A forestry project in West Africa with a strong social and development component is perhaps the best example of what the Clean Development Mechanism was supposed to be about. Achieving it is not easy: many elements need to be brought together to produce a project that performs socially, developmentally and environmentally. This article describes the elements of the IBI Bateke project, a savannah based agro-forestry project in The Democratic Republic of Congo (the Project). It considers the workings of the Project, at an operational and financial level. It sets out the expected benefits from a social and environmental perspective. It also considers the challenges of contracting for sale of carbon credits.