Venue: Mmabatho Tusk Hotel, Mafikeng,South Africa, Date: 5-8 March 2007

The South African government registered and organised a seminar on the institutionalisation of the dialogue between population research and development policy in Africa as part of the programme of the International Forum for Social Policy (IFSP), which was held in Argentina and Uruguay in February 2006. The Forum as convened by the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) programme of UNESCO. The Commissioner for Social Affairs represented the African Union at the seminar. Other participants included the governments of Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa, a training programme, and academics, the Population Association of Southern Africa, the African Migration Alliance and a local community organisation. As follow-up to the IFSP seminar, the Department of Social Development, in collaboration with the North West University and the African Population Commission, will hold a 4-day conference in South Africa, to involve more African researchers and governments in the dialogue.

The purpose of the conference will be to present and discuss the role of and emerging opportunities for policy dialogue between governments and the population research community. The programme outline is attached. A dialogue will also be conducted during the conference on mother and child health in southern Africa. The conference’s title will be Population and Development in Africa: Research and Policy Dialogue for Action.

The objectives of the conference will be to:

• Trace the emergence of dialogue in the social research – policy nexus on population and development challenges in Africa;
• Describe the background, history and results of various initiatives;
• Describe the institutionalisation of programmes, challenges experienced, reviews and evaluations;
• Demonstrate, describe and evaluate the role of the scientific community in evaluating progress with the implementation of population and development programmes;
• Investigate prospects for the enhancement of the population research – policy nexus under the auspices of governments and intergovernmental bodies;
• Identify lessons that may be applied to other developing regions’-settings to enhance the implementation of the ICPD PoA;
•  Discuss the state of mother and child health in southern Africa, and responses thereto, to enhance SADC’s programme thereon.

Conference outputs will include:

• Recommendations on improving the structural integration of population research findings and research organisations into the policy processes of the African Union, regional organisations, and countries;
• Facilitation of the cross pollination of population research and development policy expertise between various governments and research organisations on the African continent;
• Publication of a report on the conference.

Mafikeng declaration

View programme

Registration Form 

For more information contact Eunice Nchoe or Pertunia Radebe at:

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Tel: +27 12 312 7410

Fax: +27 12 312 7710 or +27 12 312 7932