What We’re Doing to Help Children and Families
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- Ghana Certification Report
- How we are helping children,
family, and communities - Video Dispatch: Helping
Cocoa Farming Communities - Links
What We’re Doing
- Help At Risk Children
- Long-Term Progress in
Reducing Child Labor - Safe Working Practices
- Education
- Farm Family Incomes
- Community Health Issues
- For children who may have been “trafficked” or subjected to other forms of child labor
The ICI is working with Ivory Coast NGOs to provide a safe haven for children who have been trafficked in cocoa farming areas.
In Ghana, the ICI supports a government-run shelter to help trafficked children.
Long-Term Progress in Reducing Child Labor
- Drive long-term change to ensure that cocoa is grown safely, responsibly
- Engage all parties to improve conditions in cocoa farming communities
The government of Ghana formed the National Program for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labor in Cocoa (NPECLC), to mobilize government resources, pass laws and improve the lives of children.
Both the governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast signed on to ILO conventions 138 and 182, two important international agreements on child labor.
The Ivory Coast established a “Child Labor Task Force” to tackle labor issues in the country’s cocoa farming sector.
Certification for cocoa farming will drive sustainable, long-term improvement in labor practices. The program is underway in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
- Stop child injuries due to machete use, heavy loads
- Stop child exposure to pesticide application
Thousands of cocoa farming families are learning about safe, responsible working practices through the World Cocoa Foundation’s and USAID’s Farmer Field Schools partnership.
The new “Healthy Communities” program will work with 150,000 cocoa farming families on child labor/safety issues over the next five years.
Individual company programs are reinforcing efforts by educating cocoa farming-communities and cooperatives regarding safe, responsible working practices, and providing pick-up trucks to carry heavy loads.
The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) is working with cocoa farming communities to protect children from dangerous practices by educating parents, encouraging local community and district action, and forming community watch groups.
The Winrock Child Labor Alternatives through Sustainable Systems in Education (CLASSE) project is working with youth leaders in cocoa farming communities who, in turn, teach children about the dangers of hazardous labor practices.
- Access to quality, relevant and affordable education
- Improved school attendance
The government of Ghana passed a “Compulsory Basic Education Policy” that makes primary education free.
Children in cocoa farming communities are receiving better education through a program led by the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH). The program is training 2,000 teachers and teachers-in-training, and improving the school curriculum – ultimately benefiting thousands of students in the cocoa growing region
Communities in West Africa are building and/or expanding school facilities, with the help of the ICI. The ICI is also helping communities create more time for children to study; expand recreational facilities, and secure greater resources from their regional governments.
The Winrock CLASSE program is improving education in West African cocoa farming villages – with a focus on combining basic education with vocational skills.
CLASSE is also providing cocoa farming families with “microcredit” funds so their children can attend school.
- Help cocoa farming families earn more for their crop
Cocoa farmers are earning 24-55 percent more through Farmer Field Schools that teach better farming techniques.
“Healthy Communities” will help 150,000 West African farming families earn more from their cocoa crop, while diversifying their crops and income.
The Sustainable Tree Crops Program is organizing farmers to sell their crops as a group and increase their leverage. Participating farmers are earning 5 to 15 percent more.
- HIV/AIDS
- Malaria
A program, developed by Family Health International is educating West African cocoa farming communities on malaria and HIV prevention, and providing supplies to boost prevention.
The ICI is organizing communities to improve their public health services, increase access to healthy drinking water.
In Ghana, individual company efforts include digging wells to provide fresh, available drinking water to cocoa farming communities.
To learn more about these and other industry-supported programs, visit www.worldcocoafoundation.org