Measuring empowerment in practice; structuring analysis and framing indicators

This paper presents an analytic framework that can be used to measure and monitor
empowerment processes and outcomes. The measuring empowerment (ME) framework,
rooted in both conceptual discourse and measurement practice, illustrates how to gather
data on empowerment and structure its analysis. The framework can be used to measure
empowerment at both the intervention level and the country level, as a part of poverty or
governance monitoring.
The paper first provides a definition of empowerment and then explains how the concept
can be reduced to measurable components. Empowerment is defined as a person’s
capacity to make effective choices; that is, as the capacity to transform choices into
desired actions and outcomes. The extent or degree to which a person is empowered is
influenced by personal agency (the capacity to make purposive choice) and opportunity
structure (the institutional context in which choice is made). Asset endowments are used
as indicators of agency. These assets may be psychological, informational,
organizational, material, social, financial, or human. Opportunity structure is measured by
the presence and operation of formal and informal institutions, including the laws,
regulatory frameworks, and norms governing behavior. Degrees of empowerment are
measured by the existence of choice, the use of choice, and the achievement of choice.
Following the conceptual discussion and the presentation of the analytic framework, this
paper illustrates how the ME framework can be applied, using examples from four
development interventions. Each example discusses how the framework guided analysis
and development of empowerment indicators. The paper also presents a draft module for
measuring empowerment at the country level. The module can be used alone or be
integrated into country-level poverty or governance monitoring systems that seek to add
an empowerment dimension to their analysis.