Mr. Grigori Lazarev is a geographer, socio-economist and and a general practitioner of rural development. Since 1994, as free-lance consultant, he has contributed to develop innovative approaches of program participation in the fields of rural development and local management of natural resources for various international institutions. In Morocco, he has been involved in strategic thinking concerning rural development with the General Council of Agricultural Development and the Planning Commission. He is pursuing studies in the field of historical sociology concerning the Maghreb which he had initiated when involved with Moroccan academia in the 60’s. These have recently been revived in the context of an international research group based in Morocco, the Al Idrissi Association.