Five Years of Cocoa Life: 2017 Progress Report

Progress Blog
Five Years of Cocoa Life: 2017 Progress Report

The 2017 Progress Report demonstrates how, five years in, Cocoa Life is making a difference on its journey to create a vibrant cocoa supply chain while transforming the lives and livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their communities.

Our Cocoa Life approach continues to be crucial in helping these communities address the dynamic and complex challenges they face—all of which are interrelated and demand a holistic approach to solve. We’ve continued to empower cocoa farmers and their communities by focusing on the areas where we can have the greatest impact. Fighting climate change so that future generations can inherit fertile land has been core to our program since 2012. This year, we continued this commitment by embarking on new partnerships to fight deforestation. We also implemented systems to help eliminate child labor, elevated the voices of women and more - it's been a tremendous year.

By the end of 2017, we grew our sustainably sourced cocoa by 14 percentage points to 35% of our global needs. In fact, our Cadbury brand throughout the UK and Ireland began sourcing Cocoa Life cocoa. We also reached 120,500 farmers (+31% from 2016) in 1,085 communities (+26% from 2016). This year’s report details how we’re connecting both ends of the supply chain – from the cocoa farmers to the consumers who enjoy our chocolate, as well as key accomplishments across our five focus areas and three cross-cutting themes.

"As I reflect on our ambitions, I’m proud of what we have accomplished. We are one of the largest chocolate makers in the world, and we’ve created a holistic and integrated program that not only has increased cocoa yields, but also has helped cocoa communities be one step closer to achieving sustainable livelihoods."

Cathy Pieters,
Director, Cocoa Life

Cathy Pieters

We also made progress against key output indicators, which demonstrate how our interventions are making a difference. By the end of 2017, across Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Dominican Republic, Cocoa Life*:

  • Trained ~68,200 community members on Good Environmental Practices (+96%) and distributed 1+ million shade trees (+43%) to conserve ecosystems and farmland for future generations
  • Mapped ~136,000 hectares of cocoa farms (+18%) to accurately measure productivity and farmers' proximity to protected forest areas, enabling us to take action against deforestation
  • Trained 88,100+ farmers (+18%) and distributed ~5.8 million cocoa seedlings (+111%) to increase productivity and promote growth of higher quality cocoa
  • Facilitated development of 1,000+ Community Action Plans (+21%), helping identify their needs and secure resources and public funding
  • Provided ~52,000 community members (+131%), mostly women, with access to finance and improved financial literacy through 1,800+ operational Village Savings and Loan Associations (+51%)
  • Established Child Protection Committees in 516 communities, building on our holistic interventions to tackle the root causes of child labor, and established Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems in 137 communities (+43%)

*percent increase reflects progress made compared to end of 2016

"By building a strong, on-the-ground presence in major cocoa-producing regions, and by engaging individual smallholders and global traders across its supply chain, Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life program begins to address the systemic issues facing the industry and have a positive impact on workers, communities, and the environment."

David McLaughlin,
Senior Advisor strategy, Conservation International

David Mclaughlin

As we reflect on the progress made in our first five years, we are inspired by each Cocoa Life community and are committed to working closely with our partners to continue to support them. Cocoa Life will continue to create a sustainable future for cocoa.

2017 Global Progress Dashboard

This dashboard demonstrates the scale achieved by the end of 2017 and how Cocoa Life is making progress in four key cocoa origin countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Dominican Republic. Cocoa Life monitors the below output indicators under five focus areas. These are interventions we put in place with our partners.

Farming
Farming icon
Farmers trained on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs)1
88,134
Cocoa seedlings distributed (through Cocoa Life)
5,753,969
Cocoa farming demonstration plots operational2
884
Nurseries created3
583
Hectares of cocoa farms mapped4
135,566

1. Farmers trained are farmers enrolled in the program. Once they follow the attendance criteria, they are selected as Cocoa Life farmers. GAPs are recommendations made to the farmers so they can increase the yield on their farms. The data is currently not accounting for farmers in Côte d’Ivoire who received training through individual coaching. 
2. Demonstration plots show what "good" looks like so farmers know what to expect when adopting the GAP. 
3. This includes both professional and traditional nurseries. 
4. One hectare is 10,000 square meters. To compare, a football field is about 7,500 square meters. 
Community
Community icon
Community Development Committees (CODECs) operational in communities1
647
Community Action Plans (CAPs) activated2
1,030
Communities with CAP projects completed3
503
Community members trained on gender awareness
59,404

