This book is the outcome of a regional study on using literacy as a tool for empowering the poor, carried out by the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL) with collaborative support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The book sketches a program for empowerment of the poor through basic education on the basis of synthesis of the rich field-level basic education experiences that have been acquired. Chapter 1 provides background information on the role of literacy in empowerment of the poor and about the causes and characteristics of poverty. The second chapter gives an overview of poverty in the Asia-Pacific region and the potential contribution of basic education to eradicate poverty and empower the poor. Chapter 3 discussed principles and strategies of basic education and suggests reorienting goals and objectives, program content, teaching-learning methods and materials, evaluation of learning outcomes, and training of teachers. The last chapter outlines action implications of the various general and program-specific proposals emerging from the discussion, specific actions that can be launched under key action areas, and modalities for intercountry collaborative support. (Contains 31 references.) (KC)