Empowerment Works is a Africa Focused NGO that has or had projects in Senegal, Zimbabwe, Ghana and the Sudan. It has also developed an international sustainable development program that incorporates what it terms the seven stages of development that is part of its Holistic Development Strategy. One component of this is offering consulting services on how to incorporate that strategy into common practice. Its founder Melanie St James has organized three Global Summits at different locations including most recently an effort to have the summit in August in London.
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5 Key Tenets of EW's Holistic Approach:
1. Collaboration with other non-profits vs. Competition
Rather than acting alone or in competition, EW advances the impact of other organizations. EW acts as a uniting force, and strategically engages optimal expertise and experience of local and global partners magnifying implementation. In strategic collaborations we achieve holistic solutions which none could accomplish alone. EW further leverages the power of like-minded groups in synergistic public awareness promotion and action campaigns that address AIDS, global warming, and global policy issues to which many organizations are dedicated.
2. Positive Alternatives to Corporate Globalization vs. Protesting
We applaud the awareness raising protests against unjust economic policies, such as those of WTO. In fact, these actions provide the foundation for EW to take corporate social responsibility to the next level. EW engages businesses in private/public partnerships that reverse the effects of economic globalization through the creation of livelihoods that protect indigenous heritage and promote cultural diversity. Our Partners in Empowerment network provides the critical mass to make this viable. EW also helps communities become energy independent via transfer of bio-diesel and other green technologies.
(NOTATION: Will the average reader understand what “transfer of bio-diesel” is? Should “other green technologies” be spelled out?
3. Comprehensive Solutions vs. Single Issue (Band-Aid)
Rather than specializing in one issue or creating one program for all communities, EW specializes in an integrative process (7 Stages of Building Local Assets) helping diverse communities resolve their most critical challenge to a healthier future - fostering a better world for all. By staying focused on the big picture in each community, we are able to mobilize limited resources in balanced social, economic and health efforts to address the root causes of poverty.
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4. Local Empowerment vs. “Top-Down” Societal Problem Solving
More authentic than “top-down”, remote-control models of international development, EW and its partners empower those most affected by critical challenges. AIDS, economic chaos, poverty, drought and climate change are addressed by the people, themselves as primary agents of change in their own communities. Local citizens are the most reliable collaborators where accountability for long-term stability is critical. Community people make change happen where they live, and therefore, have the deepest investment in responsible project design and implementation.
5. Investing in Economic Opportunities vs. Giving Donations or Hand-outs
When people are empowered, they find creative ways to resolve their own problems and better contribute to their communities and the world. However, empowerment requires a restoration of human dignity, and dignity is found when you value who you are, what you can be and accomplish - not in a situation where you are merely temporarily entitled. We see that each community with which we work has unique gifts, talents, and resources. When this authentic reality is valued and invested, economic opportunities are created that empower people to resolve the complexity of issues of particular concern to their dynamic. To this end, every social program EW develops is done so in concert with at least one pre-identified, economic opportunity. In applying Poverty Eradication Partnership Tools, EW leverages economic opportunities and local assets to foster self reliance and resolve critical issues from the ground up.
(What are poverty eradication partnership tools?)