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SUSTAINABILITY

Child Labour in Cocoa: A Significant Challenge

Child labour in cocoa remains a significant challenge despite extensive efforts to tackle it over the past two decades. While we have made great strides in understanding how to successfully reduce child labour and in implementing activities that have real impact, support currently reaches only a fraction of those in need.

Millennium Child Support Group believes that true sector-wide change will only be possible if we reach 100% coverage of all at-risk children with effective and sustainable systems that prevent and remediate child labour and forced labour.

Current Situation

Estimates suggest that around one in three children living in cocoa-growing areas of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire (which account for more than 65% of global cocoa production) is involved in child labour. This number is of grave concern, and all actors in the cocoa sector have a shared responsibility to help vulnerable children access their basic rights. We also know that forced labour is a risk faced by the cocoa sector (albeit at a different, more localized and limited scale), and there are increasing calls on the sector to address it.

Our Focus

Millennium Child Support Group focuses on tackling both of these critical issues to help cocoa-growing communities thrive within a dignified, sustainable, and responsibly-managed cocoa supply chain.

Highlight of Three-3 Strategy Plan

Within our new strategy, we highlight three pillars that must be in place if we are to reach all children and adults at risk of child labour and forced labour in the cocoa-growing communities in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

• Responsible Supply Chains: This means implementing systems and services that responsibly and transparently prevent and remediate child labour and forced labour across the entire cocoa supply chain.

• Supportive Enabling Environment: This means national and international policies that inspire, motivate, and obligate progress, from due diligence legislation in cocoa-consuming countries to policies that continue to advance access to quality education and social protection in cocoa-producing countries.

• Coordinated Approaches: This means that all the many actors who have a critical role to play in helping cocoa-growing communities to thrive—including the cocoa and chocolate industry, civil society, governments, and donors—must work together within a coherent and coordinated system to maximize impact.

Vision to Reality – Millennium Child Support Group as a Catalyst

Between now and 2025, we aim to positively impact the lives of 1.7 million children living in cocoa-growing areas. We will achieve 25% of the full supply chain coverage required through direct, collaborative action with our members and partners. Millennium Child Support Group's influencing efforts will push for the remaining 75% of the full coverage goal to be committed to and delivered by every member of the Millennium Child Support Group.

To make this a reality, we will focus our energy in three areas:

• Innovation and Learning: Millennium Child Support Group will continue to trial and evaluate new ways of tackling child and forced labour and will conduct research on root causes and effective policies.

• Technical Advocacy: Millennium Child Support Group will promote the knowledge and learning it generates, engaging in the development of policies and standards, supporting all stakeholders to align their actions for a more coordinated approach, and mobilizing resources to unlock investments required for the scale-up of effective solutions.

• Capacity and Systems Strengthening: Millennium Child Support Group will provide time-limited operational support to its members and partners to set up child labour and forced labour prevention and remediation mechanisms that can eventually be sustained without Millennium Child Support Group support.

To Stop Child Labour, First Address Poverty

Despite strenuous efforts by governments and companies, child labour remains a persistent problem in supply chains across the world. The two biggest concerns are children doing work that endangers them and for which they are too young. According to the International Labour Organization, there are 73 million children globally in hazardous work, and about 79 million working underage.

The Need for a More Transformative Approach

Millennium Child Support Group, in collaboration with governments, industry, civil society, and cocoa-growing communities, needs a more transformative approach that will scale up programs, recruit more allies and organizations to the cause, and accelerate initiatives that fight poverty. The scaling up will expand existing government and company programs, such as Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation, to make an impact more rapidly. These programs covered about 20% of households in 2019.

Millennium Child Support Group aims to provide 100% coverage by 2025.

The new transformative approach involves assembling a public-private partnership with a range of allies to tackle child labour. This will include governments, industry, local communities, and development partners such as the U.S., European governments, UNICEF, the International Labour Organization, the International Cocoa Initiative, the World Bank, and civil society organizations.

Tackling Poverty Is Key

Millennium Child Support Group seeks new partnerships that offer a broader range of actions reflecting the complexity and scale of the problem, targeting its root causes. Building on the strong national action plans of governments, the partnership will seek to expand investment in several critical areas, such as achieving an adequate standard of living for cocoa farmers, expanding access to quality education, and increasing support for child development (including health, nutrition, and water and sanitation).

Scaling up existing actions, building broader alliances, and planning on a wider range of actions depend on recognizing that child labour is heavily associated with poverty. Only by taking this more direct and comprehensive approach can we ensure today’s generation of children reach their full potential and have a chance at the bright future they deserve.