Un projet de développement local en santé : le cas de la MRC Robert-Cliche et de sa coopérative de santé, ou comment une communauté en difficulté peut s’engager dans un processus d’empowerment

Abstract

Access to health services in rural or peripheral regions is one of the major development concerns, particularly regarding population retention. However, it was possible to observe that the central State cannot guarantee equal access for all. In an effort to reverse this trend, some communities have set up a health cooperative. This type of local development project is associated with community empowerment, because it shows the ability of communities to act and decide according to their choices and needs. To better understand this process in all of its many aspects, a unique case study was conducted on the MRC Robert-Cliché organization and its health cooperative. This study enabled to identify more clearly the four dimensions of the empowerment process and the resulting interactions.