The International Cocoa Initiative promotes child protection in cocoa-growing communities. We work to ensure a better future for children and their families.
Covid-19: ICI’s response to protect cocoa communities and staff
This updates our position published March 23rd.
ICI is active in over 230 cocoa-growing communities in Ghana, the Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroun. While these countries are not yet as severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic as many in other regions, it is our responsibility to take measures now to help ensure the safety of the communities we serve and our staff.
For this r...
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Family-focused change: The ICI way of child protection
"I used to finance my children’s education with loans from a micro finance in Dwinase. These were repaid by selling the produce from my vegetable farm until I finished paying it all, including the interest.” This was the opening statement from Mary who lives in Sefwi Kofikrom, a cocoa community in Ghana, with her nine children. She explains how the International Cocoa Initiativ...
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Innovating to reduce child labour through targeted income support
Together with Nestlé, the International Cocoa Initiative received an innovation grant from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to develop a model to target income support at cocoa-growing households at risk of using child labour.
ICI’s innovation project also aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of one approach to addressing child labour in c...
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Protecting children in Ghana through education
This short video explores the impact education is having on children protection in cocoa communities in Ghana.
Portia Tetteh is a young girl from the Abease community in Ghana. She dreams of becoming a nurse. She used to spend long hours working on the family farm. When she arrived at school she was tired and couldn’t concentrate in class.
But after an intervention in her...
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ICI's Protective Cocoa Community Framework explained
The Protective Cocoa Community Framework is a community assessment tool developed by the International Cocoa Initiative to support cocoa communities tackle child labour. It helps measure key indicators related to community development, community empowerment, education, child protection, gender and livelihoods.
Learn more about the PCCF.
[embed] https://youtu.be/qLHRkdi5qj...
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Where we are working
Click the green symbols to visit the ICI core programme communities, and the yellow symbols to visit the ECLIC communities.
Cocoa News
CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTION - Mars Wrigley has joined with other major confectionery groups in releasing a performance update on its sustainability commitments within the cocoa supply chain in key African producing nations. Read More
CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTION - Olam Cocoa has confirmed considerable progress on its sustainability plans to assist with major issues facing the cocoa supply chain, as part of the Cocoa & Forests Initiative. Read More
GHANAIAN NEWS - ECOM Ghana has taken the coronavirus (COVID-19) battle to rural communities with the distribution of 1.2 million soaps to help farmers fight the infection. Read More
CONFECTIONERY NEWS - The Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) is a commitment made by the world's largest cocoa producing countries - Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana - civil society and leading chocolate companies to end deforestation and restore forests. Like many other big cocoa producers, Barry Callebaut has updated and published its progress report. Read More
CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTION - Amid the all-consuming maelstrom that is the coronavirus pandemic, there are numerous other world events that have simply been parked or placed to one side amid the immediate health crisis. Read More
CANDY INDUSTRY - Child labor in cocoa producing countries often stems from some really complex societal and economic challenges, from migration and poverty, to proximity to schools and community infrastructure. Read More
CONFECTIONERY NEWS - Company releases new Cocoa Life report on actions to scale up forest protection in cocoa-growing areas, address climate change and reduce emissions. Read More
INTERNATIONAL CONFECTIONERY - Due to COVID-19, the CHOCOVISION conference 2020 event has announced it has been postponed until June 2021. Read More
CONFECTIONERY NEWS - Cocoa and chocolate in the Asia Pacific is in a state of 'regional imbalance', according to chocolate giant Mars, which has also revealed how it plans to use sustainability as a means to tackle challenges in Asia. Read More
GREENBIZ - Having visibility into our supply chain and work on the ground is critical. That’s why Cargill is using satellite images to see what’s happening in landscapes around the areas from where it sources its cocoa. Read More
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