ICI is a Swiss-based, non-profit foundation that works to ensure a better future for children in cocoa-growing communities.
It is a multi-stakeholder partnership advancing the elimination of child labour and forced labour, by uniting the forces of the cocoa and chocolate industry, civil society, farming communities, governments, international organizations and donors.
ICI’s vision is of thriving cocoa-growing communities within a dignified, sustainable and responsibly managed cocoa supply chain, where child rights and human rights are protected and respected, and where child labour and forced labour have been eliminated.
ICI’s founding objective was to work with the cocoa sector and cocoa-growing communities to address child labour and increase child protection. We began operating on the ground in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in 2007, implementing a community development approach in cocoa-growing communities. Working with member companies and civil society organisations, we also adapted Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems for the cocoa supply chain from 2012 onwards. Since then, our work has expanded to reach hundreds of thousands of farming families across Ghana, in Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon.
Today, our members and partners are part of an important collective effort working to address and prevent child labour and forced labour in the cocoa supply chain. They include civil society, the cocoa industry, international organisations, farming cooperatives, governments, regional bodies, and more. Our unique ability to bring these different stakeholders together makes us a powerful actor for change within the sector and beyond.