Facilitating Development of Organizational Productive Capacity

A Role for Empowerment Evaluation

Abstract

Efficacy of community-based social programs is highly dependent on the development of organizational and program capacities — capacities which include the domains of (a) a core-empowered group, (b) internal resources organization, (c) external resources mobilization and integration, (d) strategy comprehensiveness and logic, and (e) monitoring, evaluation and feedback. A framework is offered in which organizational productivity and program outcomes are conceptualized as a product of a transformational process, in which organizational capacities transform vision into productive activity, using the resources of an organization and activated through an environment of collective empowerment. Collective empowerment is defined by the authors as an energy force of mutual commitment, cohesiveness, and conscientiousness that activates the development of increasing organizational capacities, through a cyclical process that builds increasing commitment, “small wins,” and expanded membership. Collective empowerment contributes to the expansion of the program effort with concomitant increased activity accomplishment and achievement of intended outcomes. The authors argue that empowerment evaluation is a philosophy and set of practices that contributes to the development of collective empowerment as well as to the development of organizational and productive capacities. Empowerment evaluation must simultaneously keep in mind the intended program outcomes (which need to be reliably measured) in order to justify the original goals of the program and ensure continuous learning and benefit. Guidelines for evaluators using the empowerment evaluation model are provided.