Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach

This is the book [review] of the book with the fresher insight I found today:

In Creating Capabilities, Martha Nussbaum argues that our dominant theories of development have given us policies that ignore our most basic human needs for dignity and self-respect. For the past twenty-five years, Nussbaum has been working on an alternate model to assess human development: the Capabilities Approach. She and her colleagues begin with the simplest of questions: What is each person actually able to do and to be? What real opportunities are available to them?

I wonder how can individuals, who do not have their basic need covered, can build dignity and self respect?