occurs:

1. Psychological empowerment (PE) refers to empowerment at the individual level of analysis.
2. Organizational empowerment (OE) includes processes and structures that enhance members’ skills and provide them with the mutual support necessary to effect community level change (i.e., empowering organization). It refers to improved organizational effectiveness by effectively competing for resources, networking with other organizations, or expanding its influence (i.e., empowered organization).
3. At the community level of analysis empowerment refers to individuals working together in an organized fashion to improve their collective lives and linkages among community organizations and agencies that help maintain that quality of life. (pp. 581-582)

59.  By Bush and Folger’s definition, “empowerment means the restoration to individuals of a sense of their own value and strength and their own capacity to handle life’s problems.

…. “empowerment” refers to processes through which disenfranchised social groups work to change their social surroundings, change detrimental policies and structures, and work to fulfill their needs.

Duagan, Maire A. 2003. Empowerment. Terdapat di: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/empowerment/.Diakses 15 Januari 2007

60.  Empowerment is the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this process are actions which both build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the organizational and institutional context which govern the use of these assets.

Pemberdayaan merupakan suatu proses meningkatkan kapasitas individu-individu atau kelompok untuk membuat pilihan-pilihan dan mentransformasikannya ke dalam tindakan dan hasil yang diinginkan. Yang utama dalam proses ini adalah tindakan-tindakan untuk keduanya membangun aset individu dan kolektif serta memperbaiki efisiensi dan kejujuran pada konteks organisasi dan institusi yang mengatur aset tersebut.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTEMPOWERMENT/0,,contentMDK:20245753~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:486411,00.html

61.  Memberdayakan masyarakat adalah upaya untuk meningkatkan harkat dan martabat lapisan masyarakat kita yang dalam kondisi sekarang tidak mampu untuk melepaskan diri dari perangkat kemiskinan dan keterbelakangan. Dengan kata lain memberdayakan adalah memampukan dan memandirikan masyarakat (Ginandjar Kartasasmita, 1995b:18).

62.  Upaya memberdayakan masyarakat harus dilakukan melalui tiga jurusan, yaitu: pertama, menciptakan suasana  atau iklim yang memungkinkan potensi masyarakat berkembang. Di sini titik tolaknya adalah pengenalan bahwa setiap manusia, setiap masyarakat, memiliki potensi yang dapat dikembangkan. Kedua, memperkuat potensi atau daya yang dimiliki oleh masyarakat (empowering). Dalam rangka pemberdayaan ini, upaya yang amat pokok adalah peningkatan taraf pendidikan, dan derajat kesehatan, serta akses kepada sumber-sumber kemajuan ekonomi seperti modal, teknologi, informasi, lapangan kerja, dan pasar. Ketiga, memberdayakan mengandung pula arti melindungi. Dalam proses pemberdayaan, harus dicegah yang lemah menjadi bertambah lemah, oleh karena kekurangberdayaan dalam menghadapi yang kuat. Oleh karena itu, perlindungan dan pemihakan kepada yang lemah amat mendasar sifatnya dalam konsep pemberdayaan masyarakat (Ginandjar Kartasasmita, 1995b:19-20).

63.  Pemberdayaan masyarakat bukan membuat masyarakat menjadi tergantung pada berbagai program pemberian (charity). Karena pada dasarnya setiap apa yang dinikmati, harus dihasilkan atas usaha sendiri (yang hasilnya dapat dipertukarkan dengan pihak lain) (Ginandjar Kartasasmita, 1995b:20).

64.  By Bush and Folger’s definition, “empowerment means the restoration to individuals of a sense of their own value and strength and their own capacity to handle life’s problems.” In their treatment, empowerment does not include ‘power balancing’ or redistribution of power within the mediation process itself in order to protect weaker parties.”Further, it does not mean “controlling or influencing the mediation process so as to produce outcomes that redistribute resources or power outside the process from stronger to weaker parties” (Duagan, 2003).

