Commodity trading company Cocoasource has joined the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) in its efforts to tackle child labour and forced labour, and improve quality of life in cocoa-growing communities.
Through its fully and/or partly-owned sourcing and export operations in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Uganda, and more recently, Congo and Sierra Leone, the company implements local sustainability initiatives. Informed by a community needs assessment, these initiatives aim to effectively improve the quality of life of the communities it sources from by focusing on projects relating to child protection, health, education, and access to clean water and energy, explained Head of Sustainability, Martin Rossi.
“Cocoasource is keen to keep supporting the cooperatives by ensuring the communities are correctly assessed. Becoming an ICI member will enable us to learn from sharing experiences and streamlining efforts to address our common objective: to give all children a chance of a great future in line with the ICI 2021-2026 strategy.” he explained further.
For the company, which through partner cooperatives and customers implements Child Labour and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) in their supply chain, joining ICI provides the opportunity to further expand its network, and provides for the exchange of knowledge and best practices, specifically regarding traceability and remediation in its supply chain.
"We are pleased to welcome Cocoasource as our latest member," said Matthias Lange, Executive Director of ICI. "We welcome their enthusiasm to address child labour and forced labour in cocoa-growing communities, and with their extensive network of partners in the industry, we feel they will be a valuable addition to our multi-stakeholder initiative. We look forward to working with them," he added.