Eliminating Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa
The 'Yen Daakye' perspective
In 2000 and 2001, media reports drew attention to the occurrence of Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in cocoa production in West Africa, resulting in threats of a consumer boycott of cocoa and its derivative products if action was not taken to eliminate WFCL in the cocoa sector. Responding, Ghana commenced several efforts towards eliminating WFCL by 2011.
Worldwide, tomorrow June 12 would be observed as World Day against Child Labour, presenting opportunity for the country to evaluate efforts towards eliminating all forms of child labour, especially in cocoa.
In 2003, a child labour survey estimated that there were 6.3 million Ghanaian children between the ages of 5 and 17. It was also estimated that almost two out of every three working children were engaged in agriculture, including forestry and fishing.
It was also established that a good number of working children were engaged in cocoa production, assisting their parents in the production of the precious crop.
After the 2000/2001 consumer threat to boycott cocoa and its derivatives from West Africa, the Harken-Engel protocol, an agreement by key stakeholders in the cocoa industry, was signed to ensure that "Cocoa beans and their derivative products are grown and processed in a manner that complies with International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour."
Of course, Ghana was one of the parties to the Harken-Engel protocol for two important reasons: first, Ghana was among the first countries to ratify the ILO Convention 182 and second, Ghana which was then the third largest producer of cocoa was determined to restore the integrity of its cocoa sector.
Following the Harken-Engel, a number of interventions were rolled out - both by public institutions and private ones, as well as, by public-private partnerships. I recall the National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC) which was run at the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare. The NPECLC's goal was to eliminate WFCL in cocoa by 2011.
WFCL embraces practices like slavery, compulsory labour, bondage, prostitution, and pornography. Also included in WFCL is work that is hazardous or harmful or interferes with a child's education. However, there is dispute over what actually constitutes hazardous work. So, the NPECLC has developed a Hazardous Child Labour Activity Framework (HAF).
The HAF categorizes activities such as spraying insecticides; applying fungicides and herbicides; working on farm for too long; peg cutting; lining and pegging; felling and chopping trees; and using cutlass for weeding as hazardous.
It is on record that WFCL impact negatively on the education of children in cocoa growing areas. This interference is either by denying children even minimal access to education through farm site engagements, or by allowing them only a few contact hours with the teacher but preventing them from doing home work and instead using them for farm activities.
A project called 'Yen Daakye' (our future) was started in Ghana in 2004 to try finding answers to the puzzle. The Yen Daakye (YDK) project is the International Cocoa Initiative's (ICI) community based project to eliminate WFCL and aims to contribute to the elimination of WFCL in the cocoa sector and enhance the development of children in cocoa-growing communities towards a bright future.
Rolling out YDK
According to project coordinator Joshua Roland Baidoo, the project started as a pilot in 24 communities in 2004/2005 and was scaled up in 2007. It is currently being implemented in 158 communities in seven districts of three regions, namely Wassa Amenfi West, Mpohor Wassa East, Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Akontombra, Wassa Amenfi East (all in the Western Region), Adansi South (Ashanti Region) and Assin North (Central Region).
The community activities are being facilitated by eight non-governmental organizations with technical support from the Participatory Development Associates (PDA), a development consultancy organization.
The implementers wanted community ownership of the YDK project and therefore adopted strategies to explain to the cocoa farmers what constituted child labour and its forms; the impacts of child labour on children; and available mitigation and resolution strategies for addressing the menace.
The project tested several approaches; some of which have paid off.
YDK's successes
Schools in Ghana are often said to belong to the government. Thus, no matter the obstacles these schools may be confronted with, most communities would wait upon government intervention, albeit to the detriment of their children. The YDK came face-to-face with such a problem at Odumase in the Adansi South District where the Odumase DA Junior High School could not boast of even a single trained teacher. Consequently, the school always recorded zero percent pass rate in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The project, however, successfully sold the idea of engaging a few of the community's senior high graduates to teach in the school as volunteers. "For the first time we had a very good result last year; we had six (6) students currently in the Senior High Schools. Previously, it used to be zero percent (0%) pass rate but improvement began in 2006 and in 2008, it was 100%, says Mr. Stephen Owusu, Assistant Headmaster of the school.
A second challenge the YDK project exploited was that of the constant engagement of children of school going age in farming activities during school hours, especially in cocoa-growing communities. This occurs mainly because many of such communities lack educational facilities and so young children often have to trek distances to attend school in other communities.
Again, YDK's implementers successfully convinced community leaders to give up land and other resources for the development of school infrastructure. These were complemented with letters requesting the approval of such developments by district education offices and subsequent posting of teachers to these schools.
One of the beneficiary communities is Sika Nti, a farming community in the Wassa Amenfi West District, where a primary school infrastructure has been built from this inspiration. "We are very proud and happy to have built our own school. Now most children in the community are in school and parents now feel the need to send their children to school," Enock Amissah, a unit committee member said.
There is still another success story: it is the story about the YDK Farmer Field School (FFS). This initiative arose from the acute indebtedness of many farmers in the project areas. It was found out that most farmers took high interest loans for the upkeep of their households, farms and in some cases to finance their children's education.
The FFS involved the formation of 20-25 member cocoa farmer groups from communities to meet regularly through the cropping cycle. Guided by a facilitator, the famers discussed and experimented with new production options in the cultivation of quality cocoa beans. In the end, many farmers achieved higher yields at a lesser cost and have been able to pay back most of their loans.
Commenting on the FFS, 54-year old Madam Mary Adukorang who is owner of a half-acre farm said, "I don't have a big farm, but the best practices are helping me to harvest more cocoa beans than most people who have not been to the training school. These days I get more money and I don't depend so much on loans to pay my children's school fees."
Speaking about the YDK project, former chief executive of the Wassa Amenfi West District, Mr. Albertto Samuel Tekyi, expressed satisfaction about his district's association with the YDK project. He stated, "It is a positive development to see the people taking collective action towards community development and I am happy to see such a commendable effort to bring change to our communities."
Author: Frederick Asiamah/Public Agenda