Empowerment: What does it mean to you?

The “Definitions of Empowerment” represents a collaborative effort, made possible by the answers received from people all over the world on the Empowerment theme. Their invaluable contributions were essential for the preparation of the Empowerment Publication.

In order to collect people’s ideas and experiences, the Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) of UNDESA launched an on-line survey on “Promoting Empowerment of People”.

We were glad to receive tens and tens of responses from young individuals, persons with disabilities, older persons, and people working for various institutions and organizations committed to social development issues. Their keen interest on Empowerment remembered us the constantly growing importance this topic has in our society.

We welcomed and carefully screened all the answer from the on-line community, but due to the large volume of contributions, we were not able to include all of them inside the “Definitions of Empowerment”.

They were all precious, since they provided us a unique overview of what empowerment means for people with different origins, cultures and languages.

The Division for Social Policy and Development is grateful for the many contributions received, which enabled each other as well as readers of the Empowerment survey, to share and learn from their experiences and believes.