Public Empowerment: NGO Advocacy Between Power and Politics in South Asia

Civil society and NGOs possess a commendable capacity to furnish malleable and ingenious ground-level services that cater to the exigencies of the local populace while also championing the marginalized and indigent so that those in power are answerable for their policies and the facilitation of equitable services (Brown & Korten, 1989; Chambers, 2014; Coates & David, 2002). Consequently, such achievement of sustainable development heavily relies on empowering people and communities, enabling them to engage in and take ownership of the change process, as we have seen in the previous chapter regarding the public’s conscience to own collective interest. As such, we assume the ability to reinterpret the existing paradigm of thinking and behavior and insert oneself into the power dynamics represents empowerment’s most operational and transformative aspect. South Asian NGOs prioritize addressing individual empowerment issues through various strategies, including economic growth, social mobilization, political engagement, capacity-building, cooperation, and community empowerment.