Reducing Child Labour in Cocoa Production

Ghana is the second leading producer of cocoa globally and Switzerland’s main supplier, where 50% of all cocoa consumed is imported from Ghana. Meanwhile, cocoa producers earn less than 5% of the final purchasing price of chocolate and poverty is a paramount issue. 50% of all children in cocoa-growing areas in Ghana are engaged in hazardous work and miss school regularly. Tackling financial hardship while incentivizing schooling seems to be key to decreasing child labour and increasing schooling. We conduct a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) to understand the impact of school kits (including a bag, shoes, exercise books, etc.) on child labour and and learning in cocoa communities in Ghana. Although commonly applied worldwide by industry and civil society, no scientific study has analysed how this intervention affects children's work or schooling and how it could be made more cost-effective.

With this project we want to generate robust evidence on what works to prevent hazardous child labour at low costs– which affects 1 in 10 children world wide and which affects around 50% of children working in cacao communities in West-Africa. The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), a partner on the project, will use the results to inform the planning of activities to prevent and address child labour in cocoa-growing communities in West-Africa.  

Project Partners: external page University of Ghana (Ghana), external page International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) (Switzerland)