Conserving northern Benin's ecosystems with the people who live from them.
RACED combines applied research and community action: reforestation, agroecology, women's empowerment and local governance of natural resources in Alibori, Atacora and Borgou.
Understand, act with communities, and prove what changes.
Founded in 2020 and registered with the Borgou Prefecture, RACED works where pressure on natural resources and household vulnerability are greatest: Alibori, Atacora, Borgou, and the villages on the edge of the W-Arly-Pendjari complex.
Our method comes down to three words: participation, data, durability. Every project is designed with communities, tracked with measurable indicators, and built to carry on without us.
Recherches · Research
Understanding ecosystems and societies before acting: assessments, inventories, ethnobotanical studies.
Actions
Moving from assessment to the field, with measurable indicators and follow-up after projects close.
Communautaires · Community
Designing every project with the people who live from the resources: committees, cooperatives, local authorities.
Écologiques · Ecological
Restoring soils, gallery forests, sacred groves and the biodiversity of protected areas.
Développement durable · Sustainable development
Gains designed to last beyond the end of funding.
What we do
Sustainable farming and agroecology
Climate-resilient market gardening, composting, agroforestry, water-efficient irrigation and beekeeping.466 women trained, 4 boreholes and 7 irrigation systems installed in Nikki and Gogounou in 2024
Ecosystem conservation and restoration
Native-species reforestation, sacred forests, village monitoring committees and ecological monitoring around the W and Pendjari parks.14,587 seedlings planted and 15 sacred-forest management committees set up in Alibori and Atacora
Community development and women's empowerment
Women's cooperatives, income-generating activities, microcredit and training for out-of-school girls; nutrition, water-sanitation-hygiene and education for all; action against gender-based violence.250 women trained in beekeeping and processing, 3 shea–honey–néré cooperatives in Gogounou and Malanville
Advocacy, training and awareness
Environmental education in schools, community radio, forum theatre, and dialogue with town halls and government services.9,253 people reached in 2024 across 11 communes; 800 pupils and teachers targeted by AGIRE in Malanville
Research, data and innovation
Ethnobotanical studies, participatory assessments, georeferenced databases and KoboToolbox monitoring to measure what changes and prove it.GPS baseline of every AGIRE producer; community guide to endogenous knowledge on sacred forests
What we are working on now
AGIRE — Agriculture and integrated management for environmental resilience
Sustainable gardening, community composting, beekeeping and environmental education in the schools of Malanville.
Maintenance and monitoring of PCGeDEF reforested sites
Watering, protection and replacement of seedlings over three dry seasons, with the village monitoring committees of Alibori and Atacora.
Sustainable and resilient Tanguiéta
Integrated programme: social cohesion, green women and beekeeping, waste management, improved stoves, clean schools. Partner search under way.
Present across Benin, rooted in the North.
RACED works in all twelve departments. Its documented projects are concentrated in Alibori, Atacora and Borgou, around the W-Arly-Pendjari complex, with a main office in Cotonou and four field locations.
Completed projects, published results
Conservation and sustainable management of fragile ecosystems (PCGeDEF)
Gallery forests, wooded savannahs and wetlands: native-species reforestation, local monitoring committees, training of farmers and herders in sustainable practices.
Empowerment of vulnerable girls and women and sustainable conservation (PA2FV)
Strengthening the economic autonomy of women and girls while involving them in conservation: beekeeping, shea, honey and néré processing, tailoring for out-of-school girls, cooperative microcredit and advocacy against gender-based violence.
Resilience and sustainable market gardening for marginalised women
Agroecological techniques, community gardens, boreholes and irrigation for year-round production, cooperative organisation and market access for marginalised women.
Before, we struggled to grow anything in the dry season. Thanks to the project we have a reliable irrigation system that lets us produce all year round.
Fatou Sambomarket gardener in Nikki — Sustainable Gardening project, 2024« We are now organised in a stronger cooperative, which gives us more weight to negotiate better prices for our vegetables. »
Salimatou Gouracooperative president, Gogounou« Thanks to this project I learned to produce quality honey, and I can now provide for my family. »
Samoussiatou Orou Massobeekeeper, Gogounou
RACED ONG · March 2025
2024 annual report
2024 annual report: 3 projects, 11 communes
Our activities, results project by project, financial statement and outlook for the past year (in French).
News
Three ways to join us
Give
Fund what grants do not cover: maintaining reforested sites, following up cooperatives, travel between villages.
DonateJoin
Internships open all year, volunteering in the field or remotely, volunteer placements and consultancy.
See opportunitiesCo-fund
Projects designed and ready to start, technical support, collaborative research on northern Benin's ecosystems.
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