Target-setting for basic-needs services: some possible approaches
Richards, P.J.
International Labour Review 120(5): 645-657
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-7780 Document Number: 406008
A basic-needs strategy requires targets to guide the operation of government programmes intended to ensure adequate levels of health care, education, housing and other services. These targets are best expressed in terms of expected results, e.g. mental abilities developed by schools, and not as the number of buildings, textbooks or teachers available. Targets should be set above prevailing levels, paying particular attention to the obstacles hindering poorer groups from using such services. This article examines certain problems in determining appropriate target levels and discusses illustrative targets taken from plan documents in India and Madagascar.