ABSTRACT
In many civil society organisations, the practice of power analysis remains implicit, opaque and intuitive rather than being approached deliberately. The author, as a Governance Adviser within Oxfam GB, explores the challenges of embedding capacities for more intentional and nuanced understandings of power within organisations to inform programme strategy and action. From this experience, the author identifies the need for three interconnected elements to support effective power analysis: (1) having frameworks, or approaches, that help to disentangle the complex web of dynamics that make up power so that power can be better understood; (2) having a way of exploring how change happens so that power can be navigated; and (3) having a set of tools to support the building of power, which is essential if power relations are to change in practice. Frameworks and methods are presented with examples of putting them into practice in Tanzania, Myanmar and Peru. Key lessons, in addition to the three noted, include: the need to base power analysis on explicit values; the importance of seeing power analysis as a continuous practice; and the benefits of understanding how power works across levels, from the personal to the social and political.
