Transformations in the African Family: a Note on Migration, HIV/AIDS and Family Poverty Alleviation Efforts in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA)

Transformations in the African Family: A Note on Migration, HIV/AIDS and Family Poverty Alleviation Efforts in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) Baffour K. Takyi University of Akron Department of Sociology Olin Hall Rm 266 Akron, OH 44325‐1905 Email: [email protected] Paper prepared for the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Assessing Family Policies, New York, 1‐3 June 2011New York, 1‐3 June 2011 I am grateful to Stephen Obeng Gyimah, Ian E. A. Yeboah, and Cheryl Ellman for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Page 0 of 15 Introduction There is general agreement among social scientists that the sub‐Saharan African (SSA) family remains one of the significant institutions in that region. In the absence of well developed and established formal social support systems to help the poor, needy, and elderly in particular, the SSA family has become the main provider of these services. It is against this backdrop of long‐term security—especially old age security—that it is unthinkable for many Africans to stay unmarried throughout their life course. In addition, the same security concerns provide the social conditions that fuel high birth rates in the region as studies suggest. To many African parents, a large family is not only a form of old age security, but it is viewed as population replacement to offset increased mortality (infant and adult) arising from preventable conditions in the region. Regardless of how the SSA family is defined, for there are ethnic, cultural and religious traditions that conditions family forms in the region, observers note its centrality to the social and economic realities of the region. Yet, studies also report that the SSA family is under threat and undergoing significant changes as is occurring in other parts of the world (Little, 1975; Bledsoe 1990; Bradley & Weisner, 1997; Van de Walle, 1993; Lloyd and Gage‐Brandon, 1993; Oheneba‐Sakyi and Takyi, 2006; Alber, 2011). Among the transformations that have been identified with respect to the SSA family include the changing structure of the family itself (an increasing tendency towards nucleation, increased female headed households), a reduced influence of extended family members on individual family behaviors and decisions (e.g., marital decisions), lower fertility, increased marital instability and high divorce rates, changing gender roles within unions, changing sexual mores, and increasingly, changing relationships between generations marked by a decline in overall kin support to family members—especially the elderly and the young (Oppong, 1981; Lloyd & Gage‐Brandon, 1993; Takyi, 2001; Oheneba‐Sakyi and Takyi, 2006; Takyi & Gyimah, 2007; Hattori & Dodoo, 2007). More important, these changes are not limited to one country as they cut across geographic boundaries and socio‐cultural groupings alike. To explain these changes in the SSA family, researchers point to a multiplicity of sources, including the region’s link to the international community, a process that has occurred basically through trade relations, Africa’s colonial experience, the influence of religion (Islam and Christianity in particular), Westernization or what some call modernization (socioeconomic and political changes and state influenced family laws) and forces of globalization. This policy brief provides a broad overview of two key but distinct demographic and health processes: migration (geographic mobility), and HIV/AIDS (health) and their effects on the contemporary African family. In an effort to inform policy in a region noted for its high levels of poverty, it is important that these two processes are factored into the discussions of poverty and poverty alleviation in the region. This is because the two processes, migration and HIV (health) play larger roles in shaping family processes in the region. For example, researchers increasingly make a connection between migrancy (especially migrant labor, truck drivers, military movements in war‐torn Page 1 of 15 regions and countries), and HIV/AIDS, and family processes in the SSA region (Brockerhoff & Biddlecom, 1999; Maman, Campbell, Sweat & Gielen, 2000; Oppong and Kalipeni, 2004; Kalipeni, Oppong & Zerai, 2007). Also, HIV/AIDS infection in a region where people with AIDS (PWAs) are stigmatized and discriminated against can have a devastating effect on families, and increase their likelihood of becoming poorer than their non‐afflicted counterparts. Geographic mobility: Nature, Types and Patterns in SSA Researchers have reported that Africans have a long established and rich history of population mobility—especially those within the continent itself (see for e.g., Zacharia and Conde, 1981; Adepoju, 2000). Adepoju (2000) indicates that these trends reflect historical, economic, ethnic and political ties that exist between the various countries. Some of these population movements are temporary or seasonal in nature (as is the case with migrant workers from Burkina Faso and some parts of Northern Ghana) to the