More than 60 years after the "sun of independence", Africa has experimented with various development theories and models. Africa is also constantly benefiting from official development assistance. However, despite this international 'solidarity', Africa seems to be sinking into unprecedented poverty and misery. Consequently, one cannot help wondering why its development is stalled. Thus, while avoiding theories of 'refusal' of development and conspiracy, we start from the premise that development theories and practices in Africa are conceived within normative frameworks, which are often far removed from the socio-cultural realities of African populations, without regard to the territory. Indeed, development policies underestimate the non-economic factors of which the territory appears to be one of the "great forgotten". The territory is most often assimilated to the geographical space and thus considered as a simple receptacle for development interventions. This justifies the claim of uniformity of development actions that promote global needs. The present contribution intends to show that the space of development should be seen as more than a mere dumb receptacle (object) subject to our diverse actions, but rather as a territory. As a result, the action of development must be inscribed in the meanders of the territory which, in addition to being space, integrates the action. The territory then becomes a development actor. Based on documentary research, the contribution is enriched by two (02) concrete cases concerning mango production in Orodara and urban agriculture in Ouagadougou.

development territory territorial development space