How can community members be empowered to lead change?

1 Build trust and relationships

The first step to empower community members is to build trust and relationships with them, as well as among them. Public administrators can do this by listening to their stories, needs, and aspirations, acknowledging their strengths and contributions, and respecting their diversity and autonomy. They can also facilitate dialogue and collaboration among different groups and stakeholders, and create spaces for mutual learning and support. For example, the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach focuses on identifying and mobilizing the existing assets and capacities of a community, rather than imposing external solutions or agendas.

3 Enable participation and decision-making

A key aspect of empowerment is to enable community members to participate and have a voice in the decisions that affect them. Public administrators can do this by involving them in the planning, implementation, evaluation, and improvement of policies, programs, or services that relate to their needs or issues. They can also create platforms or mechanisms for community members to express their opinions, feedback, or suggestions, and to hold public officials accountable. For example, the Participatory Budgeting (PB) process allows community members to directly decide how to spend a portion of a public budget on local projects or priorities.

4 Support action and innovation

Finally, public administrators can empower community members by supporting their action and innovation to address their own challenges or opportunities. Public administrators can do this by providing funding, technical assistance, recognition, or advocacy for community-led initiatives or solutions. They can also encourage experimentation, creativity, and risk-taking, and celebrate successes and learn from failures. For example, the Community Innovation Lab is a program that supports community members to develop and test innovative ideas for social change in their contexts.

By applying these strategies, public administrators can empower community members to lead change and improve their own and others' well-being and participation. Empowered community members can also become allies and partners for public administrators in achieving shared goals and outcomes.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?