Resources

This article, published in the journal Sustainability, explores the social, economic and environmental effects of voluntary sustainability standards and corporate initiatives implemented by public-private-civil society partnerships in cocoa value chains.

In Côte d’Ivoire, older children (defined here as aged 12-17) face a number of challenges in post-primary education. Underperformance is an issue with enrolment and completion rates remaining low and quality of education needing improvement. Access to education is low for girls, poor families and those living in rural areas. Improving quality of and access to education would yield significant benefits. Cocoa-producing areas, in particular, would benefit in terms of reduced poverty, better employment prospects and the reduction of child labour.

In Ghana’s cocoa-growing communities, older children aged 15 to 17 are most at risk of hazardous child labour. Limited opportunities to attend senior secondary school or Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) mean that older children instead engage in cocoa farming, where they are at risk of hazardous child labour involvement. Higher levels of educational attainment play a critical role in reducing both child labour and household poverty.

This report exploring the achievements, challenges and lessons from efforts to end child labour in cocoa was by Nestlé in October 2017, in partnership with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). Launched at the annual meeting of the ILO’s Child Labour Platform, the Tackling Child Labour 2017 report is a comprehensive account of one company’s actions to stamp out child labour in its cocoa supply chain.

Commissioned by Mondelez International and prepared by CARE International, this report reviews the current role of women in cocoa farming in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.