Communities develop a sense of pride and self confidence when they successfully take initiative to make their lives better. Technologies foster that sense of empowerment by being accessible, transparent, and designed for reliability and ease of use. Technologies that perform poorly, that are "black boxes", and that require frequent outside expert assistance lead to a sense of dependency and powerlessness.

The AguaClara philosophy of empowerment begins with:

• empathy for people who live without access to safe drinking water
• a respect for people's desire and capacity to create a better world for their children.
• belief in the the wisdom of a group and the power of collaboration
• humility in understanding that it is a short walk to the edge of knowledge and that our partners (plant operators, communities, Agua Para el Pueblo) bring a complementary wealth of knowledge

AguaClara is a people centered Research, Invent, Design, and Empower (RIDE) cycle. It is this respectful cycle of learning that empowers, communities, implementation partners, and students.