Developing nation or developing communities?

We have this notion about development and empowering others to support their own change. I struggle with the term empowerment, not only because it infers the idea that we are in a position to give power to  an individual/group/community but because it is a term we use, throw about, re-use and share every day of our lives in development work and in the developing world. Surely we seek to work within an inverted pyramid of balance and seek to be empowered ourselves by our work. I had a conversation with a colleague today and we asked ourselves why we chose this area of work- the notion of altruism was one which gained no ground, was explored and put aside within seconds. We work where work and do what we do because it interests us, we put ourselves in a position where we can use our skills to better situations but not to lessen our own. We do not seek to offer ourselves as martyrs for the cause- we work to our best ability, surround ourselves with a strong team and forge ahead, never losing sight of our goal- to support and help, not to develop, not to change and certainly not to distribute empowerment... Empowerment is a funny word... and probably one of the best anagrams of 'Temper Women' i have come across.....