On September 13, 2010, the global cocoa and chocolate industry joined with the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and U.S. Representative Eliot Engel and the governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana to affirm our shared commitment to achieving a significant reduction in the Worst Forms of Child Labor in cocoa farming communities in West Africa.
Eight companies in the chocolate and cocoa industry – ADM, Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Ferrero, The Hershey Company, Kraft Foods, Mars, Incorporated, and Nestlé – are supporting a new US$2 million public-private partnership (PPP) with the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC).
The US$2 million contribution covers a four year period and will support IPEC’s work in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana in three areas:
- Supporting the development and extension of community-based child labor monitoring systems (CLMS);
- Strengthening the capacity of governments, social partners and cocoa farmers to combat child labor in cocoa growing communities; and
- Enhancing the coordination role of tripartite National Child Labor Steering Committees to have a greater impact on child labor elimination in cocoa growing communities.
Of the $7 million pledged by the chocolate and cocoa industry towards the new Framework of Action, $2 million is designated in support of the PPP. Under the Framework, the industry agreed to “continue to support data collection and monitoring at the community and national level through a credible community based CLMS” [Framework 4(b)].
The work supported by the PPP meets that commitment. Expansion and refinement of these important tools are critical next steps in helping cocoa communities take action on behalf of their own children.
Related information
Read the industry statement on the Framework of Action
Read frequently asked questions on the Framework of Action
Read the Framework for Action to support the Implementation of the Harkin-Engel Protocol
Read the Declaration of Joint Action to Support Implementation of the Harkin-Engel Protocol.