Duagan, Maire A. 2003. Empowerment. Terdapat di: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/empowerment/

Diakses 15 Januari 2007

Pemberdayaan itu tampak menjadi 2 ragam, yaitu:

• Satu dengan keuntungan pada keduanya pemberdaya dan orang-orang yang diberdayakan. Tipe ini disebut sebagai ‘pemberdayaan’.
• Yang lain di mana kekuasaan diciptakan oleh seseorang yang sebelumnya mempersepsikan dirinya tidak berdaya dan kemudian membangkitkan daya mereka sendiri. Tipe ini disebut ‘pemberdayaan diri-sendiri’.

http://www.empowermentillustrated.com/mtarchive/000421.html

January 01, 2003

65.  Empowerment seems to come in 2 flavours:

• one with benefits to both an empowerer and those empowered. I propose to call this type simply ’empowerment’.
• another where power is created out of nothing by somebody who previously perceived themselves to be powerless and then woke up to their own power. This could be called ‘self-empowerment’.

http://www.empowermentillustrated.com/mtarchive/000421.html

January 01, 2003

66.  John Mortimer of the Vangard Group says “empowerment is a consequence of a style of management, and not an action. This means that you cannot get empowerment by forcing it, but by creating the conditions for empowerment to flourish.”

http://www.empowermentillustrated.com/mtarchive/000421.html

January 01, 2003

67.  At work employees say they do not have enough empowerment while managers claim that they give it. A definition of empowerment at work from an MBA thesis is “The process of sharing information, training and allowing employees to manage their jobs in order to obtain optimum results”.

http://www.empowermentillustrated.com/mtarchive/000421.html.                 January 01, 2003

68.  All types of empowerment however involve ‘self-empowerment’ because the crucial step is a change in the state of mind of the person or people who are empowered. http://www.empowermentillustrated.com/mtarchive/000421.html.                 January 01, 2003

69.  Empowerment implies an increase of consciousness.

http://www.empowermentillustrated.com/mtarchive/000421.html.                 January 01, 2003

70.  Self-empowerment means that you become an active partner with those experts to mutually determine what’s best for you, and/or what course of action you wish to pursue regarding your plans for the future, and treatments or lack of them.

Shernoff, Michael. 1992. What is Self-Empowerment?. Terdapat di: http://www.thebody.com/shernoff/empower.html. Diakses 10 Pebruari 2007.

71.  Community Empowerment is a process whereby communities are encouraged to become increasingly self-reliant. This is accomplished by increasing the communities’ sense of ownership and responsibility for the sustainability of their own development activities and programmes and by increasing their capacity to:

• analyse their livelihood and problems;
• find solutions to these problems;
• develop and initiate activities, review the results and redesign solutions as necessary;
• mobilise local resources (skills, financial, capital, knowledge and labour);
• develop systems to access other resources that may be required to support their activities.

In principle, the community decides what they are going to do, and these activities form the basis of local, regional and national development programmes. The government’s (and other supporting institution’s) role is to facilitate the process of identifying needs and developing activities, and then to provide the necessary support. This role must be interpreted as improving the quality of services (and making them more responsive).

http://www.deliveri.org/guidelines/policy/pg_3/pg_3_2.htm. Akses 14 Pebruari 2007

72.  The underlying principles of Community Empowerment include:

• putting communities first, especially the poor, illiterate and marginal groups;
• building cooperative relationships between communities and development agencies;
• mobilising and optimising the sustainable use of local resources;
• reducing dependency;
• sharing power and responsibilities;
• increasing sustainability.

http://www.deliveri.org/guidelines/policy/pg_3/pg_3_2.htm. Akses 14 Pebruari

73.  Jo Rowlands has made following classifcations of power (1998):

• power over: controlling power over some one and something. Response to it can be compliance, resistance or manipulation.
• power to: generative or productive power that creates new possibilities and actions without domination.
• power with: power generating a feeling that the whole is greater than the sum of individuals and action as a group is more effective.
• power from within: a sense that there is strength that is in each and every individual. The recognition of one´s own self-acceptance and self-respect enables the acceptance of others as equals

74.   Empowerment makes growth pro-poor by broading human capailities and improving the distribution of productive assets (Nepal Human Development Report 2004: 16).

75.  Conventional anti-poverty approaches, which focus almost exclusively on income and basic needs, have generally failed to reduce powerlessness and the negative attributes usually associated with it, notably isolation, vulnerability and physical weakness. By contrast, the empowerment approach – with its stress on enhancing individual entitlements, capabilities, rights and freedoms – is one of the four pillars of human development and effectively reinforces the other three: equity, productivity and sustainability (Haq dalam Nepal Human Development Report 2004:16).It creates the conditions necessary to enable the poor to take advantage of poverty-reduction opportunities by strengthening their socio-cultural, economic and political capabilities. However, empowerment becomes sustainable only in an environment where policies and institutional reforms complement grassroots initiatives to address political, social and economic empowerment simultaneously – in short, the policy environment generally termed “pro-poor” (Tropp, 2004:16).

