A LADDER OF EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment is often envisioned as a solution to poverty acceptable to both the political right and left. Yet the question that is rarely as ked or answered is, What is empowerment! While the empowerment literat ure provides a rich array of techniques and goals through which indivi duals and groups seek to alter their circumstances, it is contradictor y in assumptions and emphases and provides little coherence or structu re with ,which to make informed decisions. This paper develops a typol ogy, a ladder of empowerment, based on existing empowerment literature , so that planners and others may gain a clearer understanding of empo werment and its varied potential.