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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Uninterrupted Oversight Of Public & Private Initiatives To Eliminate the Worst Forms Of Child Labor In the Cocoa Sector In Côte D’ivoire & Ghana

Region/Country

AFRICA/Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana

Project Duration

September 30, 2009 – March 31, 2011

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY2009:  USD 1,200,000

Problem to be Addressed

The worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sector of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Project Objectives

To provide uninterrupted oversight of public and private investment to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sector in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Intermediate objectives include assessing:

  • Progress made towards implementation of child labor and forced adult labor (FAL) cocoa certification and verification systems, covering 100% of the cocoa growing areas in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana;
  • Progress made toward s implementation of a child labor monitoring system , covering 100 percent of the cocoa growing areas in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana ;
  • Efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor
  • (WFCL) and FAL in the cocoa supply chain
  • of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; and
  • The impact of the Harkin-Engel Protocol in promoting efforts to combat exploitive child labor in the cocoa sector.

Summary of Activities
  • Conduct research on efforts to provide  mitigation, rehabilitation, and education services, including school or vocational training, to children found in WFCL;
  • Conduct research on efforts to provide mitigation, rehabilitation, education services, including non-formal adult education or vocational training, and job placement services to adults found in forced labor;
  • Update and expand the Database on Exploitive Labor Interventions that is a web-based tool including information on all known projects and activities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana that aim to remediate exploitive child labor and FAL in the cocoa supply chain;
  • Update and expand the Knowledge Database that is designed to house project-related information;
  • Hold annual Consultative Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire ; Accra, Ghana; and Washington, D.C., as well as a conference on data collection in the cocoa sector;
  • Publish an annual report on progress made toward s implementation of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, including recommendations on:  the frequency of data collection needed to accurately report on the incidence of the WFCL and FAL in order to measure their decline over time and for consideration by key stakeholders to help enhance performance and impact of public and private initiatives; and
  • Train government officials on techniques for validating efforts to withdraw and prevent children from exploitive labor in the cocoa sector.

Grantee

Tulane University

Implementing Partners

West African Health Organization (WAHO); L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquée (ENSEA); Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (University of Ghana, ISSER); and aWHERE, Inc.

Contact Information

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT)

(202) 693-4843