Borrowing from Leach (2015: 7), pathways indicate “alternative directions of intervention and change. [ They refer to] the way that systems or assemblage of social, political, institutional, ecological and technological processes, interacting in dynamic ways in particular environments, may develop over time". Here the West African region includes: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, CSte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.