Identifying empowering organizational characteristics from Uweza’s Art Gallery

Abstract

A case study on an empowering art program in Nairobi was undertaken to specifically examine perceived empowering aspects of organizations in developing contexts. This research applies a theoretical model of empowering organizational characteristics by studying a sample of members of a Kenyan art gallery. Through semi-structured written and telephone interviews, the empowering organizational characteristics were discussed by nine members of the organization. Data were analyzed deductively and in three phases. Results suggest that the majority of the participants perceived most of the empowering organizational characteristics as applicable on the Art Gallery. Moreover, the findings imply that additional empowering organizational characteristics, such as providing materials and support from the office, might be applicable for an organization in developing contexts. Future research should test the current findings on large samples of Uweza program participants in order to confirm the applicability of the empowering characteristics and provide with generalizable results.