Study: “Consequences of Family-Building Strategies and Household Composition on Schooling and Child Labor in Urban Burkina Faso”
PI(s): Jean-François Kobiané
Co-PI(s): Marie-France Lange
Affiliation(s): Université de Montréal (Université de Ouagadougou)
Institutional Partner(s): AFD/IRD, Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP)
Project Dates:
Start: 2008
End: 2012
Data Source(s): Panel Data collected via Ouagadougou Surveillance System
Methods: IV; Qualitative
Geographic Location(s): Burkina Faso

Description:
Improvement in children’s learning and school attainment are of great importance for the long-term development prospects of Sub-Saharan Africa. The main objective of this project was to provide evidence regarding the effect of fertility behaviors on schooling and work among children and adolescents, as well as regarding the variations by socioeconomic status, gender, and birth order in an urban area of Burkina Faso (one of the least developed countries in the world). More specifically, the project: (1) advanced knowledge of strategies used to limit fertility in urban households in Sub-Saharan Africa and ho this affects decision about children’s and youth’s schooling and work; (2) analyzed, using appropriate statistical methods, cause and effect, first of children and the composition of siblings, and second, the well-being of children, measured by schooling, and contrasted these results with studies done in other contexts (Asia in particular) and (3) reflected, following our results, on the policies in place which pertain to family planning and children’s schooling and communicated these conclusions to decision makers et the public at large. In addition, the project investigated the degree to which children’s schooling and work, and the transition from school to full-time work, were influenced by family size and by the presence and absence of other family members.

Research Outputs:

Bougma, Moussa, Pasquier-Doumer, Laure, LeGrand, Thomas & Kobiane, Jean-Francois. (2014). Fertility and Schooling in Ouagadougou: The Role of Family Networks. Population-E, 69(3): 391-418.

Bougma, Moussa, LeGrand, Thomas & Kobiane, Jean-Francois. (2015). Fertility Decline and Child Schooling in Urban Settings of Burkina Faso. Demography, 52: 281-313.

Bougma, Moussa, LeGrand, Thomas & Kobiane, Jean-Francois. (2015). Fertility Limitation and Child Schooling in Ouagadougou: Selective Fertility or Resource Dilution?. Studies in Family Planning, 46(2): 177-199.