社區充權：臺灣與英美經驗的對話

Community empowerment in Taiwan: A dialogue regarding the perspective of empowerment in the UK and the US

在台灣，社區組織和國家之間存在著微妙的相互依賴關係，多數社區組織的經費主要依賴國家的補助，因此，國家可能在資源的分配及模塑社區方案上扮演一個強力的角色。台灣部分社區組織因為面臨競逐政府經費而失卻主體性，因而萌生拒絕公部門經費，然而許多大型的社區方案和結構議題需要政府的政策規劃與經費投入，社區組織仍須建立與政府對話的位置與空間。重視改造取向的充權策略被視為是社區反轉與政府權力關係的重要策略之一。權力是充權的核心概念，也是一個多面向的過程，協助社區居民參與決策、維持自主和主體性。本文主要討論臺灣社區輔導團隊的充權經驗，首先探討充權概念在歐美發展的社會脈絡和意涵，繼而訪談六個輔導團隊，討論他們如何理解社區充權及運用充權策略，以及他們在運用政府經費的同時如何能維持自主與協商空間，最後則將臺灣的經驗與英美充權概念做一比較。

The community and the state in Taiwan represent a resource interdependency model. NGOs that lack the personnel to raise funds may channel their activities into programs the government requires. In particular, the state has played a crucial role in intervening in the practice of community work. Policy and the distribution of statutory funding are two major instruments in constructing the state's power. The empowerment strategies that are transforming can be a means of transforming the power relations between the community and state. At the core of the concept of empowerment is the idea of power. Empowerment can be a process that fosters strength among community residents at the local level, enabling them to participate in making decisions related to issues that they consider important and thus to maintain autonomy. This article aims to explore and compare significant theoretical and practical aspects of community empowerment in the UK, the US, and Taiwan. The first section reviews the concept and definition of empowerment in the UK and the US. The second section presents the analysis of interview data collected through semi-structured interviews. Six community empowerment organizations were interviewed. The topics of data analysis mainly focused on how the community empowerment organizations defined empowerment and their strategies and examined the opportunities for community associations that receive statutory funding to exercise their agency in negotiating with the state in order to set their own agendas. The concluding section explores similarities and differences in community empowerment in Taiwan, the UK, and the US.