In 1989, the Republic of Benin was facing a great social and economical crisis. Civil servants of all the sectors in public administration were on strike. People did not know where to go for their health care. Salaries were not paid for more than six months and life for the general population was very dificult. The country was about to degenerate into civil war as a result of the civil unrest in the country. Thanks to the assistance from the French, and Canadian and American Mennonite missionaries, the Bethesda Health Centre was started in 1990 with US$ 1,000 granted by theses partners. Today, the Health Centre of Bethesda has expanded and has become a large Hospital in Cotonou. It hosts each year about 100,000 patients and has developed the department of paediatrics, ophthalmology, stomatology, cardiology, obstetrical gynaecology, X-rays, etc. The Hospital has also put in place an AIDS service which has been promoted by the government to the status of an AIDS Treatment Centre. In an integrated vision, Bethesda has established other departments. In 1993, the Sanitation department was established to implement sanitation and environmentally-friendly projects aimed at reducing the high incidence of some diseases frequently treated at the hospital. In 1996, the decision was made to establish a micro-inance department called PEBCo. This initiative, which currently has 10,000 clients, uses community savings to promote income-generating activities. Since many women were obliged to use the loans for family needs (health care, children schooling, etc.), they were unable to reimburse them as planned. Hence the Bethesda non-government organization (NGO) recently began an initiative to provide a community-based health insurance option for the population in 2006. There are now 12,000 members. This paper focuses on the presentation of Benin and the program, but also describes how the project could be better improved and what were its beneits and impacts. Field Actions Science Reports The journal of field actions Vol. 4 | 2010 Vol. 4