EU Sustainable Cocoa Initiative (SCI)

To achieve sustainable cocoa production the SCI works both with the private and public sector:

• With the public sector it strengthens or reforms the institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks for sustainable cocoa production
• With the private sector it empowers the private sector – including farmers and farmers' cooperatives – to improve agricultural practices, to comply with environmental and social sustainability standards and adopt responsible business practices.

Côte d’Ivoire: 

In Côte d’Ivoire SASI reduces cocoa related deforestation and supports the African Standard for Sustainable Cocoa (ARS1000) implementation together with the Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC). Through the SCI it supports cocoal farmers achieve a decent income with a special focus on women empowerment.

Ghana: 

In Ghana SASI increases the transparency in Ghana’s cocoa supply chain through the roll out of the Ghana Cocoa Traceability System in cooperation with the Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in Ghana. Together with the COCOBOD it develops scalabale income generating activities to support the resilience of income for cocoa cooperatives. 

Cameroon:

In Cameroon SASI supports the Office Nationale du Cacao et Café (ONCC) in its role as a regulator of the sector and in the preparation and implementation of a national database on sustainable cocoa. Together with local partners SASI supports forest monitoring and geo-referencing of producers and the cocoa plots.  

Project partners are the Cocoa Boards in the three implementing countries, namely 

• Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) in Côte d’Ivoire
• Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in Ghana
• Office Nationale du Cacao et Café (ONCC) in Cameroon

Côte d’Ivoire: 

• Contribution to the reduction of cocoa-related deforestation and protection of the Bossematié forest reserveand the Mabi-Yaya natural reserve through a landscape approach.
• Piloting the ARS 1000 implementation with Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) in one district.
• Supporting cocoa farmers in a decent income through a gender-transformative approach by building women's capacity in cocoa processing and leadership and improving their level of professionalism

Ghana: 

• Roll-out of the Ghana Cocoa Traceability System in cooperation with Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in Ghana
• Development of Community Risk Assessment and a Cocoa Sector Child Labour Monitoring System, which is interoperable with the national Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System.
• Development of scalable Income Generating Activities in cooperation with COCOBOD, and cocoa cooperatives (i.e. medicinal plant Desmodium in collaboration with a French company)

Cameroon:

• Establishment of a national database at ONCC corresponding to the specifications of the reference manual on sustainable cocoa and its interoperability with other existing databases
• Supporting and accelerating the work of the Inter-Professional Council for Cacao and Coffee (CICC) in identifying producers and geo-referencing their cocoa plots throughout the country.
• Supporting civil society for independent forest monitoring with the ‘Cocoa Trust Portal’ (CTP)
• Finalization and national approval of the legality guidelines and recommendations on due diligence 

The implementation in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana will focus on strengthening the national traceability systems, capacity development of cooperatives/farmers on sustainable production (Agroforestry) and on achieving a living income for cocoa households, support to the implementation of the African Regional Standard on Cocoa (ARS 1000), institutionalization of child labour risk monitoring.