As part of its ongoing efforts to tackle child labour in the cocoa sector, Cargill has announced progress on measures and partnerships taken to reduce child labour incidences in cocoa farming communities of the world.

The company has been partnering cocoa-farming communities to identify, remediate and prevent child labour through community-based interventions, access to education, training and entrepreneurship initiatives.

In Ghana, through partnerships with long standing NGO partner, CARE, the global cocoa giant says it has been working with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) to introduce a community-based approach to Child Labour combat under its special initiative; the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS).

Cargill’s approach involves training women and youth to conduct surveys on child labour and coordinate data collection systems in 56 communities where these farmers live.

Based on this data, specific remediation plans are developed to address incidents of child labour.

Taco Terheijden, Director of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate Sustainability business says addressing child labour is key to a sustainable cocoa supply chain.

“Community Wellbeing is a long-term goal and addressing child labor is a cornerstone of our vision of a more sustainable cocoa supply chain,” says Taco Terheijden,

“We need to make sure that the solutions we are recommending are relevant, appropriate and scalable. Collaborating with NGO partners that have longstanding experience in these origin countries is the key to ensuring that our efforts are effective, and that no child is left behind.” Mr. Taco Terheijden added.

Commenting on the Ghana initiative, Cargill Ghana MD, Aedo Van der Weij says the next step is to scale up the initiative to all the over 150 cocoa growing communities in Ghana from where Cargill directly sources cocoa.

Commitment to Community Wellbeing

As part of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate’s Community Wellbeing goal, the company says it is committed to ensuring that child labour monitoring systems are in place in place in Brazil, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia by 2025, along with remediation systems and community-based interventions that directly improve children’s wellbeing.

Enhancing community wellbeing to create thriving cocoa communities where children stay safe, complete their education, and fulfill their potential is one of Cargill’s five sustainability goals.

This is part of the wider Cargill Cocoa Promise and the company’s commitment to improving the lives of one million cocoa farmers and their communities by 2030.