Combating child labour in cocoa farming

Focus on WIND: an ILO integrated approach to eliminate child labour in cocoa farming

Abidjan (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO) through the ACCEL Africa project (Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in African Supply Chains), and its partners from the National Agency for Rural Development (ANADER), the Coffee and Cocoa Council and the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection, carried out a mission from 27 September to 1 October 2021 in Soubré in the west of Côte d'Ivoire to monitor and update the individual and community work plans of the training pairs whose role is to improve the living and working conditions of actors in the cocoa value chain according to the WIND (Work Improvement in Neighbourhood Development) approach.

Article | 06 October 2021
A household in the village of Djézoukro before the WIND project using a lot of firewood and producing smoke that is toxic to health
Abidjan (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO) through the ACCEL Africa project (Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in African Supply Chains), and its partners from the National Agency for Rural Development (ANADER), the Coffee and Cocoa Council and the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection, carried out a mission from 27 September to 1 October 2021 in Soubré in the west of Côte d'Ivoire to monitor and update the individual and community work plans of the training pairs whose role is to improve the living and working conditions of actors in the cocoa value chain according to the WIND (Work Improvement in Neighbourhood Development) approach.

WIND: an integrated approach for local solutions to the root causes of child labour.

The WIND approach, created by the ILO in 1981, "aims to encourage and assist agricultural actors to take voluntary and low-cost measures to improve their working and living conditions and to increase productivity," explains Euphrem N'dépo, national coordinator of the ACCEL Africa project for Côte d'Ivoire. Mr N'dépo adds that WIND "is based on a participatory, action-oriented approach".

The analysis of the root causes of child labour revealed, says the ACCEL Africa coordinator, "that the absence of Occupational Health and Safety is a vector of child labour. In the absence of occupational health and safety measures, children of working age can find themselves performing dangerous work, prohibited by Ivorian legislation. Also, the lack of occupational health and safety measures exposes parents to work-related accidents who, in the event of disability, use their children as a substitute workforce.

In order to find solutions to these problems, the ACCEL Africa project organised a training course for 15 WIND Cacao trainers in April 2021. These trainers were mainly from the labour administration and the agricultural administration.

In June and July 2021, the trainers contributed to the training of 87 peer trainers from the localities of Grand-Zattry and M'batto.

During this mission to Soubré, the ACCEL Africa team and its WIND training partners went to the field to see the progress of this approach. The villages of Djézoukro, Bagolieoua, Gbaleville, Kipiri, Parcsou, Yaokoffikro, Konankro and Grand-Zattry were visited. In each of these villages, the peer trainers demonstrated ingenuity in implementing their action plans.

Improved stove in Djézoukro with a chimney to reduce smoke. With this stove, the housewife uses less firewood and saves time in cooking food.
Djézoukro: a village in the steps of WIND

Djézoukro is a village of about three thousand souls, located about twelve kilometres from Soubré, the capital of the Nawa region, on the Grand-Zattry road. Here, several improvements of the WIND approach are visible.

"Before the WIND training, my wife used to cook on a three-stone stove using a lot of faggots and producing enough smoke. After the training, I made an improved fireplace with a chimney. This reduces the smoke which is toxic to my wife's health. The other advantage of this improved fireplace is that it uses less faggots, which helps to protect the environment and reduce the amount of time spent looking for firewood," explains Jean Jacques Kouassi Koffi, a peer trainer.

In addition to the improved fireplace, Mr. Kouassi Koffi built an appatam with shelves for kitchen utensils and a broom with a handle. "I am less tired now with the broom. I don't have back pain from bending over to sweep and with the shelves my kitchen utensils are well organised, which saves me time. As a result, I no longer need to ask my children to do certain domestic tasks such as looking for faggots," says Monique Kouadio Akissi, the wife of Mr. Kouassi Koffi.

Through these improvements, Mr. Kouassi Koffi has put into practice the principles of "storage and handling" and the principles of "workstation and hand tool design" recommended by the WIND methodology.

