Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

Empowering adolescent girls with vocational training business start-up support, and education reduces their susceptibility to child labor and promotes skill development that contributes to sustainable, long-term change.

Learning Description

Interventions targeting women and adolescent girls spurred others in the community to create their own opportunities. This also spurred interest by surrounding communities as well.

Learning Description

Establishing women-led cooperatives increases women’s participation in the cocoa supply chain and decision-making processes, strengthening women’s stake in the economic activities of their communities.

Learning Description

Bringing stakeholders together and developing a platform helped them communicate and address issues more efficiently. This includes stakeholders such as the police (law enforcement), child protection services, education services, etc. Their services sometimes extended to the entirety of the municipality/district.

Learning Description

Integrating gender equality principles into the organizational frameworks of public and private sector institutions is fundamental for sustainable gender-responsive change in cocoa supply chains and helps contribute to systemic change.

Learning Description

Engaging local communities in the design and implementation of interventions ensures that solutions are tailored to specific needs and contexts, enhancing the project’s relevance and effectiveness.

Learning Description

Flexible and adaptive strategies have helped respond to unforeseen challenges, reinforcing resilience in dynamic environments.

Learning Description

Capitalizing on partnerships for sustainability, by including community committees and public/private partnerships in the project’s sustainability strategy, is a forward-thinking approach that builds on the partnerships model, helping achieve long-term impact.

Learning Description

The interventions also contributed to desirable changes in participants’ behaviors other than the primary targets. The project’s interventions are multiple, and in some cases, the participants receive training in more than one area. For example, the social analysis and action discussion, gender equity and diversity training, and leadership and life skills training were offered to nearly all groups of participants with few exceptions. In the case of the Village Savings and Loan Association group, saving is primarily the main objective of the intervention. Still, after saving, they have accessed loans and started income-generating activities (e.g., engaging in petty trades). Their engagement in income-generating activities improved the economic conditions of the participants. Besides, the intervention helped them to go out and engage in social activities. While they do this, the women themselves confirm that they have started to wear clean clothes, and to take care of their personal hygiene. Besides, the meeting has served as the women’s leisure time to socialize. Many women did not have this experience before and because of this they report that they are happier. More importantly, the Village Savings and Loan Association group members have developed strong solidarity among themselves. In particular, when they feel a member needs the group’s support, they set a date, and every group member spends the whole day working on their fellow Village Savings and Loan Association member’s farm, for example. In a particular arrangement (known as “dado” in Ilu’Ababor), every group member comes with her food and drinks for the day and spends the day supporting the member. Other groups also report similar desirable behavioral changes. For example, many adolescent girls (could be technical and vocational training graduates or Adolescent village Saving Association members) reported that the leadership and life skills training has boosted not only their self-esteem and self-confidence, but they can now speak their minds in front of other people and discuss a problem with family members or friends to get a solution before it is too late. Such changes in behaviors of the participants are attributable to the interventions of the She Thrives project.

Learning Description

Participatory approach. A key strength of the project has been its detailed and strategic participatory and cooperative approach from the design stage through implementation. Specifically, the project involved government agencies, worker and employer organizations, and other public and private institutions through several targeted practices. The first is early stakeholder mapping, conducting a thorough mapping of stakeholders at the project inception to identify key players and their interests. Second is organizing inclusive planning workshops that involved a diverse range of stakeholders in the decision-making process. Third is establishing a stakeholder advisory committee that met regularly to provide guidance and ensure alignment with local priorities. Fourth is implementing capacity-building programs to empower stakeholders with the skills and knowledge necessary to actively participate in the project. Fifth is forming joint implementation teams that included representatives from various stakeholder groups to foster collaboration and shared responsibility. Last is maintaining open and transparent communication channels to keep stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the project lifecycle. These specific practices not only reinforced the project's relevance and ability to respond to stakeholder needs but also generated strong ownership among all parties involved, laying a solid foundation for the sustainability of the project's results.