LARES
08 BP 0592 - Cotonou - Bénin
tel : (229) 30 52 40

The Laboratoire d'Analyse Régionale et d'Expertise Sociale (LARES) is an independent non-governmental organisation engaged in policy analysis and development. Specialised in the analysis of regional dynamics in West Africa, LARES has been involved in local development, land use planning, issues of regional integration and impact analysis of political-economic reforms. LARES supports and trains several students from the Université Nationale du Bénin, in research methods and practice. In addition, LARES collaborates with numerous foreign research institutions including International Food Policy Research (IFPRI), International Development and Long term Adjustment (DIAL), Institute of Applied Research for Development (IRAM) and Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) and the Polytechnique School of Zurich. LARES publishes the information bulletin Echo des Frontières.

LARES has undertaken numerous studies in Benin (eg analysis of the workings of numerous agricultural sectors, atlas of food security in Benin) and in West Africa (eg contribution to the West Africa Long Term Perspective Study). It has focused on decentralisation in local development and building interlinkages between the communes in Benin. Its aim is to contribute to the success of the land administration decentralisation process and to promote the development of local collectivities.

Honorat Edja, PhD in agronomy and rural sociology, is a researcher at LARES. His research interests include land tenure and natural resources management, social dynamics related to questions of rural migration, environment and sustainability, relations between technology and local agricultural practice and knowledge, and changing patterns of commodification of agriculture. He will coordinate, supervise and provide valuable input into the research activities relating to all work packages in Benin.
Recent publications include:
1997, Phénomènes de frontière et problèmes de l'accès à la terre. Le cas de la sous-préfecture de Savè au Bénin, Working Papers on African societies no 12. Berlin: Das arabische Buch (Eds), Berlin
1997, Rôle des institutions locales dans la réforme d'un système foncier coutumier, in: Bierschenk, T; Le Meur, P-Y and von Oppen, M Institutions and Technologies for Rural Development in West Africa. Weikersheim: Margraf Verlag (Eds)
1999, Colonisation agricole spontanée et milieux sociaux nouveaux. La migration rurale dans le Zou-Nord au Bénin. Farming Systems and Resource Economics in the Tropics, vol. 35. Kiel: Vauk Verlag, Germany
2000 Droits délégués d'accès à la terre et aux ressources naturelles dans le sud du Bénin. Paris: GRET /IIED

Dangbégnon Constant, PhD in agricultural extension, is a research associate at the IFDC-Africa (International Fertiliser Development Centre), and is a researcher at IGRD. He will carry out field work activities in work packages 1 2 and 3.
His recent publications include:
1999, Managing watersheds in Benin, in: Monroe, M.C. What works. A guide to environmental education and communication projects for practitioners and donors New Society Publishers, Washington DC
with Maarleveld, M, 1999, Managing natural resources: a social learning perspective. Agriculture and Human Values 16: 267-280 · 1998, Rural Developments in the Western part of the Sous-Préfecture of OUESSE, Benin in: Hoefsloot, L (Ed) Land use planning and negotiating platforms. Wageningen: DLO Winand Staring Centre for Integrated Land, Soil and Water Research (SC-DLO)
1998, Platforms for resource management in West Africa. Case of success or failure in Bénin and Burkina Faso. Wageningen: Wageningen University and Research Centre
1996, Breaking the impasse: Platform for Common Property Resource use (The Aheme lake case, Benin). Paper presented at the Sixth Annual Conference for the Intl Assoc for the Study of Common Property Resources. June, Univ. of Berkeley, California.