Empowerment for Democracy through Multistakeholder Partnerships

This paper explores how multistakeholder partnerships can empower marginalised beneficiaries across levels of their lives. Drawing on survey data from 129 cocoa farmers in a Fair-Trade project spanning Europe and West Africa, the study applies an abductive approach to investigate the empowerment of beneficiaries mainly in the family and cooperative levels. The findings reveal that empowerment is more observed at the family level than in cooperatives and often occurs independently of direct partner engagement. Beneficiaries who perceive that their cooperative is influential in the partnership feel more empowered both in their families and cooperatives. However, empowerment is not uniformly distributed, as a paradox emerges in one of the cooperatives (Cooperative 3), where familiarity with the partners does not translate into family empowerment due to cultural norms and centralised governance. These insights challenge linear models of empowerment and highlight the importance of intermediary structures and local perceptions. The study offers both theoretical and practical contributions by showing that empowerment depends less on formal inclusion in partnerships and more on perceived legitimacy and trust within local institutions.