Emerging population issues in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cross-checking and promoting demographic data for better action
DEMOSTAF brought together European and African research institutes as well as non-academic African national statistics offices (NSOs) in a staff exchange programme, from January 2016 to December 2019, with the aim to advance research on emerging population issues in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). DEMOSTAF was built around four major population-related themes: fertility, mortality & health, households & families and education. These themes federated the research projects conducted by the partners, and aimed to shed light on key contemporaneous questions, with the objective to inform the post-2015 development agenda framed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The programme focused on the articulation between quantitative data from national statistics (censuses and sample surveys) and local data (demographic surveillance systems or local vital registration). Thanks to the close involvement of NSOs, the programme consolidated and promoted public statistics. The programme funded staff mobility between partners to support research projects, while reinforcing training and skill transfers. Collective activities essentially devoted to training, data documentation and scientific dissemination were also conducted. DEMOSTAF involves 18 partners: 5 European academic institutions, well known for their African population expertise (INED, IRD and University of Nanterre in France, UCL in Belgium, Unige in Switzerland), 11 African partners from Burkina Faso (INSD and ISSP), Madagascar (INSTAT, INSPC, IPM, UCM), Mali (INSTAT), Senegal (ANSD, UCAD, UZ) and Uganda (UM). Among them, 4 are NSOs. Due to mutual interests in the promotion of demographic data, a Canadian academic institution (ODSEF) was also involved. A scientific advisory committee associated key experts and promoted international partnerships. In total, almost a hundred of individuals participated in the projet. Among them a total 68 researchers, statisticians, PhD students and librarians were involved in a total of 189 months of secondment.