ABSTRACT
The new-style Area Development Schemes (World Bank and USAID) and the Regional Rural Development (RRD) projects are considered to be prototypes of the operationalization of the IRD philosophy. Its pragmatic operationalization is based on three fundamental conclusions:
a) Given the complex links between the sustainable and widespread satisfaction of basic needs, target group orientation and participation, a carefully coordinated case-by-case approach is needed. A number of simple principles can, however, be established:
– satisfaction of basic needs: the many and varied structural causes of inadequate provision call for a multi-sectoral approach to problem-solving;
– target group orientation: as the planned packages of measures must have an impact on the poor, the latter must not be too heterogeneous;
– participation: if those directly concerned are to be actively involved in the planning and implementation of measures, there must be close cooperation with their representatives.
