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.
