Acceso usuarios
Galit Cohen Blankshtain, Amit Ron, Alma Gadot Perez
It is often non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote empoweredparticipation processes, and assume active roles in leading them. However, the ability ofNGOs to take on such processes is under-theorized. In many cases empoweredparticipation involving NGOs takes place without political support from above (or withlimited or conditional support). Our goal in this article is to use a case study ofparticipatory planning in East Jerusalem to theorize processes of empowerment in anoppositional political environment. We argue that it is useful to analyze such processesof empowered participation through the concept of power. We describe the process ofempowerment as a speculative process in which the NGO has to hedge two mediums ofpower: it has to build the power of the community to discuss its own goals; and it has tosimultaneously manage the transfer of decision-making power from government bodiesto the community.
