Barry Callebaut Promotes Community Development in Cocoa Growing Areas

Marina Morari, General Manager Community Development, leads Barry Callebaut’s efforts: “Alongside our aim to improve cocoa farming, we work with communities and farmer groups to ascertain needs including access to water, basic healthcare and schooling. In fiscal year 2014/15, our community activities reached 56,300 people.”

 

Contributing to the educational infrastructure
Barry Callebaut contribute to educational infrastructure in communities where facilities are inadequate. This includes building and furnishing classrooms and school canteens, building separate latrines for boys and girls, providing solar panels for lighting, and building teacher housing. In total, 3,750 children are already benefiting from their education initiatives.

 

Since 2011, the development has funded ten school infrastructure projects in several cocoa-growing regions of Côte d’Ivoire, benefiting 1,800 children. In fiscal year 2014/15, Barry Callebaut built two fully equipped primary schools to benefit 600 children annually.

 

Improving the lives of children
Barry Callebaut's vision for prospering cocoa communities is one in which all children can attend school and are protected from harmful work.

 

Barry Callebaut works with field experts of the International Cocoa Initiative? to provide training and raise awareness about child labor issues. We address Barry Callebaut personnel, as well as the management and administrative staff at farmer organizations.

 

In 2014/15, Barry Callebaut provided training to raise awareness about child labor issues to 46 cooperative administrators, as well as farmers and community members. In addition, the Cocoa Horizons Truck has brought child labor sensitization to 37,200 villagers.

 

Supporting women in cocoa farming and communities
Barry Callebaut encourage the participation of women in farmer training and farmer group administration. In addition, they support literacy and business-skills training, and promote opportunities for women to earn income.

 

In fiscal year 2014/15, they continued our women’s agroforestry training program in collaboration with IDH?, the sustainable trade initiative. A total of 34 women, are participating in the three-year program that comprises training, assistance in planting a diversified plot of land, and coaching.

 

Through a joint program with the World Cocoa Foundation?, 54 women from 54 cooperatives participated in leadership training in 2014/15. In addition, 200 women from two cooperatives are participating in a three-year agricultural and entrepreneurship training program for female farmers.

 

Promoting basic healthcare
Farmers, families, and communities need easy access to clean, safe water. However, this basic life necessity is often elusive in rural communities.

 

Barry Callebaut work with communities to provide boreholes and pumps in schools, and distribute water filters to households, schools, and medical clinics in remote areas. In fiscal year 2014/15, they distributed 1,276 family filters and 75 community filters to benefit more than 12,000 people. They provided WASH training (WAter, Sanitation, Hygiene) to each recipient of a water filter.

 

In addition, Barry Callebaut help improve farmer access to basic health care, including health insurance, vaccination campaigns, and free medical checkups. To date, the Cocoa Horizons truck has already provided medical attention to more than 10,000 villagers.