Empowerment of women in a Colombian NGO: a simple case study

Abstract:

This paper describes and analyzes the case of group of empowered women who organized a local NGO and generate empowerment in their community. The paper argues that it is a process in time, being possible to explain it through three empowerment levels: psychological, organizational and communitarian. The empowerment process in these women is independent and emerges as the result of their actions on public and social problems in their community, and it generates impact on social development to the extent that the women change their values about "what is a woman" and "how is her reality". The NGO of women generates empowerment based on the liberation theory and elimination of gender oppression. The study contributes to the understanding of the empowerment phenomenon in women organizations who develop public social policies.

Keywords:
empowerment; women; NGOs; public policies; development management