The proposed project aims to address water pollution and fishing practices in Benin by teaching residents of the city of Kilibo improved fishing techniques that do not involve pesticides. Over the course of 5 years, the project will hold workshops to teach residents how to construct basic fishing poles and use proper fishing methods without chemicals. It will also conduct seminars to educate people on the harmful effects of pesticides in water, including how they can cause cholera. The long term goals are to eliminate pesticide use, provide cleaner water, and improve health by reducing pesticide intake and instances of cholera. The project will start in Kilibo and expand along the Oume River over 5 years as people teach each other the new skills and

1. Benin
Country Development plan
Created By:
Dat Ngo
Judith Rivas
Erick Gonzalez-Gonzalez
Teach A Man To Fish

2. Executive Summary
“ Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach A Man To Fish
and you feed him for a lifetime.”
-Chinese Proverb
Currently in the country of Benin there are many problems going on, however the most insuf-
ficient is the environmental status, importantly the water. For example the Oueme River that
is polluted with pesticides that the Beninese has, who is unaware, released into the river. And
as they release the pesticides into the water, they are in the water, and the fish are being
affected. And as they eat the fish, drink bathe, clean, cook, etc. with that water they in-
crease they intake of the pesticides. When they consume the pesticides, it causes Cholera,
which leads to dehydration, and they will die.
To fix the problem we plan to have workshops to teach the people to construct better fish-
ing equipment, and proper fishing techniques. Along with seminars to inform the people of
the use of these pesticides and the negative effects they bring to them.
We have decided to take 5 years to complete our project. In the first year, our project will
take off. We will focus on the city of Kilibo, and start there, and from there we plan to ex-
pand through out the river line. And by the fifth year our project will be traveling across river
line, and eventually the people will be teaching each other how to construct the pole, how
to use it properly, and the negative effects of the pesticides they are using.

3. Maga was first lead, who was replaced by Ahomadegbé, in
May 1972. However in October of the same year, the militaryin-
tervened, by toppling Ahomadegbé and increasing the three-
Historical Narrative men council to an eleven-men council. One leader, Kérékou
declared that Benin is a Marxist-Lenist country, and attempted
to find finacial support form other Communist countries. And
Before anD During continuous stikes and coups resulted in a formation of a militia,
franCe takeover. in 1989. The militia along with social unrest and economic issues
forced the country to renounce Marxism as a ideology.
Benin, originally known as Dahomey, and was
one of the great medieval African kingdoms.
Around the eighteenth century, Europeans
A national conference had took place in 1990, and a referen-
began to arrive, while the kingdom of Dahomey
dum provided for a new constitution, with multiparty elections.
was expanding territory boundaries. Portugal,
In 1991 Kérékou was beaten in the polls by Nicéphor Soglo. This
France, and the Netherlands established trad-
started a back and fourth election between the two. Soglo was
ing posts along the coasts in Port-Novo, Ouidah,
credited for the revision for the economy, however criticized
and Cotonou. And in the posts, there were
being distance from the people. This brought Kérékou back as
weapons being traded for slaves. The slave
president in 1996. In the 1999 assembly elections, however the
trade ended in 1848, and France singed treaties
opposition, led by Soglo’s wife, Rosine, won the majority of seats.
with the kings of Abomey, for they wanted to
Conflict with Niger over the ownership of one of several disputed
establish French protectorates in the main cities
islands in the Niger River led to tensions in 2000; the islands were
and ports. However the King Behanzin, fought Post Imperialism
divided between the two nations in 2005 after international
against the French influence, but he was exiled Officially on August first in 1960, The Republic of
arbitration.
to Martinique. And as of 1900, Dahomey was Benin became independent from France. Benin
imperialized by France, and was under a direct was plagued by governmental instability which
rule by a French Governor. While under the rule was caused by economic issues, ethnic rivals, and
Later in 2005 the reelected Kérékou, anounced his term would
of France, the territory was expanding into the social unrest. In 1963 there was a successful coup,
end in 2006, and would not amens the constitution to stay in
kingdoms of Parakou, Nikki, and Kandi, up to the that put Justin Ahomadegbé into power (whom
power. In March, 2006, Thomas Yayi Boni, an economist who
boundaries’ of Upper Volta. And on the fourth was allied with Apithy). And the political unrest
had previously headed the West African Development Bank,
of December in 1959 the kingdom of Dahomey, continued in Benin for six years up to when Lt. Col.
was elected president after a runoff, winning nearly 75% of the
became the République du Dahomey, which Paul Émile de Souza was made to be president in
vote. In June, 2006, the national assembly voted to amend the
was a self-governing country under the French 1969. Elections were attempted in the 70’s, how-
constitution to extend assembly members’ terms to five years,
rule. However on the first of August in 1960, ever they were canceled due to different political
but the supreme court rejected the amendment as for violating
République du Dahomey, became the Repub- views between the north and south. It was decid-
the 1990 consensus that established the constitution. President
lic of Benin which gained independence from ed to have a three-men presidential council over
Yayi survived an apparent assassination attempt in March, 2007.
France. m France. having one president. The council consisted of
Yayi’s coalition won a wide variety of the seats in the national
Maga, Ahomadegbé, and Apithy. Each member
assembly in the elections later that month.
led the country for two years.

