People: Healthy and thriving cocoa-farming households and communities

Living in rural, tropical, agricultural areas, cocoa-farming families and their communities face broader social, labor, health, and education issues which are often common to cocoa farmers and non-farmers alike. Building the capacity of individuals and communities to better understand and address these issues is essential to their long term viability.

The World Cocoa Foundation supports programs that work towards healthy and thriving cocoa farming households and communities by:

• Educating adult farmers, youth and children about child labor including information about appropriate and inappropriate activities for children helping on the family farm.
• Coordinating with national programs focused on labor issues.
• Incorporating information about on-farm safety into training on production practices.
• Working with farmer organizations to strengthen their management, improve services to members and grow their membership.
• Improving the quality and relevance of education in rural, cocoa-growing communities.
• Including information about HIV/AIDS, malaria and other health issues in farmer training activities.
• Working with communities to shape the implementation of activities at the local level.