Uninterrupted Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector

Intermediate objectives include assessing:

• Progress made towards implementation of child labor and forced adult labor (FAL) cocoa certification and verification systems, covering 100% of the cocoa growing areas in Côte d’IvoireandGhana;
• Progress made towards implementation of a child labor monitoring system, covering 100 percent of the cocoa growing areas in Côte d’IvoireandGhana;
• Efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor (WFCL) and FAL in the cocoa supply chain of Côted’IvoireandGhana; and
• The impact of the Harkin-Engel Protocol in promoting efforts to combat exploitive child labor in the cocoa sector.

Summary of Activities:

• Conduct research on efforts to provide mitigation, rehabilitation, and education services, including school or vocational training, to children found in WFCL; 
• Conduct research on efforts to provide mitigation, rehabilitation, education services, including non-formal adult education or vocational training, and job placement services to adults found in forced labor;
• Update and expand the Database on Exploitive Labor Interventions that is a web-based tool including information on all known projects andactivitiesinCôted’IvoireandGhanathat aim to remediate exploitive child labor and FAL in the cocoa supply chain;
• Update and expand the Knowledge Database that is designed to house project-related information;
• Hold annual Consultative Meetings in Abidjan, Côted’Ivoire;Accra,Ghana;andWashington, D.C., as well as a conference on data collection in the cocoa sector;
• Publish an annual report on progress made towards implementation of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, including recommendations on: the frequency of data collection needed to accurately report on the incidence of the WFCL and FAL in order to measure their decline over time and for consideration by key stakeholders to help enhance performance and impact of public and private initiatives; and
• Train government officials on techniques for validating efforts to withdraw and prevent children from exploitive labor in the cocoa sector.