CARE International embraced the policy initiatives by the European Commission, the Governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, and the private sector, to invest in cocoa-producing communities and promote equitable benefits from cocoa production. The cocoa industry’s market power, human rights abuses (including child labour), and the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, provide an ongoing threat to the livelihoods and sustainability of cocoa production in West Africa.
CARE strongly believes that policies should draw from inclusive dialogues, with a robust participation of cocoa-producing communities and specific attention to women’s voices and needs in decision-making.
Against this backdrop, CARE International is pleased to submit recommendations to further strengthen the EU’s ‘Sustainable Cocoa Initiative’ policy framework, in working together with cocoa producers to protect the ecosystem upon which they depend.