Cooperatives Eliminate Child Labour (ECCCL)

The project will establish a cooperative-based Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in Côte d’Ivoire. This will contribute to put in place a robust Child Labour Due Diligence (CLDD) process to identify, prevent and address child labour in Cargill’s and Unilever’s extended global supply chain as well as build the capacities of cooperatives to comply with the new Rainforest Alliance standards, to be launched globally in 2020, with regards to child labour. The Theory of Change is founded on the idea that if these purposes are achieved, then cooperatives will be empowered to more effectively identify, address and prevent child labour and contribute to improving community livelihoods.

The project will operate in nine cooperatives reaching more than 5,200 cocoa producer households and directly targets 1,520 children that face a high risk for child labour.

 The interventions consist of:

1. Establishment of Village Saving & Loan Associations Groups for women;
2. Training households on alternative income generating activities and crops diversification;
3. Setting up child protection systems and platforms;
4. Awareness creation around child labour and gender equality through local radio stations;
5. Provide school-kits to children who are out-of-school or at risk of dropping out;
6. Provide children with birth certificates so they can enroll in education;
7. Support nine coops with establishing a Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System.

The expected results of the project interventions are that:

1. Households, including youth, have improved marketable skills & income generating opportunities. Households will have increased income, which can reduce child labor and increase children's school enrolment. Youth will have improved marketable skills and employment opportunities.                                                                            
2. Improved child protection mechanisms at district and community level and children are better protected from harm through better connected child protection systems;   
3. Improved access to quality education for children in target communities;
4. Cooperatives have increased capacity to tackle root causes of child labor through their systems and referrals;
5. Cocoa sector and other actors in child labor have improved understanding of what works to tackle root causes of child labor.                                                                                                                                                              

The expected long-term outcomes of the project:

• Joint operation of a CLMRS between international and national supply chain actors to effective assess and address child labour;
• Strengthening of the capacity and livelihoods strategies to support children’s development and education to prevent child labour.