Access to labour brigades Labour brigades or mutual aid groups (or ‘’weeding gangs’’ as they are known in some communities) are groups of trained professionals that rent out their services to cocoa farmers for specific tasks such as pruning, weeding or spraying. By subsidising the cost of hiring labour brigades, this remediation activity aims to reduce the need for child labourers on the farm. Farmers who accessed these services through the remediation programmes reported a significant reduction in labour demand, with 85% in Côte d’Ivoire and 60% in Ghana7 reporting that children were no longer engaged in child labour consequently. The costs of this support will vary across partner cooperatives and also depend on whether the labour is subsidised or paid for entirely. In addition, the availability and capacity of labour brigades may also differ between areas and partner cooperatives, as professionally trained brigades may not exist in certain areas. Finally, this support raises questions related to its sustainability as it currently relies on continued external support, including the funding and expertise required to set-up, equip, train, and pay the labour brigades. Income generating activities Income generating activities (IGA) are additional activities (besides their main cocoa crop) that allow farmers and their households to increase and diversify their income, particularly outside of the cocoa harvest seasons. Partner cooperatives currently support households to build their skills in a range of activities, including livestock rearing, agricultural crops, petty trading, artisanal work, beekeeping and others. However, these activities represent a modest contribution to income for most households that received this support: for 54%, this brought either no contribution or a low contribution (less than 25% of income). On the other hand, IGA did seem to have an impact on child labour, albeit more moderate than other remediation activities: • In Ghana, 55% of households reported a reduction in child labour • In Côte d’Ivoire, 64% that the impact of income-generating activities on child labour remains a success but is moderate.
“The financial support provided for income-generated activity has helped in addressing child labour in my household. This is because the activity has generated additional source of income which is used to finance the children’s education and take care of the family thereby reducing child labour.” (Caregiver, Ghana)
Vocational skills training Another remediation activity is the provision of vocational training, particularly targeting older children who may not be interested in returning to school, but would want to learn a trade. These trainings can help equip older children with marketable skills and alternative pathways to employment. When asking farmers in Côte d’Ivoire directly, many of them actually considered this to be the most effective remediation activity. However, this type of remediation is the costliest, highly dependent on both the training and market environment, and requires a holistic investment approach that extends beyond the provision of the training, as often there are additional material costs associated with the viability of the chosen trade as an alternative career path, and a need for post-training support and market integration. Despite these challenges, the potential long-term benefits of vocational skills training in terms of improved employability, increased earning potential, and reduced vulnerability to exploitation suggest it remains a worthwhile investment in the fight against child labour. While the high costs and challenges related to completion rates and post-training support need to be addressed, the success stories emerging from these programmes demonstrate the transformative impact that vocational training can have on individual lives, and particularly on older children. Primary schools are usually nearby, but secondary schools are fewer, costlier, and often require students to live away from home, so secondary attendance is low among farming families. By refining and strengthening their vocational training interventions, partner cooperatives can continue to empower young people and break the cycle of poverty and child labour in cocoa-growing areas.
7. This percentage applies to two cooperatives, as only 2% of households at the third participating cooperative in Ghana reported receiving this type of support.
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