The Basic Needs approach to development planning and mobilization has many early "fathers". One was Mahatma Gandhi. His approach may be described as action oriented ( the environment of domination and oppression was his laboratory), normative ( the welfare of the poorest was his standard) and global ( a non-violent world society was his ultimate goal).
A second "father" coming from humanistic psychology and the human potential movement is Abraham Maslow, who died in 1970. His book Toward A Psychology of Being and his later The Farther Reaches of Human Nature develop his concept of the hierarchy of needs and the concepts of "self-actualization" and "peak experiences"
A third collective "father" is the American "structural-functionalist" school of sociology with Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton, Marion J. Levy and David Apter as the leaders. (1)
It was the 1976 World Employment Conference of the International Labour Organization in Geneva which placed basic needs directly on the governmental world agenda. (2)
The conclusions of the 1976 conference state some of the requirements for satisfying basic needs. " Strategies and national development plans and policies should include explicity as a priority objective the promotion of employment and the satisfaction of the basic needs of each country's population... Often these measures will require a transformation of social structures including an initial redistribution of assets.
" The Programme of Action puts emphasis on the participation of people, through organizations of their own choice in making the decisions which affect them... In view of the highly hierarchical social and economic structures of agrarian societies in some developing countries, measures of redistributive justice are likely to be thwarted unless backed by organization of rural workers."
The Basic Needs approach constitutes an attempt to come to grips directly with poverty in the fields of food, nutrition, health, education, and housing. The Basic Needs approach stresses the importance of the household as a basic institution. It is the household which allocates among its members incomes earned by members who are employed for wages, and it produces goods and services for its own use. Moreover, household activities play a crucial role in converting education, health and nutrition into improvements in the quality of life of individuals. By stressing the household, the Basic Needs approach comes close to reality and focuses on the family which has often been overlooked in development planning.
The basic needs of the poor are often starkly apparent or amenable to easy discovery. The reason why basic needs are not met is that the poor cannot yet force an improvement in their condition, and the rich do not see it in their interest to grant new resources. Thus there should be a close link in the process by which needs are identified and the means by which needs may be met.
Notes
(1) For ananalysis of structural-functionalism's contribution to development approaches see:
Ankie Hoogvelt The Sociology of Developing Societies (London: Macmillan, 1976)
(2) For the conclusions of the World Employment Conference see: Meeting Basic Needs: Strategies for Eradicating Mass Poverty and Unemployment (Geneva: ILO, 1977)
René Wadlow
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