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Empowerment refers to increasing the political, social or economic strength of individuals.
Many times empowerment refers to members of groups that have been excluded from the decision-making process through social discrimination - for example, through discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender etc.
In economic development, it is an approach based on mobilizing the self-help efforts of the poor, rather than providing them with social welfare.
Empowerment is building confidence on the capacities within individuals.