Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region of the world. 74 per cent of its population live on less than two dollars a day. Rapid population growth is one of the biggest obstacles in fighting extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The health and educational system as well as the food situation already are under considerable strain. With more people having to be provided for in the following years the strain will increase. Africa has the highest population dynamics of the world – according to the latest United Nations projections the African population probably will double by 2015. A lot of women get more children than they wish to get as in many cases they don’t have access to modern methods of family planning. Universal access to sexual and reproductive health is essential to reduce poverty and to enable a sustainable development in Africa.

The advocacy and awareness raising campaign on this topic targets strategically chosen groups from the media, civil society and the general public as well as political decision makers in Germany, Austria and Hungary. A comprehensive research study was produced within the action. It analyses the link between population and development. The study will be discussed with experts from all over the world at an international conference in autumn 2011. Furthermore, workshops in selected African partner countries will be carried out in order to discuss the results and implications of the study with local decision makers.

DSW is the leading organisation of this three-year project. The Berlin Institute for Population and Development, the Austrian Foundation for World Population and International Co-operation (SWI) and the Hungarian BOCS Foundation are partners of the campaign. Furthermore, DSW cooperates with the Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and Partners in Population and Development (PPD), Uganda.