Cocoa and chocolate companies join Cote D’Ivoire, foundations in tackling child labor
Coalition to raise 150 million Swiss Francs for education, early childhood initiatives.
A coalition of philanthropic partners and companies in the cocoa and chocolate industry have joined forces with Cote D’Ivoire to support its strategic objectives to combat child labor.
The Ivorian government, the Jacobs Foundation and the UBS Optimus Foundation, along with Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Chocolonely Foundation, ECOM, Ferrero, The Hershey Co., Mars Wrigley, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, Olam Cocoa and Touton, intend to jointly provide seed funding to launch two pooled funding facilities with a target capitalization of 150 million Swiss Francs ($153.8 million) to promote effective learning and early childhood development in Côte d’Ivoire. To reach the target capitalization for the two facilities, additional stakeholders are invited to join the coalition.