POWER TO THE PEOPLE! The Role of PODER in Promoting People Empowerment in Barangays 3 and 4, Baler, Aurora

Abstract

This research study entitled POWER TO THE PEOPLE: The Role of PODER in Promoting People Empowerment in Barangays 3 and 4, Baler, Aurora tried to establish what PODER was and the mechanism it used to promote people empowerment in the said barangays. Specifically, the research established the following information: the purposes/goals of PODER, the projects of PODER and activities, and the perception of the residents of Barangays 3 and 4 and the DSWD-PODER on people empowerment. The research provided a definition of empowerment and its indicators. The congruence between the perceptions of empowerment for the people in Brgys. 3 and 4 and in the specific case of PODER projects were analyzed in the work. In order to arrive at the definition and indicators of empowerment, the goals, origin and methods of PODER, and the projects of PODER, the researcher reviewed secondary materials regarding the said subjects. Key informant interviews were also conducted to generate the data on PODER's perception of people empowerment. A survey was conducted to ascertain the peopled perception on people empowerment. Triangulation of data was done by content analysis of the interviews, survey and a review of a case study on a successful instance of people empowerment. The research showed that PODER was successful in promoting people empowerment but only a portion of the respondents were empowered. In the analysis of the survey, it can be seen that only a few residents knew what PODER was and few were able to attend the activities conducted by PODER. The residents of the Barangay 3 was more empowered than the residents of Barangay 4. The failure of PODER to empower all the residents of the two barangay is due to the inadequacy of its information dissemination mechanisms and the inappropriateness of some of its mechanisms.