From Djézoukro, the ACCEL Africa team headed for Parcsou.

Parcsou: a village whose destiny is linked to the WIND approach

Located three kilometres north of Djézoukro, Parcsou is embedded in an exuberant forest where at nightfall, a concert of shrill firefly calls can be heard. As in Djézoukro, the main activity is agriculture in Parcsou, whose population is estimated at about five thousand people, according to Jonas Kouadio Yao, the chief of this large village with a school group of 12 classes, pending the opening of a college under construction.

Here, four peer educators are the pride of the village. Among them is Marcelin Koffi Wa Koffi. Aged 42, he is admired by his wife, to whom he has made daily tasks easier thanks to several improvements in her domestic activities.

Before, says Mr. Koffi Wa Koffi, "our well was not fenced or covered. Waste fell into it. Several times I had health problems that kept me in bed for several days. Since I could not do anything during this period of illness, I was forced to send my children to the field to do the work I had to do. But today, the situation has improved. I don't get sick frequently anymore since I fenced the well and put a lock on it. Instead of asking my children to work when I am sick, they go to school instead. Because that is where they belong, not in the field.

Even if, according to the ACCEL Africa team, there are improvements to be made to the well by putting in a pulley in order to respect the principles of workstation design, Sylvie Kouassi Ahou, Mr. Koffi Wa Koffi's wife, is nevertheless pleased with her husband's actions. "In addition to the well, my husband created a hand-washing point to avoid COVID-19 from an empty 20-litre oil can. He has installed a tap that allows us and all the children to wash our hands regularly.

We leave Parcsou for Gbaleville.

The Gbaleville sink: an invention to put an end to child labour in cocoa farming.

Gbaleville is located about 5 kilometres from Grand-Zattry, the capital of the sub-prefecture.

Thanks to the WIND approach, this village has become famous since it invented an "ecabo" for shelling cocoa pods using community engineering.
Ecabo'', an invention of the Gbaleville communities for cocoa shelling

"It is a device that allows you to dent the cocoa instead of using a machete as in the past, with all the risks that this entails. The machete can injure the farmer or cut the cocoa beans. This community invention makes it possible to reduce the drudgery of the work and thus avoid using children as labour in the cocoa value chain," explains Ouédraogo Soumaila, one of the beneficiaries.

Gbaleville does not intend to stop with this invention. The village is already thinking about the next step. "We are thinking of another invention. We are thinking of another invention, a device to sow rice without getting tired," says Marie Yohou Sahué, another beneficiary of the WIND approach.

WIND: an approach with capitalised results in the Nawa region.

After the follow-up field visits, ACCEL Africa trainers and peer trainers organised a workshop to share their experiences. This workshop was an opportunity to share and capitalise on individual and community improvements and especially to renew the various individual and community action plans that expired at the end of September 2021.

From Kipiri to Bagolieoua via Koffiyaokro, Grand-Zattry, Konankro, Parcsou, Djézoukro and Gbaleville, tangible results were noted wherever follow-up visits were made.

Jean Claude Dago Tapé is the chief of the village of Kipiri. According to him, the WIND approach has brought a lot to his community in terms of health, reduction of drudgery and saving time by avoiding transferring tasks to children. "Thanks to WIND, the children have more time to spend in school. Because parents are either sick, tired or don't have time to do the work themselves, they resort to child labour.

But thanks to WIND's practices, the work is less difficult, we are healthier and we have more time to do all our tasks," says Mr Dago Tapé.

"We leave this WIND improvement monitoring mission satisfied. We have seen revolutionary actions that improve the living environment of communities. The improvement of the living and working environment is a factor in the fight against child labour," says Dion Oulai Diegue, medical inspector and WIND trainer.

The Secretary General of the Nawa Prefecture reiterated the support of the administrative authorities for this ILO project. "I invite the beneficiaries to share the achievements of WIND with all cocoa farmers and the entire population of the Nawa region," said Claude Okou Tohouri.
Family photo with the administrative authorities of the Nawa region