Population information programme for ECA member States : perspectives for the 1990s

The objective of this paper is to highlight the necessary mechanisms for developing a viable regional population information programme which will enable the African region to have the facilities and services for promoting the needed awareness creation and understanding of population and development issues which will be crucial for the region in the 1990s. The paper traces in section I the state of African population/development perspectives and discusses in section H the role that population information plays in this process. The development of population information dissemination activities since 1961 are reviewed and an analysis of the present state of affairs, including a description of major activities already implemented also given. Section III highlights the main perspectives of a regional population information programme. The major elements of the proposed programme at different levels as well as the resources needed for implementation are indicated. Specific recommendations are addressed in section IV to member States to aggressively support the information programme and for donor agencies and institutions to support ECA in its efforts to develop, sustain and further develop its indigenous regional knowledge base on population matters in a manner which ensures the region's continued sustained growth in the population and development sector.