Haiti Empowered

The word “empowerment” is used by almost every development agency in the world, but what it means is less clear. Empowerment is difficult to measure, to confirm, to document.  

Agencies often talk about “empowering” a group of people, but can one “empower” someone else – or can one only create the conditions in which someone else can empower themselves? 

These questions will continue to challenge the world, and Future Generations has been asking these questions – and researching empowerment and social change – for more than 2 decades. The methodology that was established based on this research, SEED-SCALE, came from documenting the common characteristics and principles of communities that had empowered themselves. The methodology is not a step-by-step path to empowerment, but rather a framework and set of principles to guide communities who are already on the path of community-driven change. The most important aspect is helping communities develop a capacity for self-evaluation and decision-making based on evidence, so they can guide themselves forward through critical thinking and analysis.

Future Generations Haiti has been identifying these kinds of communities through the Success Mapping initiative, and then reinforcing their progress with workshops centered around the principles of SEED-SCALE. Through a series of partnerships, Future Generations Haiti has managed to create a creole-language SEED-SCALE guide, adapting and refining it to the Haitian context, and holding over 2 dozen workshops across the country. Future Generations Haiti exists to help support communities on their own path to empowerment through workshops and exchanges.