EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment is a complex term with a controversial definition.

In our perspective, empowerment is a process that enables individuals (or communities) to increase their self-efficacy and power to overcome a sense of powerlessness and lack of authority and to have greater access to and control over their resources and lives. Women's empowerment refers to interrelated personal and collective dimensions.

WE PROPOSE reflects on the effect that economic empowerment processes can have on women returning to Tunisia and Morocco by starting from the collection of their personal stories of migration and return and focusing on the power of personal decisions, and how these are influenced by the cultural, socio-political and economic contexts in which they arise. According to recent studies from a feminist perspective, access to economic tools and technical skills, as well as the possibility to get in touch with business start-up know-how, are key aspects affecting women's empowerment paths. Where access to these assets is guaranteed, women develop a new sense of self, are more aware of their capabilities, become more confident in their ideas and are better able to interact and contribute to the social, political, cultural and economic development of their countries.

Assuming an alternative perspective that focuses on people and the environment as drivers for the improvement of the socio-economic system and that challenges the dominant model, WE PROPOSE aims to investigate how the empowerment pathways of women returnees affect the political, planning and rights advancement pathways at different institutional levels in Tunisia and Morocco.

Further Reading