Listen to this

adults and children

Empowerment

Sandra Oosthuizen

“By attempting to avoid the responsibility for our own behaviour, we are giving away our power to some other individual or organization. In this way, millions daily attempt to escape from freedom.” – Peck, Scott M. 1993. Meditations from the Road : 31

The above quote by M Scott Peck explains how we disempower ourselves. We allow ourselves to be robbed of our power and consequently our freedom, by expecting others to take responsibility for us. We cannot influence others if we cannot take responsibility for a behaviour and problem in our own lives. By owning the power over my own life I can become independent from others and influence others. Empowering others and myself is a process.

Children and youth often feel powerless in situations where adults control the environment and make decisions for them. For young people to reclaim their power they must be provided with as many opportunities as possible to make decisions over their own lives. The seemingly most insignificant decision can give a young person a great sense of control and ownership over his/her life. Young people then learn that they are responsible for the outcomes of decisions. This is a crucial step in achieving a sense of independence.

When workers are disempowered it is very difficult for them to empower young people. What often happens is that in order to have some sense of power and control, the worker exerts extreme power over the young person. This is in order to meet the worker’s need for gaining power in the work environment. This becomes a vicious cycle, because it simply disempowers the powerless young person. He/she is then likely to gain power in more intense ways.

True empowerment can only happen when my own need to control and exert power over others is extinguished. If I assume I have power and others do not, they will not be empowered, but instead, resent me. No human being can empower another; we can only assist others with their process and allow them to take from us what they need in order to gain control.