SOUTH Africa was a delegate at the International=20 Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in=20 Cairo in September 1994. The conclusions emanating from=20 that conference have ramifications for planners not=20 only within governments but for marketers as well,=20 particularly in the light of our own Reconstruction and=20 Development Programme.=20
Given the shifts in thinking as a result of that=20 conference only an education-marketing approach will=20 turn dream into reality.
An excerpt from our recently issued Ministry for=20 Population Welfare and Development Green Paper records=20 that the ICPD “reflects a move away from the focus on=20 lowering population numbers, and fertility rates in=20 particular, as a goal in itself (and particularly on=20 the provision of contraception as a means of achieving=20 that goal), towards the goal of improving the quality=20 of life”. The document goes on to record that poverty=20 is a result of a wide range of interacting factors=20 rather than simply the result of overpopulation.
What emerges from the ICPD shift in focus is that birth=20 control, with all its colonial baggage, is out of date,=20 and step, as a concept. Birth control alone was clearly=20 an inappropriate focus if taken in isolation.=20
There is, of course, a risk that failure of development=20 programmes may simply be blamed on a wider range of=20 ills. There aren’t many practical plans for improving=20 the living standards of the masses.
The ultimate responsibility rests on one foundation=20 alone: the desperate need for non-academic education=20 leading to upliftment through awareness.=20
A Canadian psychologist of note said: “Awareness=20 precedes choice.” Unless people are literate, aware of=20 current trends exacerbating poverty, and put in a=20 position from which they can make choices about a=20 better lifestyle, no upliftment programme is going to=20
There has been a delightful and vital focus on primary=20 health care in the past few months. There is now a=20 desperate need for that same focus on education — of=20 the sort that, through outreach and counselling=20 programmes, will allow people to make informed=20 decisions about their future.
In Africa, we face unique challenges arising out of=20 cultural mores and traditions, particularly those=20 regarding numbers of children. The focus must not be on=20 the negative downside of having many children but on=20 the positive benefits for members of smaller families.=20
The basic requirement in any education programme is=20 that we market it on the basis of the “What’s In It For=20 Me” factor.
Only in South Africa do we have the infrastructure,=20 skills, marketing and communications expertise to take=20 this, our biggest ever public relations challenge, make=20 it work and share it with neighbours to the north. Only=20 then can we take the dream emerging from the ICPD and=20 turn it into an African and a South African reality.