76.  Growth has to be pro-poor to make a dent on poverty. Empowerment makes growth pro-poor by broadening human capabilities and improving the distribution of productive assets. For a given rate of growth, poverty will fall faster in countries with more equitable distribution of income than in those where income inequalities are higher (Tropp, 2004:16).

77.  During the last two decades, the term “empowerment” has become a keyword of development discussions worldwide, accruing as many definitions and connotations as the word development itself (Tropp, 2004:12).

78.   … defining empowerment as the process of transforming existing power relations and of gaining greater control over the sources of power. Empowerment builds people’s capacity to gain understanding and control over personal, social, economic and political forces to act individually as well as collectively to make choices about the way they want to be and do things in their best interest to improve their life situation. This definition captures the spirit of human development, which is defined as “creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests.… to be able to participate in the life of the community.” (Tropp, 2004:12).

79.  Rights are widely characterized as legitimate claims that give rise to correlative obligations or duties. To have a right is to have a legitimate claim against some person, group, or organization, such as a social or economic institution, a state, or an international community. (Alsop, 2004:30).

80.  Conceptualizations of Rights.

• Rights as legitimate claims: Rights are widely characterized as legitimate claims that invoke correlative obligations or duties.
• Rights regime: A system of rights deriving from a particular regulatory order or source of authority. In a given society, several rights regimes may co-exist (for example, customary law, religious law, and statutory law), each with distinct normative frameworks and means of formulation and enforcement.
• Individual rights: A subset of rights as legitimate claims in which the rights bearer is an individual person; group rights would not fall within this subset of rights.
• Universal human rights: An individual right with a universal domain; that is, an individual right that applies to all human beings equally, irrespective of their membership of particular families, groups, religions, communities, or societies. (Alsop, 2004:31).

81.  Key Principles in Human Rights. As agreed in Vienna in 1993, key normative principles of human rights include the following:

• Universality and indivisibility.
• Equality and non-discrimination
• Participation and inclusion
• Accountability and the rule of law . (Alsop, 2004:32).

82.  … the interaction between formal and informal power relations in the process of institutional change, based on an interactive approach to state-society relations (Fox 1992a, 1996). Th is approach suggests that public institutions whose leadership attempts to move them in more pro-poor directions will have only limited results if they rely solely on their own formal authority. In practice, institutions operate based on combinations of formal and informal power resources. (Alsop, 2004:68-69).

83.  An interactive approach to institutional change suggests that pro-poor reforms require changes in three distinct arenas: within the state itself, within society, and at the state-society interface. Each of these three arenas involves both formal and informal power relations. (Alsop, 2004:70).

84.  Empowerment involves changes in power relations in three interlocking arenas: within society, within the state, and between state and society (Alsop, 2004:71).

85.  Kabeer bases the manifestation of empowerment on the ability to built capability or windows of opportunity to ‘make choices’. Hence empowerment is choice driven, but has to emanate from a state of disempowerment. Hence according to Kabeer ¨the understanding of the notion of empowerment is that it is inescapably bound up with the condition of disempowerment and refers to the processes by which those who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such an ability. In other words, empowerment entails a process of change ¨ (Kabeer, 2001:18-19).

86.  Organized around four “key principles”—economic opportunity, sustainable development, community-based partnerships, and strategic vision for change—the program provides an institutional context for channeling individual investments toward the resolution of underlying causes and issues. Simply stated, the key features of the Empowerment Program include the following:

• It promotes an holistic, comprehensive program of actions
• It focuses on root causes and not merely their symptoms and consequences
• It takes a long-term perspective on reducing poverty and enhancing community Vitality
• It fosters strategic and articulated actions instead of isolated projects
• It requires inclusive and open participation in all phases of planning and Implementation
• It encourages partnerships with helping organizations, public, non-profit and Private
• It is performance-based
• It is informed through training, experience, and information sharing
• It encourages learning through self-assessments
• It builds internal community capacity to sustain continuing processes of growth

(Reid, J. Norman, 2002: ).

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