A research-born firm, built for impact

Born in 2007 out of university research (CEFORP, University of Abomey-Calavi), CRAD produces strategic knowledge that informs public policy and development programmes across West Africa.

Our story

Nearly twenty years serving development

The Centre de Recherche et d'Appui-conseils pour le Développement (CRAD), in English the Centre for Research and Advisory Support for Development, is a Benin-registered research and advisory firm founded on 2 March 2007 in Abomey-Calavi, by a group of associate consultants reunited after ten years of joint work at the Centre for Training and Research in Population (CEFORP) of the University of Abomey-Calavi.

Initially focused on research in health, education and agriculture, and on collecting, processing and analysing data for funders, CRAD has since expanded into programme evaluation, monitoring and evaluation, and market research. Today the firm has made a decisive shift to digital tools and data, to strengthen the key sectors of sustainable development.

The firm has an international vocation, built on a network of partners and consultants across West and Central Africa (Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Cameroon, Congo, DRC).

2007

year founded

40+

studies & research

30+

experts & consultants

ECOWAS countries assessed

Vision & mission

Knowledge at the heart of public decision

CRAD positions itself as the interface between rigorous scientific output and public decision-making, through a co-production approach with national stakeholders.

Methodological rigour

Mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) adapted to the local context and compliant with research ethics.

Co-production & anchoring

Close collaboration with line ministries and technical and financial partners, ensuring national ownership of results.

Impact orientation

Operational recommendations geared toward scaling and the sustainability of development interventions.

Governance & organisation

A structured, accountable organisation

CRAD is led by a General Management, supported by a Management Committee and the General Assembly of Partners, an Operations Directorate and four departments.

General Management

Coordinates all bodies, prepares the budget and guarantees the quality of services.

Operations Directorate

Ensures management and technical coordination of the departments' activities.

Management Committee & GA

Advisory body and supreme assembly setting the major strategic orientations.

4 Departments

Administration & Finance; Entrepreneurship & Marketing; Health & Food Security; Information & Communication.

Leadership team

High-level, multidisciplinary expertise

Statisticians, demographers, socio-anthropologists, economists, epidemiologists and managers: CRAD brings together 30+ specialists and a network of associate consultants.

Sall Moustapha GIBIGAYE

Managing Director

Socio-anthropologist (DEA, DESS in Population & dynamics), doctoral candidate at UAC. Over 20 years working with development agencies, ministries and CSOs; specialist in population and gender.

Socio-anthropologyGenderStudy coordination

Nicaise KODJOGBE

Statistician-Demographer

Statistician-Demographer engineer, international consultant. Former Director of the Census Bureau at INSAE (1989-1997), he led the 1992 national census and several rounds of DHS and MICS surveys in Benin, Burundi and Congo. A leading authority on demographic surveys in Francophone Africa.

National surveysDHS / MICSData analysis

Théodore HOUNGBEGNON

Statistician-IT specialist

Statistician engineer (ENSAE Dakar), 10+ years in quantitative and qualitative research. Specialist in mobile data collection (ODK, Survey Solutions, SurveyToGo, iField) and relational database management (SQL Server, Oracle).

Mobile collectionDatabasesSQL

BINAZON Hodonou Alexandre

Statistician · M&E

Statistician engineer (ENSEA Abidjan), he leads CRAD's electronic monitoring and evaluation (CommCare, Power BI) and has overseen the delivery of some thirty of the firm's studies, including the Impact Malaria project (Benin, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia) and the monitoring and evaluation of the BeninCajù project (CRS/USDA).

Monitoring & evaluationDashboardsDigital collection

Hermionne Nelly DJOGBEDE

Admin & Finance Manager

Accountant-manager (ENEAM), nearly 10 years in financial management, bookkeeping, audit and procedures manuals for projects and CSOs.

Financial managementAuditFunder compliance

A network of 30+ consultants

Associate experts

Epidemiologists, public-health physicians, agronomists, economists, geographers, lawyers, psychologists and communicators, mobilisable quickly in Benin and across the region.

MultidisciplinaryRegional

Resources & capacity

A technical set-up ready to deploy

CRAD deploys a fleet of 28 tablets for digital field collection (CAPI), 20 recorders for qualitative surveys, a network of workstations, a server, secure storage solutions and a power generator that keeps operations running, even on remote terrain.

On the analysis side, the firm masters the main statistical software (SPSS, Stata, R, CSPro, SAS, EPI INFO, ENA for SMART) and mobile-collection tools (ODK, KoboToolbox, CommCare, Survey Solutions), as well as interactive data visualisation.

Formalised financial management (separation of authorisation, execution and control functions, funder reporting, openness to external audits) and a turnover of 178M FCFA in 2024 attest to CRAD's capacity to deliver large-scale contracts.

Work with us

Discover our areas of work

Climate & energy, agriculture, health, education and data: explore CRAD's expertise sector by sector.

See the sectors