from ground up

外遊でタイを訪れているミャンマーの民主化運動指導者 アウン・サン・スー・チー氏が１日、バンコクの国際会議でスピーチを行いました。ミャンマーへの投資について「国民全体のためになるものでなければならない」（people-first policy）と訴えました。

from the ground upはその形から類推できますね。「地上から上へ」ということなので「根底から、土台から」という意味です。（GP）

Suu Kyi stresses people-first policy
2/06/2012 at 03:09 AM

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi sent a clear message to investors interested in her country as it begins to open up to the world - be transparent and think deeply about its people.

In her first public speech outside her home country in 24 years at the World Economic Forum on East Asia yesterday, Mrs Suu Kyi, who took the stage to a standing ovation from participants from around the world, called for an economic reform that will improve the living conditions of

Myanmar people in general, not any particular groups or individuals.
"I am not here to tell you what to do. I am here to tell you what we need," said the charismatic opposition leader who spent 15 out of the past 22 years under house arrest before getting elected to parliament last month.

"We need capacity from the ground up. Please don't think about benefits for investors. I understand investors invest because they hope to profit from ventures, but we also hope our country must benefit as much as those who come to invest."

Mrs Suu Kyi, 66, said economic reform must not engender greater inequalities and breed corruption, nor should it bring more privilege to those already privileged.

What the reform should mean, simply, is jobs, as many jobs as possible, Mrs Suu Kyi said.
She ranked job creation as an immensely important task; one that sits high on her priority list.
The proportion of young people unemployed in Burma is extremely high. It is a "time bomb", she said.

"It's not so much joblessness as hopelessness," she said. "Many youths have already followed the wrong path - gambling, alcohol and drugs. If this goes on, we won't be able to reform them or reform the country."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/296185/suu-kyi-stresses-people-first-policy