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Human Development &
Capability Association

Agency, Well-Being and Justice

NEW BOOK: The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation

The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation

Concepts, Methods and Applications

Edited by David Alexander Clark, Mario Biggeri, and Alexandre Apsan Frediani

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-Offers theoretical and practical solutions for safeguarding the transformative roots of participation and facilitating empowerment
-Reflects on local and global partnerships for sustainable human development
-Expands on key concepts in the literature including freedom, agency and empowered learning

This book explores the linkages between Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and participatory forms of development – especially those associated with critical pedagogy and empowerment from the bottom-up. It shows how the capability approach and the participatory movement can complement and reinforce each other helping to ensure that democratic principles are respected and become the foundation for sustainable human development. The Capability Approach provides guiding principles for protecting the transformative roots of participation (safeguarding ownership, accountability and empowerment), while participation delivers vital methods for making the Capability Approach operational. Divided into three overlapping parts that focus on concepts, methods and applications, this work draws on diverse fieldwork experiences to unpack power relations, address adaptive preferences, explore individual and  collective agency, consider new partnerships for development, and develop innovative concepts.

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