The SANREM CRSP-West Africa focused on issues of economic and political empowerment. The presentation characterizes the natural resource management problem and describes the context of rural civil society: a bifurcated society with little enfranchisement of rural populations. SANREM West Africa intervened in this context and focused on building social infrastructure in the context of NRM conflicts by transforming local social capital. An example of this is the NRMAC of Madiama. The presentation closes with a set of Lessons Learned from the experience: participation; multiple paths to empowerment; training of development agents; power issues; and public/private synergy.