Measuring Empowerment to evaluate the impact of a Mobile Based Information System for Sri Lankan Farmers

We are investigating ways to empower Sri Lankan farmers through a technology-based intervention to enhance their livelihood activities. Using empowerment theory and related concepts, we have created a conceptual model of psychological empowerment and identified a person’s level of empowerment as a reflection of their sense of control, self-efficacy, competence and motivation. We interviewed 50 farmers and used content analysis to identify the empowerment concepts in our model and measure their current level of empowerment. This paper reports our method for determining empowerment levels and provides findings from our interviews. The results revealed that the majority of farmers have low sense of control, average levels of self-efficacy and high levels of farming knowledge but lack of access to timely information reduced their competency in dealing with new problems. The method will be used in followup interviews to determine whether levels of empowerment have increased as a result of technology intervention.