SAGA Proposal: Empowerment and Institutions

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SAGA Research Proposal:

1.2.4 Empowerment and Institutions

In addition to vulnerability, the Voices of the Poor exercise also uncovered a persistent concern about the poor’s lack of voice.* Faced with social and economic institutions that do not serve them well, Africa's poor frequently express a sense of powerlessness to do anything about their plight. While much of the research on voice is rightly found in political science, we believe that there are two important areas where multidisciplinary research on empowerment is relevant for this Cooperative Agreement: decentralization of public services and the use of social funds to allocate public investments.

*Using the term "voice" for political or social empowerment apparently comes from Albert Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Faced with a problem, one can either avoid it (exit), complain about it in a socially effective forum (voice), or grin and bear it (loyalty).

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