Female Relationships and Demographic Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines possible ways in which female relationships can affect demographic outcomes within the context of an extended family structure in sub-Saharan Africa. The level of collaboration and competition that exists among coresident women is likely to have an impact on fertility through changes in birth spacing and stopping behavior. In addition, the extent of collaboration could be a contributing factor in the survival chances of infants and young children. Given the multitude of ethnic groups found on the African continent, the paper also addresses the independent and interactive roles of culture. The paper ends with a discussion of theoretical and methodological implications for demographic research and suggestions for further study.     

Preliminary analysis of emigration dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa

Migration is so prominent in African history that several observers have concluded that it is a way of life for many Africans. Considerable migration has occurred historically throughout Africa in response to political, economic, religious and security situations, ethnic tensions, and demographic pressures. Patterns, directions, and motivations of migration have been severely affected by the colonial experience which, in turn, has influenced economic, sociocultural, political, and demographic development. Historical and political links between African and colonial countries initially facilitated migration toward the UK, France, Belgium, and later to the US, Canada, and Germany. Under a lengthy recession, however, these Western economies have severely restricted the flow of immigration. This paper discusses the data situation, the economic regime, the demographic regime, the political regime, the micro-macro context, the cultural regime, the ecological setting, political change and uncertainty in South Africa, the intra-African exchange of skilled manpower, and implementing the IOM/UNFPA project in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Historicising Activism in Late Colonial and Post-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite Africa's reputation as a place of political repression and limited popular agency, activism and popular mobilisation have been central to political change in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The social and cultural identity of activists has been neglected by historians, who have commonly studied activism through imposed normative frameworks (e.g. class struggle or decolonisation) that have not always been central to the motivations of activists themselves. This article identifies and analyses specific phases of popular activism. Mass mobilisation was crucial to the success of anti-colonial nationalism, but did not commonly result in governments that addressed the aspirations or grievances of activists. From the 1970s, African governments became vulnerable to popular pressure, in the form of urban riots and uprisings, but attempts to establish more institutionalised pressure groups for change were not generally successful. The pro-democracy movements of the early 1990s again utilised mass mobilisation to achieve their aims, but the advent of multi-party democracy across the continent did not translate into meaningful popular reform. Since 2000, popular movements have expressed discontent with neo-liberal economic policies and authoritarian governments. The Arab Spring has inspired new waves of activism, but it remains unclear whether this will bring about significant political change across the continent. Two underlying linked themes will be analysed in the paper. Firstly, the interaction between local activism and broader ideological movements and influences (nationalism, socialism, religious belief, etc): to what extent have these ideological frameworks, commonly introduced by external agents, assisted or hampered in the development of discourses of resistance or activism? Secondly, African activists, in contrast to their western counterparts, have commonly operated in relationship to both local state and western or international elites, including colonial governments, multinational corporations and international donors. The paper will examine the extent to which these relationships have shaped the ideas and behaviour of African movements.     

Regional Organizations and Intra-Regional Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Prospects

Africa is a region of diverse migration circuits relating to origin, destination and transit for labour migrants, undocumented migrants, refugees and brain circulation of professionals.
This article outlines major migration configurations in the region, and the role of two vibrant subregional organizations — Economic Community of West African States and South African Development Community — in facilitating, containing or curtailing intra-regional migration which takes place within diverse political, economic, social and ethnic contexts; the transformation of brain drain into brain circulation; and commercial migration in place of labour migration within the region.
Despite overlapping membership, wavering political support, a poor transportation network, border disputes and expulsions, these subregional organizations are crucial for the region's collective integration into the global economy, and to enhance economic growth and facilitate labour intraregional migration.
Free movement of persons without visa, adoption of ECOWAS travellers' cheques and passports, the creation of a borderless Community; and the granting of voting rights and later citizenship and residence permits by South Africa to migrant workers from SADC countries are positive developments.
These organizations need to foster cooperation between labour-exporting and recipient countries, implement the protocols on the right of residence and establishment; promote dialogue and cooperation in order to harmonize, coordinate and integrate their migration policies as envisioned by the 1991 Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community.     

Agricultural policy and the organization of production in Sub-Saharan Africa

In spite of differences in development ideology between African countries, there is much similarity in their agricultural development policies, with output growth through increasing commercialization as the main policy objective. The common policy characteristics are identified and their effects on commercialization and organization of production are analyzed in order of the intensity of government intervention. This implies attention for respectively agro-industrial complexes, private estates, commercial peasant farms, various types of schemes, collective production units, and state farms. Although intensification of government intervention usually leads to higher costs and lower levels of production and productivity, the solution to Africa's present agricultural crisis is not so much the choice of one specific type of production unit, but rather the improvement of the general production environment as reflected in adequate producer price levels, reinvestment of creamed-off surpluses and an effective service apparatus, with the benefits of growth distributed over wide segments of the rural population.     

Predictors of Capacity-Building Needs Among Nongovernmental Organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play important roles in social development in the Global South. However, little evidence exists concerning NGOs’ capacity-building needs. We sought to understand organizational and network factors that explain capacity-building needs. Using an online survey of 282 NGOs in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, we found high levels of capacity-building need, particularly concerning resource development. Using multivariate analyses, we found greater staff size predicted less overall capacity-building need based on a 15-item index (α = .88). Examining individual capacities, receiving at least half of funding from international sources and prior capacity-building assistance were consistent predictors of lower odds of capacity-building need.     

