Empowerment has become a mainstream concept in international development but lacks clear definition, which can undermine development initiatives aimed at strengthening empowerment as a route to poverty reduction. In the present article, written narratives from 49 international development organisations identify how empowerment is defined and operationalised in community initiatives. Results show a conceptual framework of empowerment comprising six mechanisms that foster empowerment (knowledge; agency; opportunity; capacity-building; resources; and sustainability), five domains of empowerment (health; economic; political; resource; and spiritual), and three levels (individual; community; and organisational). A key finding is the interdependence between components, indicating important programmatic implications for development initiatives.

The present study aimed to aid government sector managers in Iran in their understanding of sustainable development mechanisms. Research was undertaken with 338 managers selected randomly from seven government ministries. The findings revealed that the rules and devices of public participation, voluntary environmental certification systems, scientific cooperation, and education were all priorities for moving towards sustainable development. The results also showed that institutional development, social capital and education, economic instruments for environmental protection, monitoring and informing, a clean development mechanism, and sustainable government are key means for encouraging sustainable development in Iran.

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to home herbal gardens (HHG) and numerous projects have been carried out. Despite this, the active participation of villagers in the cultivation of medicinal plants in HHGs is not very high. The present article analyses the challenges faced by local communities in participating in HHG programmes, paying particular attention to cultural aspects and caste and gender components. The article concludes by illustrating how development interventions in the domain of HHGs can be enhanced for the promotion of local livelihoods and health of rural communities.

The present article documents the programme strategy that has been used to address the challenges of social assistance schemes in Orissa, India. Key aspects of the strategy are: community mobilisation; use of mobile technology, web and media for community-led evidence-based advocacy at the local level; and graduating this effort to address structural issues at the state level. Key challenges in the process were to minimise tension among different stakeholders, and to bring changes in attitude of communities who were habituated in receiving services instead of demanding them. Despite many challenges, the strategy has successfully contributed to mobilising communities to demand their entitlements.

Microfinance has been evolving as an indispensable tool of poverty eradication and rural improvement. At present, almost all the commercial banks have delved into the microfinance foray and offer various lucrative schemes designed for the rural poor, specifically, to carry out their own small economic activities. This paper attempts to study the extent to which the commercial banks are participating in the microfinance business. An empirical study has been carried out in the state of Punjab. The objective is to analyse the nature and extent of microfinance services provided by the banks in the rural areas of Punjab. The study also highlights the bankers' perceptions of microfinance.

‘Orphans’ became a category of vulnerable children deserving special protection in the context of the global AIDS epidemic, and currently the notion of ‘orphans and vulnerable children’ (OVC), dominates much of the policy for protecting children across sub-Saharan Africa. Analysis of survey and qualitative data from Young Lives in Ethiopia found that parental death does not guarantee the often assumed negative impacts on children's experiences, and that inequalities between children are greater along dimensions of poverty and household location, compared to orphan status. ‘OVC’ obscures poverty as a main source of child vulnerability and is therefore an outdated approach.

The present article reviews the adaptation of the popular farmer field school (FFS) approach to integrated watershed management in several Indonesian provinces, under the auspices of a major environmental management project. Indonesia is the site of origin of the FFS concept, developed to promote integrated pest management (IPM) in rice during the 1980s. Since the conclusion of the National IPM Programme in 1999, FFS alumni groups and approaches have continued to evolve in Indonesia, and the FFS model has been taken up in scores of developing countries around the world. The present article provides a sympathetic appraisal of some recent developments.

Citizenship has gained considerable popular currency in development and is increasingly being used to represent its objectives and outcomes. The popular conceptualisations of citizenship have not remained unaffected by neo-liberalism, which has established itself firmly as the dominant development framework. In mapping the neo-liberal influences in conceptualisations and expressions of citizenship – evidenced in the work of 11 NGOs in India – the present article interrogates its limitations and effects on development outcomes. The article calls for the need to leverage the inherent plurality of citizenship more substantively by infusing the discourse of rights.

Aid effectiveness has been an important subject in discourses around Afghanistan's reconstruction and development. NGOs are important players in this discourse and there are contradictory views about their function, accountability and effectiveness. The present article gives an overview of the context in which NGOs have operated in Afghanistan since 1979, when the Soviets invaded the country. It then discusses the public perception of NGOs and the sources of this perception, and concludes that donors' lack of understanding of the local context and their policies have contributed to local NGOs' ineffectiveness.

The present article follows on from the practical note in Development in Practice 20(7): 879–886 that looked at seven common early lessons learnt from the inclusion of disabled people in World Vision programming work across four countries, based on socially inclusive principles. Externally led evaluations and technical support work undertaken between December 2010 and July 2011 in Armenia, Ethiopia, India, Sierra Leone, and Senegal have yielded seven further common lessons. In summary: with intentional efforts, a ten-fold increase of disabled people being included can be quickly achieved; positive attitudinal change towards disabled children and adults is possible in a relatively short period; it is important to reinforce inclusion messages regularly with all stakeholders; adapting existing programming tools to be disability-inclusive is more effective than providing generic checklist tools; access by and inclusion of disabled people are not the same thing – each require a different strategy; active senior organisational champions significantly enhance and accelerate progress; and the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities currently offers fantastic opportunities for good progress because of the large number of countries that have now adopted it.