Resources

ICI commissioned this evaluation in January 2019. It examines progress made since 2015 and aims to answer the question: to what extent are cocoa-growing communities more protective of children and their rights?

Improving access to education has long been considered an important means of combating child labour. But how important are the different elements of ‘education quality’? And which should be addressed first in order to reduce child labour? In fact, the evidence is limited. To help answer these questions, ICI conducted a study based on data from 258 cocoa-growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The study explored the relationship between child labour and two elements of education quality: school infrastructure & services, and school management.

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.