“My name is Adama, and I am the father of 5 children. I have been producing cocoa for over 10 years. The swollen shoot disease devastated my plantation, affecting two-thirds of my 3-hectare farm over the course of 4 years. This severely reduced my income from cocoa so that I couldn’t meet my household’s needs. To provide for my family as best I could, I started a vegetable garden within my cocoa plot. I didn’t have the ADAMA & FADILATOU’S STORY
DOMINIQUE’S STORY
Dominique, a 15-year-old girl who was enrolled in school, became pregnant during the academic year. In response, her parents took her out of school and had her working on the family farm. In conversation with the Community Facilitator, she said she had been working in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions and was exposed to abuse. Initially, the parents were not in favour of re-enrolling her in school or considering vocational training, expressing concerns about her previous behavior. After several awareness sessions with the household and Dominique – coordinated by the Community Facilitator, the Monitoring and Remediation Officer, and staff from ICI – the parents agreed to support her wish to continue her education, and she entered vocational training. Overall, the remediation process took two years. Dominique is now 18 years old and continuing her training with the support of her parents. The case was difficult to resolve as the parents – who felt their daughter’s pregnancy as a dishonour to their family – initially did not want to be involved in the remediation. After various discussions and engagement of different community stakeholders, they agreed to participate in the process. Dominique’s relationship with her parents in now very good. Her child (now 3 and a half years old) is living with them while Dominique completes her studies.
money to hire the labour needed to occasionally help me with the cocoa and vegetable crops, so I asked my daughter, Fadilatou, who was then 11, to help clean the plots and actively participate in the vegetable farming. She continued going to school regularly, and went to the farm only on her days off, but on those days she worked for several hours. During a plantation visit, the Community Facilitator noticed this and explained to me that what she was doing was not appropriate for her age. The Community Facilitator explained that my child was in a situation of child labour, even though I had explained that she was my daughter and was simply helping me with the farming. Together with the Community Facilitator, we discussed solutions. Labour assistance for the cleaning of my plots was proposed, as well as setting up an income-generating activity focused on maize farming.” “I’m Fadilatou. I’m 11 years old and in 3rd grade (CE2). Since we got support, I don’t do any hard or dangerous work in the field with my dad anymore. I’m so happy when he smiles and reminds me to stay safe. My dream is to keep going to school and one day become a respected professional for my country.” The remediation activities for this case are still in process. The partner cooperative is implementing several complementary activities designed to address the root causes that led to Fadilatou working on the farm. Activities include providing labour support, supporting her education through school kits, and supporting other income-generating activities for the family. Whilst this is not a simple case to resolve in practice, the partner cooperative notes that this is an “easy” case to resolve because of the farmer’s open-mindedness and interest in finding solutions.
These stories are shared with consent from the children and their parents.
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Ending exploitation in cocoa together
Living income
Climate, environment & productivity
Human rights
Governance & finances
Interesting appendices
Scaling for change
Introduction
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