Demographic questions have provoked such interest in recent decades that the international community has held decennial conferences on the subject since 1974. Several scholars, of whom Malthus is the most renown, hold the idea that a large, rapidly growing population is a factor associated with poverty. The difficult socioeconomic conditions in southern, developing countries together with their rapid population growth rates would seem to lend credibility to Malthusianism. It is important to know to what extent in developing countries populations can contribute to development. Thus, other authors, including J.C. Chesnais and E. Boserup, argue that it is often under challenging situations and constraints that societies are driven to conceive alternate strategies to improve their quality of life. Populations are essentially forced to draw upon their creative powers in order to employ thus far underexploited, latent resources. The existence of a large market facilitates the growth of economies of scale at the population level, stimulates innovation, and therefore enables the growth of exchange and profit. The situation in Senegal is discussed as an example of a country constrained to continually do more to meet the health, education, nutrition, and labor needs of a large, young, and ever-growing population. Solutions to population problems in developing countries cannot be found in isolation. There is no substitute for socioeconomic development.
Following the adoption of the program of action of the September 1994 International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, the population policy-related texts and goals of the member states of the Permanent Interstate Committee Against Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) were reviewed and revised in the context of new program priorities with the technical assistance of FNUAP, CERPOD, and Futures Group International¿s Policy Project. The Ouagadougou program of action, which replaces the N¿Djamena program of action, is a global framework for cooperation and action in the areas of population and sustainable development in the Sahel. It integrates all major concerns of the Cairo, Beijing, and Copenhagen programs of action. Follow-up, evaluation, and coordination of the Ouagadougou program of action¿s implementation at the regional level were made CERPOD¿s responsibility by the appropriate CILSS ministerial committee, while its implementation at the national level will fall upon the shoulders of individual member countries benefiting from CERPOD and Policy Project technical support. CERPOD¿s experience with follow-up activities is described. The organization is also leading research studies relevant to priority concerns outlined in the Cairo and Ouagadougou programs of action. A midterm evaluation of all Cairo and Ouagadougou action programs will be conducted in the year 2002.
The most recent population survey conducted in Senegal in 1988 found that women comprise 52% of the country¿s total population and that rural women make up 75% of the active female population. The female population is very young overall since 58% of women are under 20 years old. However, women¿s numerical advantage is inversely proportional to their level of representation in decision-making situations. Senegal¿s government in power since 1998 has only 5 women among the 31 ministers, and there were only 3 female ministers in the preceding body of government leaders. This numerical underrepresentation of women is also qualitative in nature, with the female ministers holding relatively less powerful governmental positions compared to the men. Only 19 of the 140 deputies elected to the National Assembly in 1998 were women and no woman is president of a parliamentary body. Women have a greater presence at the magisterial and legislative level, but they are less present in the public sector where they comprise only 4% of the 68,000 state agents. Women overwhelmingly hold teacher and secretarial posts, while men dominate local communities. Among the 470 elected, regional councilors elected in November 1998, only 61 are women. Additional statistics and discussion are presented upon the role of women in Senegalese society, as well as upon their capacity to influence important decisions both in the public sector and at home.
The First Ministerial Conference on Migration and Urbanization in West Africa held in Bamako, Mali, during November 1-5, 1999, marked the end of the first phase of a research program launched in 1993 in Burkina Faso, Ctte d¿Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal, organized under the Western Africa Migration and Urbanization Network (REMUAO). Created in 1989 with the financial support of the Research Center for International Development (CRDI), REMUAO is the result of the will of a number of African researchers and Africanists to provide the subregion with pertinent data on relevant phenomena. REMUAO was established through the combination of the following factors: the rarity of migration and urbanization data while Africa countries are experiencing considerable human migration and rapid urbanization; concern over the multidisciplinary research approach in social sciences, especially in the field of demography; and concern over how to address questions of international migration. Data collection activities began only 5 years after REMUAO was created. The data collection process is described. As REMUAO network coordinator, CERPOD gained valuable experience that will allow the organization to strengthen its role as an implementing agency in the subregion.
A doctoral thesis is described analyzing the relationships between demographic growth and economic and social development in Mali. The hypothesis is stated that demographic growth impedes economic development and any improvement in populations¿ standards of living. The hypothesis was verified using data for the period from 1960 to the present. Over that period, Mali conducted two general population censuses in 1976 and 1987, as well as several demographic research studies. The thesis is comprised of 4 parts, of which the first generally describes Mali. The second part analyzes the relationship between population growth and economic and social development in Mali. Study results are presented, followed by an analysis of the effects of economic and social development upon population growth in Mali through factors such as urbanization, education level, literacy, income, employment, occupation, gross domestic or gross national product by inhabitant, infant mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, contraceptive practice, fertility opinions and desires, women¿s status, and migration in Mali. Analysis indicates that Mali has not completely begun its demographic transition, but that traditional pronatalist behaviors are changing. Population policies and programs are explored in the third part of the thesis, followed by the fourth part which focuses upon methodological questions.
