Citation/Abstract

Thus study seeks to investigate the role of external change agents, specifically non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in empowering communities for HIV/AIDS prevention and support. The study uses the case-study method to examine empowerment in the context of five NGOs situated in the state of Karnataka, India. Specifically, the study explores the context within which NGO-led HIV/AIDS programs occur, the meanings of empowerment, and the processes used to empower communities. The culture-centered approach provided the meta-theoretical lens for the project. Briefly, I found that the context within which HIV/AIDS emerges is one in which the interrelated factors of poverty, gender inequalities, myths and misconceptions, stigma and discrimination serve to perpetuate the problem of HIV/AIDS. Within this context, the prominent meanings attributed to empowerment across NGOs include structural access, a sense of self-worth and self-acceptance, "voice", social acceptance, collectivization, and self-reliance. Finally, the NGOs enact a number of processes including counseling, collectivization, capacity-building, medical support, community sensitization, and macro-level advocacy in order to empower communities for HIV/AIDS prevention and support. The study reveals multiple struggles and dialectics of power amongst NGOs and various stakeholders they work with. The dissertation concludes that while NGOs enact a number of processes, the overarching role that NGOs play is in the creation of "communicative spaces" for marginalized communities to articulate change. It is through the medium of such spaces- geographic and discursive- that silenced individuals and communities gain and sustain access to various forms of power. The study contributes to theorizing on the culture-centered approach, empowerment in nonwestern cultures, and the role of NGOs in a health context.