A research is currently being carried out in the Aguié District (Maradi Region, Niger) under the
responsibility of the International NGO ENDA GRAF Sahel, with IFAD (International Fund for
Agricultural Development) financial support, concerning an on-going process of collaboration
between farmers, researchers and development project field staff started in 1998. In synthesis, the
purpose of this research is twofold: (i) highlight the changes occurred in the wake of a radical shift in
the approach to carry out genuinely participatory research, (ii) understand which mechanisms are at
work in these changes from three complementary angles of analysis (personal, institutional and from
the local society perspective) with a view to up-scaling this experience. The main concern is not so
much to stress what has changed or what has been achieved by virtue of which approach but more to
understand how and why such changes, if any, have taken place in a particular context and through
which development and research strategy they could be further strengthened.