4. Benin Timeline
1967 - Benin separates from Nigeria
1752- The Portuguese moved to
benin and founded Porto-Novo, for slave trading.
1970- Dahomey has a three-man presidental council, led
by Ahomadegbe, Apithy and Maga with each leading
Dahomey for two years each.
1848- Slave Trade in Benin Ended
(Traders traded Weapons for Beninese slaves)
1972- The military gets involved and Major Kerekou seizes
power by detaining the three-man presidental council
1894- Dahomey (Benin) is colonized by France members
1973- The CNR (Conseil National Revolutionnaire) is cre-
1900- Benin Imperialised by France, under a direct rule ated. There are representatives from across Dahomey.
1975 - Dahomey is renamed the Republic of Benin.
1946 - Dahomey becomes an overseas territory of
France.
1977 - The CNR adopts a “Loi Fondamentale”, giving Be-
1958 - Dahomey becomes self-governing inside the nin some new government structures
French community
1990 March - Implementation of agreed reforms begins.
Benin drops “people’s” from its official title and becomes
1959- Kingdom of Dahomey became the République du the Republic of Benin.
Dahomey, which was self-governing country within the
French
2004 - Benin and Nigeria agree to
redraw their shared border.
1960 Dahomey becomes indenpendent and is admitted
2005 - International Court of Justice awards Niger most
to the UN
of the river islands along the Benin-Niger border.
1963- Dahomey Joins the IMF (international Monetary
Fund) 2006 - The African Development Bank and the World
Bank approve debt relief to Benin
1963- There was a successful coup in Dahomey and Justin
Ahomadegbé went into power. 2007 - President Yayi leads thousands of
supporters on a march against corruption.