The reverse transfer of technology from Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Zimbabwe

The article investigates the potential reverse transfer of technology (brain drain) from Zimbabwe, using as case study, academic staff at the main campus of the University of Zimbabwe.
A questionnaire survey was employed to separate all Zimbabwean academic staff into two groups: those who express an intention to emigrate in the near future (1-3 years) and those who express an intention to stay home.
The demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the two groups are discussed, as are the factors cited for dissatisfaction with conditions at the source (the institution and the country), potential destinations, and attractions ("pull" factors) at these destinations.
The study concludes that the decision to emigrate is based on an untidy combination of economic, cultural, social and geographic considerations.     

Regional Prevalence,Patterns and Correlates of Sexual Coercion Among Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multi-Country Population-Based Study

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates the prevalence, perpetrators, and factors associated with forced sexual acts. Methods: Pooled secondary data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in 22 sub-Saharan African countries was used in this study. The individual woman components of the questionnaire involving 148,720 women of reproductive age (15-49?years) were analyzed. Percentages and graphs were used to present distribution of study variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with sexual coercion. Results: Forced sexual acts were prominent in Rwanda (15.7%), Gabon (12.3%) and Democratic Republic of Congo (10.9%). The lowest mean age at first forced sexual acts was recorded in Gabon (14.1?years), Comoros and Mali (14.9?years each), whereas the maximum was recorded in Namibia (25.9?years). Results from adjusted logistic regression models identified that factors such as high women decision making power, large spousal age difference, rural residence, Islamic religious beliefs and listening to radio were significantly associated with reduction in the odds of forced sexual acts. Conversely, high-risk partner’s behavior, older age at start of first marriage, early age at sexual debut, most disadvantaged community, education, and the use of newspapers were significantly associated with higher odds of forced sexual acts. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, policies should be reinforced to handle perpetrators of sexual violence especially non-intimate partners. Population-based preventive measures of sexual coercion are essential to complement justice system responses. Our findings also showed the importance of building gender equity as part of sexual violence prevention approach.     

Women's autonomy and timing of most recent sexual intercourse in Sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-country analysis

Since the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, there has been increasing interest in promoting women's empowerment, particularly for sexual and reproductive health. Women's ability to negotiate the timing of intercourse with an intimate partner has not been extensively studied. This study explored the relationships between married women's autonomy and the time since most recent sexual intercourse in Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe using the Demographic and Health Surveys. Significant variation both within and between countries in the timing of most recent sex was found. A strong relationship between women's decision-making autonomy and time since last sexual intercourse in all six settings, even after controlling for factors such as the husband living elsewhere, age, marital duration, and other sociodemographic variables, was found. Men's decision-making autonomy was not associated with the time since last intercourse. Understanding how women's position in the household influences their sexual activity may be an essential piece in protecting the sexual rights of women and helping them to achieve a sexual life that is both safe and pleasurable.     

Marital Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Women’s Autonomy and Socioeconomic Situation Matter?

One key hypothesis that has received considerable attention in recent family discourse is the notion that improvements in women’s socioeconomic circumstances (also called female autonomy) has a positive effect on familial processes and outcomes such as marital instability. Absent from this debate are cross-cultural research that test the applicability of these findings with non-U.S. data. We use representative data from Ghana to explore whether dimensions of women’s autonomy have the hypothesized positive effect on divorce processes in Africa. Consistent with findings from the United States, results from our African data demonstrate that women’s autonomy has a positive effect on divorce. This observation is true not only with the use of conventional autonomy measures such as work and education, but also with regard to institutional measures of autonomy such as matrilineal kinship ties.Baffour K. Takyi, Department of Sociology, Olin 266, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-1905; e- mail: btakyi@uakron.edu.Christopher L. Broughton, Department of Sociology, Olin 266, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-1905; e-mail: Christopher.L.Broughton@cmsdnet.net.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the North Central Sociological Society, April 13–16, 2000, Pittsburgh, PA. We are grateful to several anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Sexual Self-Efficacy and Gender: A Review of Condom Use and Sexual Negotiation Among Young Men and Women in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sexual self-efficacy (SSE), one’s perceived control of or confidence in the ability to perform a given sexual outcome, predicts sexual behavior; however, important questions remain regarding whether gender modifies observed associations. In a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed HIV-prevention literature focusing on youth (ages 10 to 25) in sub-Saharan Africa, we measured and assessed the influence of SSE on condom use and sexual refusal, overall and by gender. Our results, after reviewing 63 publications, show that SSE is inconsistently measured. Most studies measured condom use self-efficacy (CUSE) (96.8%) and/or sexual refusal self-efficacy (SRSE) (63.5%). On average, young men had higher CUSE than young women, while young women had higher SRSE than young men. While cross-sectional studies reported an association between high SSE and sexual behaviors, this association was not observed in interventions, particularly among young women who face a disproportionate risk of HIV acquisition. In all, 25% of intervention studies demonstrated that fostering CUSE increased condom use among young men only, and one of two studies demonstrated that higher SRSE led to reduced frequency of sexual activity for both men and women. Future research and HIV-prevention interventions must be gender targeted, consider improving CUSE for young men, and move beyond limited individual-level sexual behavior change frameworks.