Project Title |
West Africa Cocoa/Commercial Agriculture Program to Combat Hazardous and Exploitative Child Labor (WACAP) |
Region/Country |
AFRICA/Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria |
Project Duration |
September 30, 2002 – April 30, 2006 |
Fiscal Year & Funding Level |
FY 2002: USD 5,000,000
Matching Funds: USD 1,000,000, provided by Cocoa Global Issues Group |
Problem to be Addressed |
At the time of project funding, according to surveys in four West African countries (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria), large numbers of children were engaged in hazardous activities in cocoa farming with an estimated 284,000 children clearing fields in cocoa farms using machetes. The overwhelming majority of these children (200,000) were based in Côte d’Ivoire. Also, an estimated 153,000 children were involved in the application of pesticides. While most of the children worked alongside their families, close to 12,000 children had no family relationship with the cocoa farmer or local farm workers in Côte d’Ivoire. Approximately 2,500 working children were recruited through intermediaries for cocoa farming in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. |
Results |
The project withdrew 8,756 children and prevented another 2,844 children from working in cocoa and other selected sub-agricultural sectors in Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria. |
Project Objectives |
To contribute to the effective prevention and elimination of hazardous and exploitive child labor in commercial agriculture in West Africa
Intermediate objectives included:
- At the end of the project, selected public and private sector partners and concerned agencies will have strengthened capacity to plan, initiate, implement, monitor, and evaluate action to combat child labor;
- At the end of the project, there will be increased awareness/social mobilization among the children, families and communities, and within concerned public and private sector agencies on issues related to child labor, particularly to hazards for children in the cocoa/agriculture sector and viable alternatives to child labor;
- At the end of the project, model (pilot) interventions will have been tested for the withdrawal of children from work, removal of workplace hazards for those of working age, and provision of appropriate social protection options for children and their families;
- At the end of the project, the situation of children withdrawn and prevented from child labor will be monitored and verified in selected areas through a credible, affordable and feasible/sustainable child labor monitoring system; and
- At the end of the project, there will be an enhanced knowledge base through action-oriented research and a viable information dissemination system.
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Summary of Activities |
- Trained and built capacity of partner organizations to prevent and progressively eliminate child labor in the cocoa/agriculture sector in selected geographical areas;
- Developed a National Plan of Action for prevention and elimination of hazardous and exploitive child labor in cocoa/agriculture;
- Prepared and launched awareness-raising campaign to combat and prevent child labor in the cocoa/agriculture sector;
- Informed local communities and local administrative authorities about child labor legislation, hazardous work/worst forms and the project’s approaches to prevention and elimination, and specific hazards;
- Educated children under the age of 18 years, who have been withdrawn from work under the program; further, raised awareness of child labor and occupational safety and health issues;
- Built capacity and provided skills to adult family members (particularly women from families of children withdrawn from hazardous work) in order to enhance their income earning potential;
- Trained a selected number of the older (above 12 years) targeted group of children in marketable skills;
- Prevented children, aged 13 to 18 years, from engaging in hazardous work through OSH outreach activities in collaboration with Sustainable Tree Crop Project (STCP) efforts;
- Established an independent child labor monitoring/verification system in the countries participating in the project;
- Integrated labor inspection with child labor monitoring/verification system at selected sites in the project participating countries;
- Generated baseline information at the beginning, during and towards the end of the program; and
- Designed a child labor agriculture database, which was maintained at the national and sub-regional levels of the program.
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Grantee |
International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) |
Implementing partners |
STCP implementing agencies; producer cooperatives; Community Child Labor Committees (CCLCs); workers’ and employers’ organizations; national NGOs and community organizations; international NGOs; and research academic institutions. |
Contact Information |
Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT)
(202) 693-4843 |