5. Millenium Development Goals Human Rights
Women’s Issues:
The constitution of Benin states there should be no discrimination
based on sex, race, and religion. It is not fully enforced, and public aware-
ness on these topics is low. There is a Code of Persons and Families that sets
According to the the table below, Benin as many the legal age at 18 for marriage for men and women, despite this forced
possible project ideas. However the best choice and early marriages remain throughout Benin. Discrimination against wom-
is the Environmental Sustainability, importantly the en still continues, and women have a few rights within their familiy structures.
water source. Currently 65% of the population has For example, women can’t own their own property, and have to depend
on their husbands for financial matters. Physical integrity, or the protection
access to fresh water, only because the water is
of rights and freedom, of women and enforcements against it is weak so it is
polluted. The information of the sustainability is insuf- most likely a women could become a victim to domestic violence or rape.
ficient and there are no changes being made by the
government. Along with the evrinmental sustainabil-
ity, the nest possible project is the combating against
diseses. Importantly tuberculosis, because 91% of the
population is diagnosed, while only 1.3% is effected
with HIV. Comparing these two issues, the Evironem-
tal Sustainability is the best project to follow through
with. Children’s Issues:
In Benin, and other countries of West Africa, there is a huge problem
with child trafficking. Children are being trafficked from Benin to other coun-
tries for either child labor or sexual exploitation. There is even a
tradition for the use of young female slaves still being practiced as of today.
Eradicating Poverty and Hunger Even in schools, there are children being sexually exploited by teachers to
receive better grades, commonly in public schools. There are laws from the
Poluation recieving under a $1 a day. 50% (2007) Off track government’s Brigade for the Protection of Minors that makes it illegal to
prostitute a minor, or child labor, but the Brigade isn’t very powerful to make
Children recieving malnutrition 22% (2006)
the law into power.
Primary Education
Completion of boys and girls 64% (2006) Possibile
Expenditure per student 13% (2006)
Gender Equility
Women in nonagricultural sector 24% (2006) Possible
Ratio of boys and girls in school 73% (2005)
Worker’s Rights:
Reducing Child Mortality There is a new labor code that will recognize domestic workers in
Under five (per 1000) 123 (2007) Off track Benin. It gives workers responsibilities, safety, health, and rights to domes-
Immunization for measels 61% (2007) tic workers. There is a Domestic Workers’ Union that has approximately 500
members that contains more male than female members. The male mem-
Improving Maternal Health bers have the same tasks that the female memberrs have.The experiences
of union workers before the new labour include: lack of job contracts,
Maternal Mortality Rate 840 (2005) Off track
unregular working hours, no payment for overtime, violence, no recognition
Adolescent Birth Rate 120 (2007) of multi-skills, sexual harassmnt, and racism.
Combating Disease
Prevalence of HIV 1.2% (2007) Possible
Tuberulocsis 91% (2007
Environmental Sustainability
Access to improve water source 65% (2006) Insufficient
CO2 emissions 0.3% (2005)

6. Resource Map
Evironmental Status
Environmental issues in Benin are
droughts and many residents are not
able to receive fresh water. Many forests
in Benin are gone because of defores-
tation. So all the forests that are gone
the land is used as fuel. But water is the
main problem because the ground
water was found and it gets contami-
nated from all the disposed waste of
land. Also the airborne sources and
infiltration are polluted because the
surface water. Deforestation had oc-
curred since a long time ago because
many trees are gone and forests are all
clear with no vegetation because of
the fuel. Also many animals are becom-
ing extinct because they’re not able
to drink clean water. Benin has a lot
of deserts that are dry and have little
water supply. For many people in Benin
its hard to find water because of the
the dry deserts. Benin temperature is hot
and humid. Mostly everything is gone in
Benin just because the water is not really
helping with the vegetation. This case
is really affecting Benin because they
are not able to get anything. People in
Benin like to catch fish but now is bad
because the fishes drink the water that
is contaminated and people eat them
and they could get really sick because
of the fishes.

