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QUICK FACTS: BENIN Size: 112,620 square kilometers Population: 8,078,314 Life expectancy: 53 years Average annual income: $540 USD Population below poverty line: 37 percent Languages: French (official), Fon and Yoruba, and at least six tribal languages Exports: Cotton, palm oil (Source: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook 2008; The World Bank 2006) |
Benin
Through the Sasakawa-Global 2000 agricultural development program, The Carter Center and the Beninese Ministry of Agriculture established a regional movement of savings and loan banks in West Africa. Building Hope A former Marxist-Leninist state, in 1991, Benin became the first African country to have successfully transferred power from a military dictatorship to a democracy. Yet, Benin continues to have trouble developing economically. Since 1992, The Carter Center has been working in Benin to strengthen the foundations of democracy and peace already established in the nation. Through efforts to increase food production and eradicate Guinea worm disease, The Carter Center and the people of Benin, together, are building hope for a healthier future.
Fighting Disease Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease Current Status: Transmission stopped, March 2004 Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication: Pending In 1993, with assistance from The Carter Center, the Benin Ministry of Health established a national program to eradicate Guinea worm disease. That year Benin reported approximately 14,000 cases of Guinea worm. By 2004, the incidence of this painful and debilitating disease had been reduced by more than 99 percent, and only three indigenous cases were reported. Guinea worm prevention approaches introduced to Beninese communities have included: health education; distribution of nylon filters to strain out water-flea-like organisms, called copepods, that host the infected larvae; safe, monthly ABATE® larvicide treatments (donated by BASF) of stagnant ponds; direct advocacy with water organizations; and increased efforts to build safer hand-dug wells. Village volunteers, who are trained, supplied, and supervised by the program, carry out daily surveillance and interventions. Benin greatly improved its Guinea worm surveillance by fully implementing strategies to contain cases within 24 hours of case detection. To help educate the public and raise awareness about Guinea worm, The Carter Center facilitated the recording of Guinea worm radio public service announcements in French, the official language of Benin. In communities throughout the country, women and mothers have been enlisted in the fight against Guinea worm disease. Beginning in March 2001, the program recruited three women with university training to assist with eradication efforts. Each woman was assigned to monitor outbreaks in one of three highly endemic regions: Mono, Zou, and Collines. These women, called social assistants, were the first of a future network of women in Benin's most endemic communities. Each social assistant began by training other women to search for cases of Guinea worm, log cases in the village register, and apply bandages to wounds caused by the disease. The women were also taught how to inspect and distribute water filters, demonstrate correct use and care of filters, verify that ponds are treated monthly with ABATE, and encourage use of potable water, when available. Making rounds twice a month, the women visit at least 25 households each. Female leaders in the community recommend and select other women for Guinea worm training. Learn more about mothers fighting Guinea worm disease in Benin (Carter Center News, PDF, July - December 2002, p. 9). Women have a daily presence in the community, as they are directly responsible for obtaining water for household use. They take great care to note if people with Guinea worm disease are entering water sources to bathe or collect water, so they are able to quickly spot and report an outbreak. With support from her fellow villagers in Tchetti, a social assistant rallied against a negligent village volunteer when he refused to report an outbreak of Guinea worm disease because he did not want to be embarrassed. The women went to the local radio station, which routinely aired messages about preventing Guinea worm disease, announced the outbreak, and denounced the irresponsible behavior of the village volunteer. Her intervention allowed the eradication program to take action immediately to contain the outbreak. Combined with the efforts of other program partners, these dedicated women have played a vital role in stopping the transmission of Guinea worm disease in Benin. Between 2003 and 2004, the national program reported a 90 percent decrease in recorded cases of Guinea worm. In April of 2005, Benin officially reported 13 consecutive months of zero indigenous cases, suggesting that transmission of disease has been stopped. As the woman in Tchetti did, it remains crucial to keep public awareness high to quickly detect and report all imported cases from neighboring countries, which still have indigenous transmission. Through these efforts, the suffering caused by this debilitating disease has been averted. Families, communities, and even Benin's national economy will benefit from more people returning to work and more children able to attend school. UPDATED JUNE 2007 Learn more about the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program. Increasing Food Production Working hand in hand with the Benin Ministry of Agriculture, the Carter Center's Agriculture Program assisted farmers in Benin with agricultural production from 1989-1996. The program, in partnership with the Sasakawa Africa Association, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug, is part of a larger joint initiative that has helped more than 4 million sub-Saharan farmers. The program in Benin has assisted 100,000 families to adopt green manure crops, such as velvet bean, quality protein maize, and rice. Improved seeds, paired with the use of new farming technologies, helped farmers enhance soil fertility, control noxious weeds, and increase crop yield. The new strategies were a great success. The higher crop yields farmers received allowed them to sell two to three surplus bags of maize each harvest. The program then aided farmers in identifying local markets to sell these surpluses. In addition, most farmers were able to save enough money from these earnings to diversify their holdings by purchasing livestock or different types of seeds. Yet obstacles remained, including the physical distance to the nearest bank. Consequently, the Agriculture Program, in conjunction with the Ministry of Rural Development, assisted farmers to develop savings and loan banks in villages, giving them an organization they could trust and control. This new village-based savings and loan movement, called the Caisse Rurale d'Epargne et de Prêt, or CREP, brought together key members of the local community - farmers, small traders, artisans, and cattle owners - to contribute resources and create their own caisse, or savings and loan association. One of the first CREPs was established in the village of Gbowimè in the Mono region. When the Agriculture Program began activities in Benin in 1989, Gbowimê was one of the first villages to participate through maize production test plots. The new technology demonstrated in these test plots had a direct benefit for farmers. They were able to save money from their earnings and put it to work for them. In 1991, 91 people in Gbowimè created their own CREP, freely electing their own board, including a president, secretary, treasurer, and other officers. But before money could be lent, they needed to raise a significant amount of money to get started, a daunting task when the average annual income in Benin is less than $220 USD. The CREP decided that each member must pay a small amount to join and that the dues would be put together in one large account, establishing that their money would earn a 6 percent annual return. The Gbowimè CREP started to loan money to members in 1993, with eight people taking a total $532 USD in loans. By mid-1999, Gbowimè's bank assets, countrywide, were $1.25 million USD. Loans totaled $365,000 USD, and membership was in the thousands. This is an extraordinary achievement for a nation where as many as one-third of all people live below the national poverty line. Benin has 137 CREPs currently registered with the ministries of Finance and Rural Development, although most still do not have safes. Today, CREPs have specialized extension officers and field accountants in six regional centers in Benin, who visit these banks on a regular basis. The accountants are prohibited from handling cash, and the banks must contribute to their salaries. Benin's program has inspired other nations such as Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali to adopt similar savings and loan programs. Successes like these led The Carter Center and the Sasakawa Africa Association to end its in-country agricultural activities in Benin in 1999. Learn more about the Carter Center's Agriculture Program. |
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