Cargill-CARE partnership highlights “decade of positive impact” in West African cocoa communities

18 Feb 2021 --- CARE, a humanitarian organization, and Cargill have released their latest partnership successes in a new report highlighting cocoa sustainability. 

The report details the challenges and progress that has been made in child labor prevention, diversifying income and ensuring food security and nutrition for families. 

Empowering women is also a key takeout from the report entitled “A Decade of Impact in Cocoa Communities: More than Ten Years of the CARE-Cargill Partnership.” 

One of the authors, Maria Hinson Tobin, from CARE, tells FoodIngredientsFirst: “This partnership in West Africa will continue through 2022 as part of our current three-year, women-centered She Feeds the World program – a transformative program that aims to reach more than two million people in Central America, West Africa and Indonesia.”

“As we enter our second decade of strategic partnership, CARE and Cargill will build on our programming successes to drive significant impact, creating deep, long-term positive change for women, their families and their communities.”

“Through our programming, we’ve achieved a 30 percent increase in women’s participation in household financial decision-making and an 18 percent increase in women holding leadership positions.” Hinson Tobin asserts.

Nicole Marlor, director, media relations and issues response in EMEA at Cargill, says: “At Cargill, we take the responsibility and the opportunity to act across the cocoa sector, connecting different stakeholders to drive lasting change. We will continue connect every dot in the cocoa supply chain for maximum transparency using cutting-edge digital technologies where possible. We will continue to take a holistic look at the sustainability of cocoa and work with our partners, like CARE, towards a common cause: a thriving cocoa sector for generations to come.”

“The Cargill Cocoa Promise is our commitment to ensuring we continue to make progress towards a transparent global cocoa supply chain, to enable cocoa farmers and their communities to achieve better incomes and living standards sustainably, and to deliver a sustainable supply of cocoa and chocolate products, today and years to come,” Marlor notes.

CARE and Cargill have worked together in Ghana since 2008 and in Côte d'Ivoire since 2010 to combat the challenges facing the cocoa sector.A decade of positive change
Through this decade of impact in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, CARE and Cargill have reached more than a quarter-million people in 323 communities through comprehensive programming. 

“The partnership is creating change in these communities through the principles and goals established in CARE’s She Feeds the World framework, the Cargill Cocoa Promise commitment, as well as through a participatory development approach that is informed and led by cocoa communities themselves,” explains Tobin. 

“We’ve seen farmer incomes triple and cocoa yields increase by 25 percent. We’ve observed farmers’ access to financial services increase fivefold by establishing 376 Village Savings and Loan Associations. Those groups have saved more than US$301,000 to date.”

The partnership has improved food security – ensuring families have enough quality food to feed their families; we’ve witnessed food shocks decrease by 65 percent and consumption of fruits and vegetables increase by 16 percent, she outlines. 

“Lastly, we’ve enabled communities to lead their development through an inclusive and people-centered model.”

Communities identify their unique needs and formulate solutions to critical challenges they face. Communities supported by this partnership have created over 275 community action plans to spearhead local development initiatives surrounding education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene. 

These plans have resulted in more than 160 community infrastructure improvements led by the communities in both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, including the establishment of hydraulic pumps, construction of school facilities and bathrooms, adds Tobin.

“Cargill has been working in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana for decades. In 2012, we launched the Cargill Cocoa Promise – our commitment to enable farmers and their communities to achieve better incomes and living standards. Longstanding partnerships like the one with CARE are crucial in achieving our commitments. They allow for sharing of data and learnings and help us to accelerate our impact and measure our progress,” says Harold Poelma, president of Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate.

Road to sustainability West Africa is the largest producer of cocoa; Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana provide nearly 60 percent of the world's cocoa.
CARE and Cargill have continued to evolve their approach over the past decade. The initial joint interventions focused on combating child labor, improving access to education, and economically empowering women. 

After this, CARE and Cargill also set out to improve access to agricultural inputs and access to financial services. Building on learnings, later programs also emphasized income diversification, improved nutrition and climate resilience. 

“Our current programs place women at the heart of our interventions because we know that with the right resources, women have the power to transform entire cocoa-growing communities. Additionally, these programs provide nutrition and social protection in times of crisis, which is especially important in light of the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic on cocoa-growing communities,” adds Michelle Nunn, president and CEO at CARE.

West Africa is the largest producer of cocoa; Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana provide nearly 60 percent of the world's cocoa. However, while cocoa smallholder farmers make up the Ivorian and Ghanaian economies' backbone and contribute significantly to the global cocoa supply, many still live in poverty. 

By Elizabeth Green