In 1997 the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) of Brown University undertook a series of comparative training and research projects in three countries Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Guatemala. The projects were concerned with the training of planners and researchers in procedures for collecting and analyzing information on migration and its relation to development, women's status, health, and reproduction. Recognizing the importance of migration in South Africa and the pressing need for increasing the number of qualified researchers capable of focussing on this topic, in 1998 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided additional funds to add South Africa to the project. The Centre for Population Studies (CENPOPS) at Pretoria University was given responsibility for the project, working in cooperation with scholars from PSTC at Brown University. The focus of the South African project was on the country's black population. Migration is defined in the survey as movement from one district to another or, if movement is within a district, between a rural and an urban area.
