News from ICI
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Five ways village savings and loans associations can benefit cocoa communities30 October 2020Empowering members of cocoa-growing communities can play an important role in tackling child labour. When farmers, particularly women, have the power to make decisions and sustain their households through other sources of income than cocoa, it can mean real benefits for child protection. That’s why, with our partners, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) supports the setup of Village Savings and Loans Associations, or VSLAs. These Associations have a long history supporting farming communities, but they have only recently begun to be used to within cocoa communities. ICI is building uponRead more
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ICI develops model to predict child labour risk at the household level27 October 2020According to the most recent estimates from the NORC Report on child labour in cocoa there are 1.56 million children in child labour in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. This underlines the need to scale upRead more
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Pokua's story: How pepper farming led to new income opportunities and increased child protection17 October 2020In 2017, a group of women from Pakyi, a cocoa-growing community in Ghana, were supported by the International Cocoa Initiative’s Community Development Programme to start pepper farms to raise additional income and support the protection of their children.Read more
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A better life for Birago under the ICI Apprenticeship programme9 October 2020In 2017, older children from cocoa-growing communities were supported by the International Cocoa Initiative through apprenticeships as part of its Community Development Programme . These teenagersRead more
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Beekeeping for cocoa farmers: Improving knowledge and boosting income17 September 2020Together with the ABOCFA cocoa cooperative and Tony’s Chocolonely’s, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) organised a two-day training course on beekeeping with farmers in Ghana. The training aimed to increase farmers’ financial resilience through knowledge of beekeeping and its potential.Read more
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"Our participation in the literacy and numeracy classes has brought great improvement into our lives"8 September 2020The International Cocoa Initiative set up literacy and numeracy classes in Ghana with the support of the Non-Formal Education Secretariat as part of the Community Development Programme in 2016. ItRead more
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Advancing children’s rights across the full cocoa supply-chain: ICI launches new strategy to drive impact at scale3 September 2020Today, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) launches its new strategy, laying out a vision to support cocoa communities to thrive through the advancement of children’s and workers’ rights. ICI’sRead more