Grassroots development: Benin divided into six territorial poles

On Wednesday 23 September 2026, at the Palais de la Marina in Cotonou, the President brought together the prefects, the mayors of the 77 municipalities, members of the Government and the Speaker of the National Assembly to present the territorial development poles reform.

Six poles

Pole	Area	Municipalities
North-East	Borgou, Alibori	14
North-West	Atacora, Donga	13
Centre	Zou, Collines	15
South-East	Ouémé and Plateau (excluding Porto-Novo and Sèmè-Kpodji)	12
South-West	Mono, Couffo, Atlantique (excluding Abomey-Calavi and Ouidah)	18
Greater Nokoué	Cotonou, Abomey-Calavi, Porto-Novo, Sèmè-Kpodji, Ouidah	5

See our Geography of Benin page to locate these departments.

Three objectives

• reducing extreme poverty;
• developing human capital;
• creating wealth at grassroots level, with particular attention to farmers, herders and fish farmers.

A general delegate for each pole

Each pole will be led by a general delegate required to live locally. As development coordinator, the delegate reports bottlenecks and progress to central government against performance indicators, without hierarchical authority over prefects or mayors.

Timeline

The first delegates are due to take up their posts in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a performance review after one year. A decree will set the institutional framework. No funding figure has been published yet.

An opportunity for the diaspora

By bringing public action closer to the regions, the reform opens prospects for diaspora-led projects, particularly in agro-processing. See Investing in Benin, our update on Benin's economy in 2026 and on the Wadagni government.

Sources

• 24 Heures au Bénin — Presentation of the reform (23 September 2026)
• Kaweru — Grassroots development (24 September 2026)
• La Nouvelle Tribune — Six poles to transform Benin (25 September 2026)