100

‪This article analyses how monastic communities in West Africa deploy aid and assistance to populations that request it. The focus is on Catholic and lay networks supporting monasteries in local development. Following a broad conception of Catholic monasticism that goes beyond the categories of canon law, examples from Benedictine, Cistercian, Carmelite, and Poor Clares help compare practices and grasp the links between contemplative communities. This approach identifies the specificities of the development implemented by monasteries with the Catholic milieu and the NGO sector. The development initiated by monasteries in Africa is characterised by its protracted temporality, related to the vow of stability and its integration within extensive transnational networks.‪