cocoa and mining centers of Southern Ghana and the Ivory Coast, others though tend to be of a permanent nature. In this section, I examine the two main forms of migrations that typify the SSA experience‐rural to urban and international migration. Next, I examine how these two different forms of migration affect the African family. Internal Migration and the Growth of Cities in SSA Though the majority of sub‐Saharan Africans live in rural areas, recent data supports the contention that an urban transition is underway in the region. Recent research from several sources suggests that SSA currently has one of the highest rates of urbanization around the world (see e.g., Kessides, 2006). Indeed the rate of urban growth in SSA averages about 5 percent per year, with the urban population doubling within a relatively short period of about 15 years. A typical case is Kenya where Brockerhoff (1999) reports that its urban population has tripled since the 1980s, with its capital city Nairobi growing at an annual rate of about 6%. Similarly, Zulu et al. (2002) note that rural to urban migration accounts for the high levels of urbanization and growth of substantial slum settlements in Nairobi. Writing about Ghana, Farvacque‐Vitkovic et al. (2008) also note that while its urbanization rates have been lower than in neighboring countries of West Africa, they predict that by 2030, more than half (58 percent) of Ghanaians will be living in its urban areas. Not only are African cities growing at a faster rate, some demographers assert that most of the future population growth in the region will most likely occur in its urban rather than rural areas (Magadi et al., 2003; UN‐Habitat, 2003). Indeed, in a recent report on urban transition in SSA, Kessides (2006) argues that while Africa has experienced a rapid pace of urban growth in recent years, the take‐off stage is yet to come and will rise in the coming years‐‐more than twice the rates reported for the rural population. Why are African cities growing so fast? Though natural increase (birth rates) and the reclassification of rural areas both contribute to the growth of SSA cities (Kessides, 2006), rural‐urban migration is perhaps the most likely explanation for urban growth in contemporary Africa. Urban‐biased developmental policies, a distinguishing feature of many African nations have produced uneven spatial Page 2 of 15 development between the rural hinterland and the few urban areas in the region. The rural neglect, plus a growing rural population at a time of declining economic growth has led to significant poverty among many of Africa’s rural dwellers. As a result, movement to Africa’s urban centers is a rationale response to the absence in the rural hinterlands of Africa of educational facilities, and employment opportunities. What is unique about the African urbanization process, some researchers note, is that, it is happening during a period of significant transitions around the world, including declining or stagnating economic growth in the region itself (Kessides, 2006). For example, it has been observed that the region’s urban population grew by 4.7% annually between 1980 and 2000, while per capita gross domestic product (GDP) dropped during the same period by 0.8% (United Nations, 2004; World Bank, 2003). Indeed to some scholars, Africa’s urbanization is taking place in a context of severe economic constraints that other regions did not go through during their own urbanization. Among the constraints they point to include increased global competition, very limited outlets for external migration (to reduce the pressures of population growth), and depredation of the productive workforce due in large part to HIV/AIDS. The absence of economic support and the lack of jobs in the urban areas have contributed in no small way to the growth of urban slums in many cities in SSA. The many problems that have been associated with urban slums (e.g., poor sanitation, absence of jobs, high levels of poverty) in turn provide the social conditions for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Grief & Dodoo, 2010). It is for these reasons that during the last several decades many SSA governments and local authorities have been hampered, often drained of their capacity to manage or provide the minimum levels of services (decent living conditions and basic social services) needed for their teeming urban dwellers (Brockerhoff & Brennan, 1998). The growing population of the urban poor‐due to the absence of jobs for both native and rural born urban dwellers‐is by itself a recent development, which is now receiving significant attention in the literature. Historically, most discussions about poverty in SSA had focused for the most part on the rural areas where the majority of Africans live and poverty levels are quite high. But as several recent studies have observed, the population of urban poor is growing rapidly. In some countries such as Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Senegal, and Zambia, urban poverty rates are reported to be quite close (within 20 percent) to those found among rural residents (Kessides, 2006).

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