The vulnerability of older adults: what do census data say? An application to Uganda

Older adults are generally considered as being among the most vulnerable groups of the population. Yet, being over 55, 60 or 65 years old, does not necessarily mean being vulnerable in any way. Older adults are stakeholders in a social system in which they both receive and give. In Africa, where rapid population growth and economic changes have greatly transformed livelihoods in the past century, the social role of the older population has also undergone substantial change. Even in a context where their power is being eroded, older adults are often involved as providers until very late in life. In a situation where social security for pensioners is almost non-existent, elderly persons who need special care rely exclusively on their children or their social networks. According to their economic or family situation, the capability of older people to withstand difficulties is highly variable. In this context, we define in this paper two components of the vulnerability of older adults based on the structure of the household: structural and relational vulnerabilities. Then, using data from Uganda Population and Housing Censuses of 1991 and 2002, we measure the situations of vulnerability affecting older adults and possible changes that have taken place in this regard over the past two decades in this country. In Uganda older men and women are about equal in numbers. Men are less frequently in situations of vulnerability, however. Logically, the prevalence of vulnerability among older adults increases with age, but has not significantly changed from 1991 to 2002. Structural and relational vulnerability affect women much more frequently than men. Disability is more common among older adults in situations of structural vulnerability than among others, i.e. among older adults who live alone and have children in their care, which questions the capacity of family support systems to care for their members

