This Focuses on –Proactive approach to life. Agency refers to psychological states (on an individual level) and is strongly tied to self-esteem, sense of control, and power or self-reliance. Training that integrates agency-based empowerment concepts and leadership strategies have immense opportunity to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of individuals. Agency-based empowerment enhances an individual’s cognitive capacity to create and focus on his/her goals, and leadership skills enable the tangible realization of these goals.
Empowerment is the ability of individuals to create and act upon decisions that affect their lives. The notion of empowerment is fundamentally comprised of two complementary and critical components—resources and agency.
Agency, therefore, is the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power that is focused on their ability to formulate strategic choices and to control resources and decisions that affect important life outcomes. Together, resources and agency constitute capability, which is the potential that people have for living the lives they want and achieving valued ways of “Being and doing”.
Our approach to agency-empowerment includes:
- education and training programs
- access to resources and support services
- community engagement and participation.
- follow up counselling services
Our comprehensive approach to agency-based empowerment benefits are:
- Understanding oneself makes it easier to understand the people around us, including our parents, spouses, teachers and peers, and colleagues. This helps us build a positive relationship with others, so we can better serve and relate with them.
- It improves confidence and capacity to examine one’s life and to help to
grow holistically.
- It gives one the mental tools to more effectively manage emotions and helps to take on new challenges.
- The processes that we train in this section will give people the tools to independently reflect, assess, and grow—as individuals and as citizens.
Examples of our agency-based empowerment initiatives include:
Our community development programs are designed to build the capacity of communities to identify and address their own needs, through initiatives such as community organizing, participatory planning, and capacity-building workshops.
We use the USAID EETP program that is designed by psychology experts from John Hopkins University
Our youth empowerment programs aim to build the capacity of young people to become active citizens and leaders in their communities, through initiatives such as leadership training, mentoring, and community service projects.
Our women’s empowerment programs focus on building the capacity of women to become agents of change, through initiatives such as education and training programs, access to resources and support services, and community organizing and advocacy.
Our entrepreneurship training programs provide individuals with the skills and resources to start and grow their own businesses, thereby increasing their economic independence and autonomy.