Good parenting as weapon against child labor

The living conditions of many farming families in the West-African cocoa industry are outright bad. Child labor is very common. According to records of Unicef there are over 150.000 children working on the plantations of the Ivory Coast, world wide’s biggest cocoa producer. The program TRECC, Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities in Cote D’Ivoire, serves the purpose of putting a stop to child labor in this sector. As one of the 20 organizations nominated out of 6.000 programs, ICS has been chosen to implement its knowledge and expertise with regards to positive parenting.

The Skilful Parenting program of ICS can contribute to strengthening cocoa farmers and their families, prevent child labor and, instead of working on the plantation, ensure these children go to school. This week, two colleagues from Kenya will be going to the Ivory Coast to provide training to partner organizations. In the near future, new Ivorian colleagues will be appointed to form a local ICS-team. Two months later these partners will, under supervision of ICS, implement our methods in the local field.

TRECC is an initiative of the Jacobs Foundation, Bernard van Leer Foundation, UBS Foundation and the government of the Ivory Coast, in cooperation with several big players from the cocoa-industry. One of the Sustainable Development Goals, as drawn up by the UN, is the termination of child labor by 2025. An aspiration ICS is keen to support.