Domestic migration and mobile phones: a qualitative case study focused on recent migrants to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Migration has long been used as a strategy for livelihood diversification in rural, subsistence communities. Yet in order for migration to effectively serve as a livelihood diversification strategy, it should meet certain conditions: migration should ease financial burdens, should confer access to economically valuable resources and information, and should broaden social networks. Using qualitative data gathered in 25 interviews with rural migrants to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, we examine how mobile phone technology has impacted migration as a livelihood diversification strategy. Our results show that while mobile phones facilitate migration, the advantages conferred may benefit migrants at the expense of the home communities. Mobile phones alleviate financial constraints, enable access to broader networks, and facilitate informational and resource support among migrants. Our results show limited evidence of migrants using mobile phone technology to provide resources or information to the home community. Our results highlight the need to reconsider the ways in which migration can be used as a livelihood diversification strategy in light of changing communication technologies to promote the economic success of both migrants and their home communities

Birth-Preparedness for Maternal Health: Findings from Koup\ueala District, Burkina Faso

Maternal mortality is a global burden, with more than 500,000 women dying each year due to preg\uadnancy and childbirth-related complications. Birth-preparedness and complication readiness is a com\uadprehensive strategy to improve the use of skilled providers at birth, the key intervention to decrease maternal mortality. Birth-preparedness and complication readiness include many elements, including: (a) knowledge of danger signs; (b) plan for where to give birth; (c) plan for a birth attendant; (d) plan for transportation; and (e) plan for saving money. The 2003 Burkina Faso Demographic and Health Survey indicated that only 38.5% of women gave birth with the assistance of a skilled pro\uadvider. The Maternal and Neonatal Health Program of JHPIEGO implemented a district-based model service-delivery system in Koup\ue9la, Burkina Faso, during 2001-2004, to increase the use of skilled providers during pregnancy and childbirth. In 2004, a cross-sectional survey with a random sample of respondents was conducted to measure the impact of birth-preparedness and complication readiness on the use of skilled providers at birth. Of the 180 women who had given birth within 12 months of the survey, 46.1% had a plan for transportation, and 83.3% had a plan to save money. Women with these plans were more likely to give birth with the assistance of a skilled provider (p=0.07 and p=0.03 respectively). Controlling for education, parity, average distance to health facility, and the number of antenatal care visits, planning to save money was associated with giving birth with the assistance of a skilled provider (p=0.05). Qualitative interviews with women who had given birth within 12 months of the survey (n=30) support these findings. Most women saved money for delivery, but had less concrete plans for transportation. These findings highlight how birth-preparedness and complication readiness may be useful in increasing the use of skilled providers at birth, especially for women with a plan for saving money during pregnancy

Croissance démographique, dynamiques de peuplement et évolution des systèmes agraires : le cas de la commune de Koumbia (Burkina Faso)

There is an enormous body of literature on the population growth that sub-Saharan Africa witnessed over the course of the past few decades. The majority of these works argue that reducing birth rates is an essential step in the fight against poverty, and that policy of a fertility reduction is necessary these contexts. And, though the term of « overpopulation » is rarely used explicitly, it is nevertheless this neo-Malthusian impulse that undergirds the mechanical association of population growth and the reduction of land resources.Despite these arguments, several sub-Saharan African countries and regions have led successful campaigns to absorb this population growth without seeing a threat to their food security. Furthermore, one could argue that it is thanks to the diverse responses of rural communities to population growth that the « urban explosion » in African cities has been able to partially contained. This case study, conducted in Koumbia, attempts to show how this region of Burkina Faso has been able to successfully absorb a sustained growth in population resulting both from natural growth as well as significant immigration of both mossi and fulani ethnic groups into the region. We observe that the increase in population density has led to a double process of both intensification (much like Esther Boserup’s analysis) and extensification (such as clearing new lands to make way for agriculture)

Dynamiques démographiques et répartition du peuplement . Vers une nouvelle géographie du peuplement dans le Grand Sud-Ouest du Burkina Faso ?

International audienc

Croissance démographique, dynamiques de peuplement et évolution des systèmes agraires : le cas de la commune de Koumbia (Burkina Faso)

International audienc

Croissance démographique, dynamiques de peuplement et évolution des systèmes agraires : le cas de la commune de Koumbia (Burkina Faso)

International audienc

Croissance démographique, dynamiques de peuplement et évolution des systèmes agraires : le cas de la commune de Koumbia (Burkina Faso)

International audienc

Les marchés ruraux de l’Afrique de l’Ouest: une brève revue de littérature

International audienceEn Afrique de l’Ouest, les marchés ruraux demeurent l'endroit où s'approvisionne la très grande majorité de la population, aussi bien pour les produits manufacturés, que pour les produits de base de première nécessité (riz, farine, légumes, etc.). Dans ce contexte, cette présente revue de littérature vise à mieux comprendre la typologie, les caractéristiques et l’approvisionnement des villes par les marchés ruraux de cette partie de l’Afrique. Cet ouvrage aborde alors respectivement, les principales typologies, les caractéristiques des marchés ruraux, et met en relief la consommation urbaine en Afrique de l’Ouest et des habitudes alimentaires