Un/Making CSC
Empowerment

Empowerment

‘Empowerment’, a notoriously tricky concept to define, is made meaningful through these metaphors.

A digital photograph of differently coloured pins that represents the idea that empowerment is like ants. Ants have the unique character of working in collaboration to build their homes and source food, and just like empowerment, it is always about collaboration to achieve a goal. It does not happen in a closed space but through participation.
Empowerment is like ants.
A digital photo of a rubrics cube. A metaphor to express that empowerment is a bit like a rubrics cube. You need a tactics to reorganise it properly otherwise it will keep going and going. You have to invest a lot of effort. In spite of doing it, many times you may not get a proper result, unless you are clear with the processes and procedures. The different colours represent the different stakeholders. Every time you try to move something, something else changes, there are unintended consequences all the time.
Empowerment is a bit like a rubrics cube.
Digital photo of a mirror collage; this represents the metaphor that community media is a like a mirror, it is a mirror that reflects what is happening in the grassroots. It is reflecting a collective experience through the media. This gets taken and given back to the community to understand, realise and to empower, and to mobilise.
Community media is a like a mirror, it is a mirror that reflects what is happening in the grassroots.