Poverty Reduction and Pro-Poor Growth: The Role of Empowerment

It is the decisions and actions of poor people themselves that will bring about sustainable improvements in their lives and livelihoods. Inequitable power relations exclude poor people from decision-making and prevent them from taking action. Poor women and men need to gain and exert influence over the political, economic and social processes that determine and, all too often, constrain their livelihood opportunities. Sustainable poverty reduction needs poor people to be both the agents and beneficiaries of economic growth – to directly participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth processes.  Strengthening poor people’s organisations, providing them with more control over assets and promoting their influence in economic governance will improve the terms on which they engage in markets. This economic empowerment combined with political and social empowerment will make growth much more effective in reducing poverty.

This report aims to build donor understanding of empowerment and presents good practice on how donors can support empowerment processes through their development assistance. It presents a Policy Guidance Note and ten Good Practice Notes, providing sector-specific practical advice.

Chapter 6 of the report specifically focuses on legal empowerment and its relation to pro-poor growth.