Psychological Agency: Evidence from the Urban Fringe of Bamako

Abstract

A deficit in the theorisation of psychological elements of agency and empowerment in development literature exists. To address, I present the results of an empirical study using exploratory mixed methods examining central factors contributing to initiatives people undertake to improve personal and collective well-being in a neighborhood on the urban fringe of Bamako. Informants articulated that the psychological concepts of dusu (internal motivation) and ka da I yèrè la (self-belief) were most important to their purposeful agency. The psychological constructs had an intrinsic and instrumental value to respondents from differing socio-economic characteristics which contributed to social change in the neighborhood.