U.S. Department of Labor Awards $8M in Grants to Engage Cocoa Cooperatives to Combat Child Labor in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana

WASHINGTON, DC – Under a hot sun, a child wields a machete at work in the fields, forced to inhale pesticides sprayed by adults eager to maintain their cocoa crop. Sadly, it is a reality for too many children, particularly those at work in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana’s cocoa industries.

A recent report by NORC, an independent research organization affiliated with the University of Chicago, shows that child labor in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana’s cocoa-producing regions remains a significant problem. The U.S. Department of Labor funded the report.

In response, the department has announced the awards of two $4 million grants for cooperative agreements to Save the Children and Winrock International to implement technical assistance projects in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Both organizations will work to reduce child labor in these countries’ cocoa supply chains by enhancing cocoa cooperatives’ capacity to monitor child labor and provide greater support to households with children at risk of child labor.

The grant is made available through the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, whose mission is to promote a fair global playing field for workers in the U.S. and around the world by enforcing trade commitments, strengthening labor standards and combating international child labor, forced labor and human trafficking.

Learn more about the Department’s work.

USDOL Bureau of International Labor Affairs

February 9, 2021