Entry: Bill Guyton

This week marked an important milestone for Ghana's Child Labor Steering Committee. The first ever certification report was issued for labor practices in Ghana's cocoa sector. The following links provide details of the survey's findings and other related information.

Prior to working for the World Cocoa Foundation, my knowledge of child labor was limited. As a Peace Corps school teacher in the Equateur Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I saw how school children worked on their parents’ coffee and rubber tree farms. They also helped teachers and church clergy by cutting firewood and carrying water. Life was not easy, and everyone was expected to help.

Students often brought machetes into the classroom, along with their books, so that they could go directly from school to the farms. I saw situations where children had been cut and injured while using their machetes.

Some of the students lived in a dormitory, away from their parents. They worked on neighboring farms to earn pocket money. Students, particularly girls, were often not encouraged to enroll beyond primary school.

During my final year there, three students passed the National State Exam, thus receiving their high school certificates. This was a cause for celebration at the school: no one had ever passed the exam. Despite this achievement, there were not many career options for school graduates in rural Congo.

When I joined the World Cocoa Foundation in 2000, child labor issues were barely on the radar screen. Our programs focused on improving farm incomes and helping to protect the environment. We discussed "social" interventions, but mostly in regards to health services.

In 2001, as reports of child labor in the cocoa sector of West Africa surfaced, we and others in the chocolate industry had to educate ourselves on this important issue.

We started working with labor experts, civil society and African government officials. We began work to incorporate a child labor component into our existing programs in farm communities, and to pursue new on-the-ground programs.

During this time, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) was formed by industry and civil society to look at how best to address the worst forms of child labor in the West Africa cocoa sector.

Today, the situation is much different. Without question, there is much work to do: the Ghana report shows us that.

Yet I am heartened by how much things have changed since 2001:

-- As the Ghana report shows, we now have a process to give us a clear, detailed understanding of what's happening on the ground in cocoa farming communities.

-- West African governments are taking action.

-- We have programs to address the challenges raised in the Ghana report, and other important issues affecting the well-being of children.

-- Farm communities are engaged and driving change, through such efforts as the International Cocoa Initiative's "grassroots" approach.

For those of you who would like more information on child labor in Africa, I would highly recommend reading our information.

WCF also continues to update our information center on the social, economic and environmental aspects of growing and marketing cocoa.

Bill