7. Project Proposal
D ESCRIPTION O F N E E D Our proposal is to change the fishing hab-
its of Benin in order to create a fresh water
source. Our focus is on the city of Kilibo,
which is next to the Oueme river. The river
is polluted with pesticides from the empty
watter bottles the Beninese use to kill and
In the country of Benin there is a river of Oueme that eat fish. When they release the pesticides
into the water it gets into the fish as they
is polluted with pesticides beca use the people are
eat, and in the water they drink, which
using them to catch and kill fish. The people are wash- doubles the pesticides intake, causing
ing empty water bottles that are with contaminated Cholera.
with pesticides, and they either use the bottle to drink Our plan is to have workshops, where we
or they wash them. Then the pesticides are released will teach the people to make a basic
fishing rod, so the people can fish prop-
in the water and the fish are infected by the them. erly. We will teach how to constuct the
The people at that point are unaware of the pesti- pole, and proper fishing techniques with-
out pesticides. Along with the workshops
cides are in the water and the fish, and they eat the we will have seminars about the negative
fish. They also drink, bath, wash clothes, cook, etc. effects of the pesticides. The use of pes-
ticides cause Cholera, which effects the
with that same water which is filled with pesticides, popluation because it causes diarrhea
causing Cholera. Cholera causes vomiting and diar- and the people to throw up, and they be-
come dehydrated and can die. however
rhea, which leads to dehydration and death. The Cholera is easily treated with a vaccine,
country is in need of better fishing habits and they thus our main focus us to eliminate the
pesticides and have cleaner water.
need to be educated about the use and the impact
of percticides. The use of pesticides will be eliminated
and the water will be fresh. The proper
fishing materials will reduce the use of the
pesticides, and will decrease the intake.
The seminars will alert the people to the
dangers of the pesticides.
Fishing Materials
The materials we plan to use for the fishing rods are:
1. A basic stick, where one either can make one out of wood, or find a decent size
wooden stick.
2. A rope that is strong and thin enough to stay on the stick.
3. A inexpensive hook where we can put the bait.
These materials are very easy to find, and it would be easy to contruct the fishing rod.

8. Project Implementation
Impact Analysis
Our goal is to clean out the Oume River so there is fresh water all over Benin. The organization is going to
change the water source in a couple of years because the water has pesticides. Our goal also is to clean
the water for the people through proper fishing techniques. Its really hard for them to find water and this
will really help them by learning how to fish properly.
Short Term:
Our short term goal is to have our seminars started, in order to inform the people about the
negative effects of the pesticide use. Along how to make fishing poles. We will first start in Kilibo, which is
There are many pros and cons to our project, however we believe that a town located adjacent to the Oueme river and it is located around southern Benin. Because they are
close to river, they are effected the most. We plan to have our headquarters placed in Kilibo, and we will
our project will be successful. Constructing the thising poles with bey
start everything. For the seminars we will not be using any building of any sort, because that will take up
inexpensive materials will be easy, However finding the bait may be to much time. At the same time, we will show the people how to construct the fishing pole. And when the
difficult. And teaching the people how to fish is the simpliest task to do, seminars are complete and the people are spreading the information about the pesticides. Then we will
beacuse all the people have to do is place their bait in the water, and enable our ability to teach the proper fishing techniques.
wait for fish, and then pull. However there is a chance that the people
will not grasp the technique quickly, or not even at all. And the seminars Long Term:
will be undemanding, because were gonna have a small class to inform As soon as the seminars are done, we can continue on with the fishing poles. The seminars should
the people of the negative effects of the pesticides. All of these events take 3 years to finish. Then we will continue with the fishing poles, the constriction and fishing poles, all to-
will happen at the same time. However the construction of the poles may gether, should take 7 years to spread throughout the river line. it will take this long because when we finish
be difficault because there is a chance that we cannot provide enough with Kilibo, we will move on to another city. And we plan to have the people of Kilibo teach others, and
for them to mirgrate in order for them to teach other people.
materials right away. Then we will have to pause the project and collect
more materials, and then the project will go on longer than planned.
However these are just accusations of waht are the possible outsomes of
our project. We devoted to make sure that our project will run one hun-
dred percent perfectly.
10 Year Plan
Year 1: Start with the seminars, and collect materials for poles.
Year 2-3: Continue seminars, finish by year 3, and start to construct fishing poles.
Year 4: Focus on contructing poles, and teach proper techinques.
Year 5: Finish in Kiliba and mirgate to other cities and towns,
Year 6: As the people of Kilibo grasp the contruction and technique, they will migrate to other
people and cities to teach them about pesticides, contrsucting the poles, and how to properly
use them.
Year 7: Continue with current city or town, and have people who have grasp the idea, have
those people migrate and do the same.
Year 8: Have at least half of the river line cities and towns educated with the pesticides and fish-
ing pole contruction and use.
Year 9: Continue with project and have addintional cities and towns to spread our ideas.
Year 10: Finish up project, and have the people continue to spread our ideas.