Steps

To begin, participants brainstorm examples of people or groups of people with “power.”

Based on the list, participants then discuss what types of power each of these people have. Often, teams describe instances when people have power over others, however, groups must also consider examples of how people can also demonstrate internal power (i.e. self-confidence, determination, etc.), as well as how groups may exert power by working together (i.e. advocacy, unions, etc.).

This discussion leads into an introduction of the four types of power:

• Power within/to,
• Power with and
• Power over.

Given these types, the facilitator asks participants to think of examples of each type of power, and whether these examples are positive or negative uses of power. To help understand each type of power, participants divide into four groups, and each group develops and performs a skit to portray one type of power without words. Following each skit, participants discuss:

• What is the story that you saw? Can anyone summarize? (To skit players: Are these summaries accurate?)
• What happened as a result of the power enacted? Were you surprised by the result?
• Is there any way that the situation would have turned out differently if any of the characters had used a different expression of power? For example, if someone had used “Power To” instead of “Power Over”? Or “Power With” instead of “Power To”? Does anyone from outside this group have any suggestions for the group for another alternative line of action to achieve a different outcome?
• Was the expression of power positive or negative, from the perspective of CARE’s vision of ending poverty and injustice, or from the perspective of the most vulnerable participants of CARE’s programs?

Linking the skits back to our own realities, participants then discuss:

• In our work (for example, as CARE employees), when we enter communities for our jobs, do we perceive ourselves to be more powerful or less powerful than the people living in the communities? Do others perceive us as powerful? If so, by whom?
• As development workers, what kind of power do we have? What kind of power do we use? As development workers, are we using our power to combat injustice or fight unequal power dynamics? What kind of power are we routinely using? Is it Power Over, Power With, Power To or Power Within? Some probing questions could be:
• Do we have power over others in the community? Can we use our influence with people like the police, or with the Ministry of Health? Will they listen to us?
• Are we working to build opportunities for people to work together collectively?
• Are we better educated or do we have different skills than others who we are working with? Are we helping others to acquire new knowledge or skills?
• Are we working to help build people’s self-confidence, or improve people’s sense of capacity to create change?

Finally, participants pair up and discuss the following question for 2-3 minutes:

• How can we improve the way we do our jobs so that we build on our project participants’ Power Over, Power With, Power To or Power Within? What are some ways to incorporate these into our current project or objectives?
• Beyond power in our work, the session closes with a personal reflection on participants’ own use of each type of power and how they would like to use their own personal power differently in the next three months.

 

Discussion: Power

Types of Power

As discussed in the SII Women’s Empowerment Overview, there are various types of power:

Personal	Power within (e.g. confidence, feeling of self-worth) Power to know, pursue and achieve one's interests
Cooperative	Power with others to work together to pursue one’s collective interests.
Controlling	Power over others: Through rules and governing processes (visible), Through determining who has the right to participate in decision-making and the settings in which people interact (invisible), as well as Through the power to define what is possible, reasonable or logical within a given context through shaping ideologies of kinship, capitalism, religion, science and education (hidden).