For me with a background experience working in population and development issues as once I was woking as a Population and Family Life Education Expert for Ethiopian Population Office ( Then in 2002, Population Office was under the Ministry of Economic Development) I spent a few years researching, learning and also scrutinizing things related to demography and socio-economic development. Gender was one of the central componenet of the population unit operation as it is the major driver to promote reproductive health and famly planning related issuesd. Unfortunatelly, if you going through the litrature and also if you encounter people from different socio-culutral background and raise issue on population, you will be immediatelly recognise that it is much more complicated as it could be ideaologically and politically misinterpreted. There are strong religious, culutral and political resistance to consider population growth issue in terms of its implication to bring balanced soci-economic development specially in the developing part of the world. When you come to gender it is also a generic term which alos include social exclusion and inequalty among groups and communities. It would be much more palatable if we put such social dimention as " Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis" to make it broader. If you want to improve the situation related to unprecedents population growth, Projects and Research institutions should includ Family Life Education, Gender and Social Marginilization/Exclusion in their project/programme Framing or focus. We have to reach into the heart of the community and the family if we really want to bring change in the attitutde of people particualrly to support them to bring a productive memeber into the fold of their amidest. It is a very delicate issue to start advising some one to stop bearing children but it is easier to start discussion on major chnages occuring in the village for the last 5 or 10 years interms of social services, economic opportunities and constraints, in schooling children, on crime rate, on the intergenerational interaction in the family and in the community at large. Then... also to get proposals from the same source on possible solutions and remedies. The solution will come only if that same community shares the view that there is a new trend of pupulation preasure with negative impact on the well being of the coummunity in general. It is visible in most parts of Africa that urban centres are engulfed with a new generation of daily labourers who left the country side in hundrds and thousands. We have already start feeling the population preasure everywhere but what is the root cause of that. Do we really have the time, the mind set and the attitude to go down and bring research and development agends from the ground. There are a number of such issue which needs a concerted effort of many stakeholders ( Donors, Scientists from different fields). Otherwise, I am sure you have raised a very important issue and we need to work that particulalry on how we could be bale to bring those social issues at the core of development research and intervention. Cordially,
For me with a background experience working in population and development issues as once I was woking as a Population and Family Life Education Expert for Ethiopian Population Office ( Then in 2002, Population Office was under the Ministry of Economic Development) I spent a few years researching, learning and also scrutinizing things related to demography and socio-economic development. Gender was one of the central componenet of the population unit operation as it is the major driver to promote reproductive health and famly planning related issuesd. Unfortunatelly, if you going through the litrature and also if you encounter people from different socio-culutral background and raise issue on population, you will be immediatelly recognise that it is much more complicated as it could be ideaologically and politically misinterpreted. There are strong religious, culutral and political resistance to consider population growth issue in terms of its implication to bring balanced soci-economic development specially in the developing part of the world. When you come to gender it is also a generic term which alos include social exclusion and inequalty among groups and communities. It would be much more palatable if we put such social dimention as " Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis" to make it broader. If you want to improve the situation related to unprecedents population growth, Projects and Research institutions should includ Family Life Education, Gender and Social Marginilization/Exclusion in their project/programme Framing or focus. We have to reach into the heart of the community and the family if we really want to bring change in the attitutde of people particualrly to support them to bring a productive memeber into the fold of their amidest. It is a very delicate issue to start advising some one to stop bearing children but it is easier to start discussion on major chnages occuring in the village for the last 5 or 10 years interms of social services, economic opportunities and constraints, in schooling children, on crime rate, on the intergenerational interaction in the family and in the community at large. Then... also to get proposals from the same source on possible solutions and remedies. The solution will come only if that same community shares the view that there is a new trend of pupulation preasure with negative impact on the well being of the coummunity in general. It is visible in most parts of Africa that urban centres are engulfed with a new generation of daily labourers who left the country side in hundrds and thousands. We have already start feeling the population preasure everywhere but what is the root cause of that. Do we really have the time, the mind set and the attitude to go down and bring research and development agends from the ground. There are a number of such issue which needs a concerted effort of many stakeholders ( Donors, Scientists from different fields). Otherwise, I am sure you have raised a very important issue and we need to work that particulalry on how we could be bale to bring those social issues at the core of development research and intervention. Cordially,