Cocoa Abrabopa Association (CAA), Mars Wrigley, Sucden and ASCOT Amsterdam and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) are collaborating on setting up an Integrated and Supportive Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in the CAA cocoa supply chain.

CAA acknowledges there are risks of child labour and forced labour in the cocoa supply chain, as evidenced by the recent NORC report.

CAA believes it is important to make sure that robust systems are in place to prevent, monitor and remediate the risks within its supply chain. CAA does not have the capacity currently to do this alone and therefore we are partnering with our customers, supply chain actors and ICI.

With the technical support and guidance of ICI, CAA will train its staff and design and set up a robust child labor monitoring and remediation system (CLMRS) for the Association.

As part of the set-up, a diagnostic assessment was conducted by ICI to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of CAA with regard to its processes to monitor and remediate human rights risks in its cocoa supply chain.

The CLMRS starts with a detailed household survey for cocoa producers members of CAA and a community profiling for communities in the selected areas. This data is analyzed to then identify child labour cases, determine households at risk of child labour and communities vulnerable to child labour and which support is needed.

The newly employed Child Development Officers will conduct in the communities a number of activities on a daily basis to identify children engaged or at risk to be engaged in child labour activities.

This will include: household visits, community profile surveys, awareness raising sessions at household level and community level, unannounced farm visits, deployment of needed remediation activities to support children and their families and the communities they live in.

The CLMRS will guide CAA to provide support to member families and communities where it’s needed and will also focus on increasing school attendance as a key strategy to protect children and ensure their healthy development.