House Vulnerability Assessment: Making Advances to Eliminate Child Labor in More Areas with Sustainable Integrated Efforts (MATE MASIE)

The Making Advances to Eliminate Child Labor in More Areas with Sustainable Integrated Efforts (MATE MASIE) initiative is a four-year project funded by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) that aims to strengthen capacity, connections, and accountability across child labor enforcement and monitoring within cocoa cooperatives in Ghana. The project also seeks to build the capacity of cooperatives to support vulnerable[1] member households directly and to link their members with other service providers. Prior to the commencement of the project, it was important to establish a reliable baseline of MATE MASIE interventions and to better understand the resources and needs of households within relevant cocoa cooperatives at risk of engaging in child labor and how existing services to those households can be strengthened. The assessment focused specifically on cocoa cooperative members’ households within Adansi South Municipal (New Edubiase), Atwima Mponua District (Nyinahin), Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipal (Nkawie), and Offinso Municipal (Offinso). These cooperatives are members of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Co-operative and Marketing Union (KKFU), Kokoo Pa Farmers Association (KPFA), and Offinso Fine Flavor Cocoa Co-operative (OFFCOP).

[1] Vulnerability is the potential of an individual or household to suffer loss or harm. For the purposes of this study, households that are most likely to involve their children in child labor are also classified as vulnerable. Households that are classified as vulnerable have a higher risk of falling into poverty compared to the general population. Section 3.8 provides full details of the criteria used to identify vulnerable households.