Basic Needs in the Year 2000 (Report‪)‬

The paper distills the main lessons of recent country and sector work on basic-needs approaches to development. It argues that, drawing on this experience and adopting appropriate policies, the basic needs of the world's poor can be met in a shorter period of time, and with fewer resources--i.e, by the year 2000--than if the more conventional approach of relying solely on rising incomes is chosen. Raising the earning opportunities of the poor remains a central thrust of the strategy, but it has to be supplemented by actions in the public sector and within households. **********