Three Faces of Empowerment: Expanding the Theory of Empowerment in Community Development

Empowerment as a process in leadership education is seen as fundamental to community development. Often, empowerment is considered only from the individual, psychological perspective in community development interventions. That is, practitioners may arguethat individuals basically empower themselves through personal knowledge, attitudes, and behavior (self-empowerment). The extensive literature on empowerment also makes clear that empowerment is an outcome of interpersonal (mutual empowerment) and collective social action (social empowerment). The extent to which community developers are incorporating these dimensions into their interventions via leadership education is explored. The results of the literature review indicate that these interventions fall short of fully utilizing what we know about empowerment and its role in community development.