International Cocoa Initiative awarded $4.5M to reduce child labor in 50 cocoa-growing communities in Côte d'Ivoire

Funding Recipient: International Cocoa Initiative

Total Funding: $4.5 million

Purpose: Implement a project to empower cocoa-growing communities in Côte d'Ivoire to reduce child labor

Location: Côte d'Ivoire

Scope: The four-year project, called "Eliminating Child Labor in Cocoa," will assist 50 cocoa-growing communities in Côte d'Ivoire to design and implement Community Action Plans to address child labor at the community level. The project will directly support the protection of at least 5,450 vulnerable children engaged in or at risk of child labor by providing them formal and non-formal educational opportunities, and increasing access to school feeding programs. It will also provide livelihood services to 1,500 vulnerable households in these communities.

ILAB leads the U.S. government's efforts to ensure fair treatment of workers around the world and the ability to share in the benefits of the global economy. To these ends, ILAB has provided funding for more than 290 projects in more than 90 countries to combat the worst forms of child labor by assisting vulnerable children and their families. More information is available at www.dol.gov/ilab/.