Local governance of pastoral and agro-pastoral infrastructure in the department of Borgou in north-east of Benin : What modes for sustainable management of infrastructure?

This article analyzes the modes of local governance of pastoral and agro-pastoral infrastructures in the district of Nikki, N'Dali and Tchaourou in north Benin. Data related to the types of existing infrastructures, the modes of governance applied; the perceptions of the users on the adequacy between these infrastructures and their needs have been collected both in focus group and in individual interviews using interview guides. Principal component analysis; descriptive statistics; speech analysis were used to analyze these data. The results indicate that there are four categories of pastoral and agro-pastoral infrastructure namely hydraulic, driving, market and health infrastructure. Three modes of management coexist in this area: community management, mixed management and private management. Private management was revealed most adequate than the two others by both users and local authorities, but is not applicable to any infrastructure because of the conflicts and restrictions it may cause. Community and mixed management approaches, while considered inefficient, appear more appropriate for livestock markets. Also, it has been found that the management committees set up work poorly. User perception also hinders the functioning of committees and the mobilization of fees. According to these results, it will be necessary to provide the committees statutes and intern regulation rules, to make them aware of their respect, to train members on the rules of local governance in order to guarantee an efficient and sustainable management of the infrastructures.