Utopies à Rakai

En 2011, dans un article paru dans la presse, les habitants de la région de la Kagera, dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Ouganda, réclament l’usage de terres bloquées au nom d’un projet de zone franche qui ne se concrétise pas. Il s’agit d’un projet ambitieux : le Gouvernement ougandais a été sollicité pour donner 500 km2 afin de contribuer à la création de la « nouvelle Hong Kong de l’Afrique » ou d’« une autre Dubai ». En septembre 2005, le président ougandais donne des directives pour mettre les terres demandées à la disposition de la société promotrice du projet. En janvier 2006, un accord est signé entre le Gouvernement et cette compagnie par le ministre des Investissements de l’époque. Puis en décembre 2007, dans un revirement inattendu, le projet est officiellement suspendu par la mise en place d’une commission d’enquête, commanditée par le président en personne. En effet, le lien entre ce projet et un mouvement religieux est parvenu à l’attention du public. Ce mouvement religieux, présent à la fois dans le district de Rakai en Ouganda et en Amérique du Nord, est décrit dans des termes contrastés : « secte » localement en Ouganda, associée à des rituels étranges (tels que la préservation des corps), et « religion New Age » prônant à des adeptes nord-américains un syncrétisme religieux entre Asie et Afrique, une alimentation végétarienne et l’écologie. Son leader spirituel est à l’origine de cette vision d’une cité moderne au cœur d’une Afrique renouant avec ses racines, Sseesamirembe. Certains des adeptes du mouvement qui font la promotion du projet de zone de libre-échange sont bien introduits au sein de l’État. Aux échelles locales, nationales et internationales, alors que la commission d’enquête n’a pas rendu son verdict, des tractations pour obtenir de la terre et des investissements se poursuivent, 10 ou 20 km2 sont alloués au projet en 2008. En 2008 encore, un accord avalisé par des officiels de rang élevé des Gouvernements ougandais et chinois stipule qu’une société chinoise s’est engagée à construire la ville aéroportuaire sur le lac Victoria. Dans cet accord, le rôle clé de Liu Jianjun du Hebei province Bureau of Foreign Trade Promotion, promoteur de l’idée d’une paysannerie chinoise en Afrique (« villages de Baoding »), est souligné. Nous sommes bien loin du compte, mais les 500 km2 annoncés pour le projet restent la référence de ses promoteurs. Les visites officielles se succèdent à Rakai, officiels chinois, représentants de l’État : la dernière en date est celle du porte-parole de l’assemblée, en juillet 2011, au cours de laquelle le blocage est encore une fois dénoncé. Sur place, sur les terres déjà acquises par les dirigeants du groupe religieux, les fondations et la construction effective de quelques villas, équipées de générateurs et d’antennes paraboliques, sont à noter, mais nous sommes encore loin de la grande ville industrielle écologique New Age annoncée. Les facettes de ce projet sont multiples et insaisissables. Différents regards peuvent être portés sur cet objet : sa virtualité (utilisation de sites Internet), ses dimensions transnationales, ses aspects financiers, religieux, culturels, politiques, que ce soit aux échelles locales, nationales, régionales ou internationales. Parmi les différentes manifestations du projet de Ssesamirembe, nous avons choisi de nous interroger plus particulièrement sur ses incidences foncières. Dans un contexte de croissance démographique et d’exacerbation de conflits fonciers, nous nous intéressons ici à un processus d’accumulation foncière spécifique qui illustre bien les logiques qui contraignent l’accès à la terre aussi bien des investisseurs que des paysans, en Ouganda. La renégociation de droits respectifs d’usage et de propriété crée des situations de blocage. Les dirigeants du mouvement religieux ont cherché à faire appel directement à la générosité de l’État. Est-il possible d’imaginer une concession de terres en Ouganda à l’heure actuelle comme au début de la colonisation, en 1900, où les terres allouées aux personnages importants du royaume, aux chefs territoriaux qui le représentent, aux Églises catholique et anglicane, se mesuraient en square miles ? Certains historiens soulignent l’artifice du titre de propriété dans ce contexte où la propriété est issue davantage d’un droit éminent que d’une appropriation effective. Cette requête ne semble pas avoir abouti pour l’instant. Le cas de Sseesamirembe révèle un aspect sans doute commun mais qui passe le plus souvent inaperçu : le mélange du virtuel et du réel, la juxtaposition d’acteurs et de mondes différents. Un mouvement religieux dans ses fantasmes construit une cité idéale, rien de plus banal. Elle utilise le flou sur sa tenure foncière pour l’exagérer et pour attirer des investisseurs étrangers, eux aussi à la recherche d’une utopie – agraire ou urbaine. Cette gesticulation de promesses non réalistes et de chiffres manipulés ouvre l’appétit des puissants ougandais locaux et nationaux qui à leur tour nourrissent la machine à créer du rêve et à s’accaparer des richesses beaucoup plus modestes mais bien réelles (terres publiques, titres fonciers et capitaux d’investisseurs locaux et internationaux…). L’enchevêtrement d’utopies religieuses ou de « développement », d’investisseurs authentiques, d’escrocs, d’illuminés et de crédules crée un ordre où chacun cherche à profiter de l’autre à partir d’éléments essentiellement virtuels.In 2011, in an article published in the press, local inhabitants of the Kagera region in South-Western Uganda were complaining they were prevented from cultivating the land earmarked for a free trade zone which has not yet materializing. For the realization of this ambitious project, the Ugandan government was approached to give out 500 km2 of land. The aim was to build the “New Hong Kong of Africa” or “another Dubai”. In September 2005, the President of Uganda gave directives in favor of the company promoting this project and its application for land. In January 2006, an agreement was reached between the government and the company and a memorandum was signed by the then State Minister for Investments. Then, in December 2007, in an unexpected turn of events, the project was suspended, pending the findings of a Commission of Inquiry set up by the President, initially to explore rumours on the healing practices of the promoters of the project, who belong to a religious group found in Rakai district and also in North America. The group was described on the one hand as a “sect” locally in Uganda, due to rituals such as the preservation of bodies, and also, on the other hand, as a “New Age religion” linking African and Asian religious traditions and advocating for a vegetarian diet and ecology. Its spiritual leader is said to have had a vision of a modern city in the midst of the continent renewing with its African roots, Sseesamirembe. Some high ranking followers are actually the ones promoting the idea of a free trade zone and they have powerful connections. Though the findings of the Commission were not out, at the local, national and international levels, efforts to obtain land and investments for the project continued: 10 or 20 km2 were allocated to the project in 2008. In addition, in 2008, an agreement between officials in the Chinese and the Ugandan governments opened the way to a large-scale Chinese investment in Rakai for the building of a complex comprising airport and port on Lake Victoria. The key role of Liu Jianjun from the Hebei province Bureau of Foreign Trade Promotion was noted. Liu Jianjun was the promoter of “Baoding villages” and his vision of Chinese peasantry settling in Africa. Though the 500 km2 are nowhere to be found, this is the figure quoted for the available land by the promoters of the project. There have been numerous visits from Chinese officials and from government representatives, the last one being the tour of the speaker of Parliament in July 2011 during which the stalemate was mentioned. On the ground, on land already belonging to the religious leaders, new foundations and a few villas, equipped with generators and satellite dishes, have come up. Yet the New Age sustainable city with its large industrial and service areas is yet to be constructed. The many sides of this project are difficult to grasp. Each perspective might focus on specific aspects of the project, its virtual (use of the internet), transnational, financial, religious, cultural, political dimensions and on specific scales, local, national, regional and international. Amongst all these numerous manifestations of Sseesamirembe, we have chosen to focus more specifically on land-related issues. In a context of population growth and increasing land conflicts, we are dealing with specific occurrences in land accumulation, which illustrate processes constraining access to land for both investors and farmers/livestock-keepers in Uganda. User rights and property rights are constantly being renegotiated creating space for potential conflict. The leaders of the religious group have decided to appeal directly to the State’s generosity. Would it possible to imagine in today’s Uganda the carving out of large domains, in a similar way to what happened at the start of colonization, in 1900, when land granted to important people in the kingdom, to territorial chiefs who represent the king, to Catholic and Anglican churches was measured in square miles? Some historians have shown how property was derived, in this context, from ruling and not from any other form of ownership; land titles were instrumental in this regard. For now the religious leaders’ quest for a large domain has not been successful. The case of Sseesamirembe reveals a somewhat common phenomenon which usually goes unnoticed: the mixture of virtual and real, the addition of players and co-existence of different worlds. There is nothing extraordinary about a religious movement constructing the image of an ideal city. Remaining vague about the actual extent of the land under its control, or even exaggerating, is a convenient ploy to attract interest and foreign investors seeking their own form of utopia, either rural or urban. False pretenses, non-realistic promises and manipulated figures are made to entice the appetite of local and national power-brokers who in turn contribute to new dreams of getting rich fast in very practical ways, though less grandiose (using public lands, land titles, capital from local and international investors…). The entanglement of religious utopias and “development”, the association of genuine investors, crooks, the possessed and the believers creates a new order where each and every one is trying to use others by feeding them with essentially virtual elements

