NEW CIVILIZATION FOUNDATION

7.9 EMPOWERMENT SERVICES

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("...empowerment is a state of mind not a verb. It is a way of thinking and behaving rather than something which is done to a person or an organization...it is a slow process by which both parties develop their way of thinking and behaving so that the balance and relationship between the powerful and the powerless shifts, to their mutual benefit. Where it works well, the distinction between the two disappears completely and everyone contributes his or her full talents enthusiastically and unreservedly.")
-John Nicholls

7.9.1 Providing basic needs, i.e., food, clothing, and shelter is one of the most challenging problems in today's society.

7.9.2 Many of the programs and projects sponsored by NCF in other areas will do much to improve quality of life for the people affected by these projects--those who participate as well as those who benefit, either directly or indirectly. However, there is much that can be done to either improve the function of existing private charities or in creating innovative programs that foster personal independence and self-reliance. The NCF will explore ways to ensure basic human needs are met, while encouraging education to teach recipients to provide for themselves as much as possible.

7.9.3 The NCF will further a global and systematic strategy in the field of humanitarian activities: members of a special new civilization geodesic network, called ELF (Economic Liberation Fund) will work together to plan and carry out a series of collective interventions aimed at reducing the number of registered excessive suffering events occurring in the lives of individuals throughout the world.

7.9.4 The notion of excessive suffering refers to any particular psychoneural phenomenon that is experienced as too aversive to be acceptable as a part of a humane existence. Excessive suffering events may be associated with any kind of condition or problem: illnesses and disabilities (physical or psychological), social or economic problems (war, poverty, hunger, human and animal exploitation, torture, crime and punishment...), accidents, disasters, etc.