NEWSLETTER - JULY 2009

« 1 000 000 000 (one billion) people,will be the middle classes population in the developing countries within 20 years.*

They will represent 1 person out of 6 on the planet.

In Africa, who are the Middle Classes today ? »* Source : « perspectives for the world economy», World Bank, Nov. 2007

« The Middle Classes in Africa » is a project launched and run by the photographer Joan BARDELETTI with the support

of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEE), the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and other partners.

It aims at understanding and describing who are the middle classes in Africa, and in particular their links with the

development of the continent, through an in depth photo essay associated with research and journalism work done

during more than 20 months. A dozen of french and african researchers are associated to the project and regularly

produce publications on this issue. Initiated in 2008, the project will cover 6 african countries (the first ones are Ivory

Coast in Feb. 09, Kenya in June 09 and soon Mozambique in Sept. 09) and be concluded in Autumn 2010 by a large public

exhibition in Paris, which will then tour in Africa, an international conference on this issue and the edition of a book.

THE PROJECT

NEWS

> WEBSITE LAUNCH : www.classesmoyennes-afrique.org* On this website, follow all the news of the project (contents, events, ...) and find all the images, publications and sound

interviews done with the middle class people met in each country.

* Soon available, multimedia content mixing images, sound and text in a fresh and original form to watch, podcast, ...

* Built in a light way to keep it accessible to african visitors with no high speed internet, the website is bilingual french-

english to allow undersatnding to the most ones.

*You like this project ? You are working, or have worked on the middle classes in Africa or a related issue ? Write us !

Once your contents validated by the project team, they will be online and available for consultation on this website.

> COMING BACK FROM KENYAAfter Ivory Coast in Feb. 09, Joan Bardeletti just came back from a 1 month photo essay in Kenya, the 2nd country of the

project. The images, also with the researchers publications and sound interviews will soon be available on :

www.classesmoyennes-afrique.org.

> EXHIBITION IN VISA OFF : Aug. 31st - Sept. 12th 2009The photo agency Picturetank will hold a photo exhibition presenting the work done on middle classes in Kenya and

Ivory Coast during VISA OFF in September, at the Bourse du Travail downtown Perpignan.

Contact Joan BARDELETTI joan.bardeletti@classesmoyennes-afrique.org +33(0)6 82 25 28 99

middle classes in

CA

Charles Kapié with his partner in the street close to their office. At 30 years old he has created and runs a consulting firm in agronomy and a cyber café. He used to be a civil servant and he invested his « rappel » (first year of salary paid at once) in his activity and resigned after one year. He was paid $400/month. He situate himself in the middle of the Middle Classes.

Fofana Adama working in the garage that employs him as a mechanic. Practicing Muslim, he gives up his koranic studies for his passion as a mechanic. He is paid $10/day when there is cars to repair but it is becoming more and more rare due to the crisis. Aged 27 years old, his salary allows him to provide for 7 people including 2 from the village. He is part of the modest Middle Classes.

Ivory Coast - Feb. 2009Photography

Abidjan is a urban giant, ebullient, sprawling... Through an exponential growth, the town, with more than 5 million people, is the biggest urban center of the whole western Africa. With between 2 and 8$ per person and per day, middle classes income could seem pathetic to the occidental standards. However, they live far better than the poor and can not be compared to the rich minority. Religion, work, leisure, family, a dozen of persons from the middle classes - businessman, student, pastry cooker, mechanic, ... - introduce us to their

everyday life. All images are available on www.classesmoyennes-afrique.org.

1. Mrs Coulibaly in her dinning room with her 4 years old son. WIth 20 brothers and sisters, she comes from a rural family near Yamoussoukro. Her undergraduate studies allowed her to integrate the middle classes. 2. An outdoor “Parliament”. The entrance is free and people can come every week to listen to comments on political current affairs. Since the crisis, most speakers are government representatives. It mixes low and high Middle Classes.3. Arrival of a modern pentathlon event. Public swimming pool with a $1 entrance and the tennis at the University from a $40/year subscription are the places visited by Middle Classes. 4. Patrick Gbalou with his sons in his flat. He is paid $640/month and doubles his teacher salary by giving private lessons. Middle Classes families are generally composed of 2 or 3 children whereas average famillies usually have 5 children.

1

2

>

3 4

middle classes in

CA

Ivory Coast - Feb. 2009Research

Pressure on the incomes lead to « precarious community solidarity attitudes »,

which materialize themselves in an individualization of the household behaviour

on the food issue. Within poor families, in particular in Abidjan, the tendency is to

share the small ressources to face the food uncertainty. For middle classes on the

other hand, the global difficulties to manage their way and the spreading sensation

of the « unbearable weight of the extended family» tend

to change the rule of solidarity. Alain Marie

In Ivory Coast, we can consider that the income of the middle classes are within a range of $1,5 /day/person and $8,9/day/person. According to this definition, the middle classes in Ivory Coast represent then

1/3 of the population

40% of the country’s wealth

The middle classes are the ordinary people, sometimes risking their cattle to buy stock shares, who gamble and tend to become a regional

plateform, while poverty and slums is spreading around the town.

James Shikwati, « Rising Africa » 2007

We can consider that the middle classes in developping countries are the persons with a daily consumption of

between $2 and $10Esther Duflo « What is middle class about the middle classes around the world » Dec. 2007

The average earning in Abidjan is 3 times higher than in the rest of the country. In 2008 it was

850€ per yearEnquête de Niveau de Vie (ENV) 2008, Côte d’Ivoire.

Alain Toh & Souleymane Kouyate - University of Cocody, Abidjan, March 2009

« At first, in Abidjan, we were thinking that being a

civil servant was the way to succeed in life but today

we can clearly see that the small businesses give much more money that being a civil servant in an office. The one sitting

in an office sits all day long. Today, civil servants are

paid $220 per month, but with my small business, I

make a lot more than that ! »

Kadie, student in Abidjan, and owner of a cyber coffee and a photocopy

shop.

Mrs Coulibaly is 33 years old. From a family of 20 brothers and sisters, she is now

married with a 4 years old child. After undergraduate

studies, she is a customer relationship manager in

a telecom company. Her 340€/month salary gives

her hard times as the oil and food prices rise. She

had to move for a cheaper rent and took a credit

to pay the initial deposit.

of jobs are held by salaried employees. Half of the population are freelance workers, with more than one third of them not being paid at all.Enquête de Niveau de Vie (ENV) 2008, Côte d’Ivoire.

18%

middle classes in

CA

Ivory Coast - Feb. 2009Research

« You see, in Abidjan, I mean there are people now, when they

wake up in the morning, even 100 francs CFA ($0,3) in their

pocket they do not have. It’s hard...

Well, I think these people are even more down. At least, no

offense you know, when I wake up in the morning I have 2000

francs CFA ($4) in my pocket, you see ?

That’s why, I think I am part of this class. I mean, you see, I am

in the middle, it’s not like I have a lot of money, no. »

Anicet is a pastry cooker at home in Abidjan. He is 25 years old. He earns $270 per month and just decided to work with his younger brother to allow him, at last, to enjoy his week-ends. He wish to emigrate in Europe to get a bakery degree and open a real shop when he’ll come back.

middle classes in

CA