Supporting cocoa communities

A public-private partnership between the Conseil du Café-Cacoa, Cargill and Care has enabled 14 cocoa farmer co-operatives to build 11 new schools and three new health centres in Ivory Coast. The new facilities will provide over 1,650 children with access to education and healthcare for 25,000 people across the local communities.

Bringing together investment from farmer co-operatives and the private/public partners, the US$1.9m programme has enabled 14 co-operatives to make their own decisions about investments in facilities that can benefit their communities. Using the premium payments for certified cocoa paid to co-operatives under the Cargill Cocoa Promise, each co-operative also has benefitted from additional funding from the Conseil du Café-Cacao and Cargill, as well as the expertise of Care to build the new schools and health centre. Care has additionally helped communities to adopt project management processes and good governance principles during the program.

“The investment in new schools and clinics clearly demonstrate the critical role farmer cooperatives play in improving the education and living standards in their communities,” says Lionel Soulard, managing director West Africa, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate. “By bringing together the resources and expertise of public-private partners it is empowering farmer co-operatives and supporting a sustainable future for cocoa growing communities.”

There already are plans to extend the programme to enable an additional 10 farmer co-operatives to build facilities to support their local communities.