Indeed it is difficult to conceive of how an empowerment agenda or any other equity agenda can be pushed forward without seriously taking into account the need to distribute basic socio-economic and political rights. Thus, it is equally difficult to conceive how those who hold decision-making capacity would be able to promulgate change while protecting their own interests. These interviewees clarified that we need not think of the interests of the powerful only in abstract terms of political economy, but rather can find them entrenched in everyday accountability mechanisms that so clearly characterize today's program environment.