Phospholipid Scramblase-1-Induced Lipid Reorganization Regulates Compensatory Endocytosis in Neuroendocrine Cells

Calcium-regulated exocytosis in neuroendocrine cells and neurons is accompanied by the redistribution of phosphatidylserine (PS) to the extracellular space, leading to a disruption of plasma membrane asymmetry. How and why outward translocation of PS occurs during secretion are currently unknown. Immunogold labeling on plasma membrane sheets coupled with hierarchical clustering analysis demonstrate that PS translocation occurs at the vicinity of the secretory granule fusion sites. We found that altering the function of the phospholipid scramblase-1 (PLSCR-1) by expressing a PLSCR-1 calcium-insensitive mutant or by using chromaffin cells from PLSCR-1−/−mice prevents outward translocation of PS in cells stimulated for exocytosis. Remarkably, whereas transmitter release was not affected, secretory granule membrane recapture after exocytosis was impaired, indicating that PLSCR-1 is required for compensatory endocytosis but not for exocytosis. Our results provide the first evidence for a role of specific lipid reorganization and calcium-dependent PLSCR-1 activity in neuroendocrine compensatory endocytosis

La mesure de la pauvreté des personnes âgées en question : Ménages, répartition des ressources et systèmes de solidarités en Ouganda

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La dépendance en Afrique. Prise en charge familiale et accès aux soins de santé

En Afrique, les systèmes de retraite et de protection sociale ne touchent qu’une partie minime des besoins. La santé publique et l’offre de soins en général sont loin d’amener la santé à la portée de tous. Les personnes âgées dépendantes font très souvent l’objet d’une prise en charge familiale, mais n’ont que peu accès aux soins de santé moderne. Les systèmes de soutien familiaux se construisent autour des descendants et d’autres proches, mais connaissent parfois des limites que l’État peine à compenser

Critical perspectives on marriage and unions in DHS surveys in Kenya and Uganda

In most societies, it is through marriage that families access alliance and filiation. Marriage is a major step in life, for both men and women, and it is also the institution that enables family systems to perpetuate. However, there are striking differences in the way societies are structured. In East Africa, patrilinearity dominates the scene. Inheritance rights are conveyed to the next generation more or less exclusively through marriage and fertility. For instance, among the Gusii or the Kikuyu, it is first and foremost through marriage that wealth is transmitted to children. Marriage formalisation is a process that often takes time, from the first negociations around bridewealth to the full recognition of the married couple and their children. As bridewealth tends to increase with time, education and employment, it is discussed later and later in life inspite of this being a key step in a couple’s life. Yet, in other patrilineal societies, the transmission of wealth doesn’t necessarily involve marriage. If marriage remains at stake for every member of the society, in terms of status and recognition, it is not as vital economically. This is for instance the case in Buganda, where bridewealth is more symbolic and children born out of wedlock can actually inherit from their fathers. This paper is based on a comparative analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys in Kenya and Uganda, regarding union and marriage statuses. Although Demographic and Health Surveys are harmonised surveys the samples and the questions asked about marital status differ slightly over time and country. The results show striking differences in the proportions married and their trends between Kenya and Uganda. Do these differences come from the way the questions are asked? the way they are understood? What does it imply in terms of data collection or interviewee declarations ? Are these figures the results of normative gaps between Uganda and Kenya? IIs there a marriage crisis in Uganda? The goal of this paper is to systematically raise such questions and bring elements of answers through a systematic confrontation of results with survey questionnaires and manuals and litterature

Vers une nouvelle définition des relations intergénérationnelles en milieu rural gusii (Sud-ouest du Kenya)

L'évolution rapide des sociétés des pays du Sud conduit à des situations conflictuelles, à tous les niveaux de la société, qu'il est important de .mieux comprendre et de distinguer les unes des autres. Au niveau des individus et des groupes sociaux, le décalage entre des normes sociales peu flexibles et un contexte politico-économique très changeant ouvre la brèche à des comportements extrêmement variés. Ce chapitre porte sur l'évolution des relations entre générations au sein des familles gusii, dans le sud-ouest du Kenya, au cours des dernières décennies