“Here, we fabricate glass doors, windows and other glass products.” explains Joseph, a young man from Sefwi Camp, a cocoa community in Ghana. As part of the International Cocoa Initiative’s Community Development Programme, he was enrolled with a glass fabricator as an apprentice when he was seventeen years old. ICI bore the full cost of his training. This aspect of the programme proved to be successful. Most of the trainees are looking forward to graduating by the end of 2020 with many dreams and ambitions soon to be realised in the lives of these young women and men.
“After graduating from the apprenticeship, I plan to get the machines and a piece of land to set up my own shop,” Joseph continues as he tells us of his plans for the future. “Then I can call myself a Master because I will have the skill to work for myself and train others.”
Supporting young adults like Joseph to have an established future is vital to tackling child labour as it brings hope to their families and the wider community. They become role models and mentors for other children around them and offers income opportunities outside of cocoa farming.
In this short documentary, we learn the stories of some of the young women and men who benefitted from ICI’s support. We learn the dreams of Shiabu, Birago, Richard and other young women and men as they look forward to brighter futures for themselves and their families.
This film is part of a four-part series on the impact of ICI’s Community Development Programme. Watch the full series here or here on Youtube.