the process of displacing decisionmaking downwards to the workforce, or lower levels of management, to enable them to use their skills more effectively and flexibly. The emphasis is often on better engagement with customers.

The process of communities equipping themselves with the knowledge, skills and resources they need in order to change and improve the quality of their own lives and their community. Empowerment may come from within or it may be facilitated and supported through external agencies.

Any action of a person, group or team that enables participants to develop their independence and accountability, for themselves and for their environment.

Empowerment is a consequence of liberatory learning. Power is not given, but created within the emerging praxis in which co-learners are engaged. The theoretical basis for this discovery is provided by critical consciousness; its expression is collective action on behalf of mutually agreed upon goals. Empowerment is distinct from building skills and competencies, these being commonly associated with conventional schooling. Education for empowerment further differs from schooling both in its emphasis on groups (rather than individuals) and in its focus on cultural transformation (rather than social adaptation).

how individuals/communities engage in learning processes in which they create, appropriate and share knowledge, tools and techniques in order to change and improve the quality of their own lives and societies. Through empowerment, individuals not only manage and adapt to change but also contribute to/generate changes in their lives and environments.