Mr. Dembele is a sociologist and Chief of the Social Studies Office, Center of Adapted Technology, in Bamako, Mali. His responsibilities include overseeing social and economic studies of cooperatives formed to develop new technologies. He also serves as a consultant to urban developers, to guide the selection of appropriate technologies for the cities of Mali. Mr. Dembele is particularly interested in problems of housing development. Recently he has also been involved in evaluation of pilot programs for urban water quality control.

Mr. Dembel holds a Diploma in Philosophy from the Ecole Normale Superieur, Mali (1976), and a Maitrise d'ouvrage in Urban Planning from S.M.U.H., Paris (1978).