Jan Vandemoortele, Santosh Mehrotra and Enrique Delamonica argue that children have the right to basic social services and that poverty reduction must start with ensuring that children have a good start in life. Development (2000) 43, 16–22. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110111

Several misunderstandings have arisen about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Most widespread is the view that each and every country must achieve the same numerical targets. This is obviously incorrect because the global performance is the aggregate of MDG-plus and MDG-minus countries....

Jan Vandemoortele in the face of the different views about the MDGs asks that we should not ask what we can do for the MDGs but what the MDGs can do for our cause – that is, the realization of fundamental economic and social rights. He suggests we can compensate for the slow start of the 1990s...

Jan Vandemoortele argues that universal coverage of an integrated package of good quality basic social services is one of the most effective and least expensive ways for reducing poverty. The international development goals for 2015 will not be met if inter-sectoral complementarities are not...