ICI’s project is community led.  Working with communities, ICI has developed a process to sensitise farmers and community leaders to abusive labour practices and help them identify how they might work to bring these to an end.  At the outset, each community creates an action plan to ensure children are not involved in hazardous practices, a mechanism for the identification and rescue of trafficked children, investment in education and youth programmes and a framework to ensure these changes become permanent. 

In cocoa production, individual farmers make the decision about whom they employ as labourers on their farm.  Numerous economic and social factors influence these decisions and conditions can vary significantly from place to place.  While most family farmers are law abiding and extremely hard working, abuses are sometimes found and can be exacerbated by both poverty and a lack of awareness. 

  Our pilot projects, launched in 2004, in Ghana and Ivory Coast are led by the communities themselves and provide a benchmark for measuring success and replicating practices which best support change at the community level.

Download the Final Report [PDF ] and the Report of most significant changes [PDF].

Some Key Results and Achievement (Pilot Phase)

• In 87.5% of communities, children are no longer involved in spraying of cocoa;
• 79% of communities have taken measures to reduce the loads children carry;
• In all communities, parents and guardians have started providing protective clothing for children when they accompany them to the farms;
• 83% of communities have taken measures against children breaking pods;
• In 87.5% of communities, the Traditional Labour Cooperation has been revived, thereby allowing children to go to school;
• 87.5% of communities officially requested teachers, 54% were granted;
• 54% of communities had employed supporting teachers, paying them directly;
• In parallel, the Sustainable Tree Crops Project (STCP) organised Farmer Field Schools on good cocoa farm husbandry and practices for farmers in 7 of the 24 pilot communities.