5. CODEC members are elected by their communities (or comparable) to represent them in defining the CAP priorities. CODECs may cover several communities. 
6. Cocoa Life facilitates the development of the CAP through the CODEC. The CAP defines the priorities the community (or comparable) agrees to work on and is owned by the community. A CAP may cover several communities. 
7. These communities have successfully raised resources and advocated to start implementing any of the 10 priorities listed in the CAP. 
Livelihoods
Livelihoods icon
Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) operational1
1,828
Community members who participate in VSLAs
51,566
VSLAs linked to finance institutions2
7
Community members trained on financial literacy3
29,728
Community members trained on business management4
28,589
Community members involved in additional Income Generating Activities (IGA)
17,096

8. A VSLA (or a similar model) is a group of people who save together and take small loans from those savings. 
9. Once a VSLA is strong enough, we link them with financial institutions so they can access professional banking services. 
14. Financial literacy includes training on saving, loans, and household financial planning. 
15. This includes knowledge on business planning, administration and marketing for small enterprises. 
Youth
Youth icon
Community members and farmers educated on issues of child labor and forced child labor
53,748
Communities with Child Protection Committees (CPCs)1
516
Communities with a Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS)2
137
Youth trained on cocoa-related enterprises3
7,591

10. The primary purpose of the CPC is to promote and protect the total well-being of all children in the community. Its responsibilities include liaising with the School Management Committee and the Parents-Teachers Associations to ensure all school-going children are enrolled and retained in schools. 
11. Cocoa Life's CLMRS is community-based and child-centric. Its scope goes beyond the cocoa supply chain to include the community as a whole, and addresses the issue from prevention to remediation. 
12. Youth is the age range from 18-35 in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and 15-24 in Indonesia. 
Environment
Environment icon
Community members trained on Good Environmental Practices (GEPs)1
68,163
Economic shade trees distributed (through Cocoa Life)
1,162,102

13. GEPs are recommended practices which will include, for instance, how to conserve the soil or practices for reasonable and safe use of agrochemicals. 
About the Dashboard
Cocoa Life routinely collects monitoring data from our partners as part of the ongoing review of program performance at the local level, so we can apply learnings to improve program outcomes in the future.
2017 Year in Review
Monthly Activites

We’re continuing to make progress on our Cocoa Life journey. Here’s a closer look at what we’ve achieved and the various partners we’ve worked with this year.

Q1
JANUARY 19, 2017 – IPSOS PROVIDES THIRD-PARTY VERIFICATION

Cocoa Life partners with Ipsos, an independent research agency, to verify the program’s impact in all cocoa origins against 10 global Key Performance Indicators.

FEBRUARY 14, 2017 – JOY AMBASSADORS TRAVEL TO GHANA

A Mondelēz International Joy Ambassador shares what he learned from his trip to Ghana, including challenges farmers face and how Cocoa Life is making a difference in improving farming practices and so much more.

MARCH 17, 2017 – PROTECTING FORESTS IN WEST AFRICA

Mondelēz International signs an agreement with the World Cocoa Foundation, The Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit and other cocoa companies to develop a plan to address deforestation and forest degradation.

Q2
APRIL 19, 2017 – BUSINESS SKILLS GAINED IN INDONESIA

In partnership with IFC (International Finance Corporation), a member of the World Bank Group, Cocoa Life is improving the business acumen of and giving financial access to cocoa farmers and nursery managers.

MAY 22, 2017 – PROTECTING FORESTS IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Mondelēz International signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Environment to protect forests. Cote d’Ivoire’s bold goal is zero-net deforestation in the cocoa supply chain.

JUNE 12, 2017 – EMBODE 2017 CHILD PROTECTION ASSESSMENTS IN INDONESIA

Embode spends time with local farmers to understand the social structures of cocoa-growing communities in which children live and grow, and finds child labor is not a significant concern. This is Embode’s third assessment for Cocoa Life, after Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

JUNE 13, 2017 – COCOA LIFE 2016 PROGRESS REPORT

The 2016 Progress Report shares the scale achieved in 2016, including key partnerships and activities accomplished through Cocoa Life.

Q3
JULY 19, 2017 – FOREST-FRIENDLY COCOA IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Cocoa Life publishes recommendations for how public and private companies can protect forests in the cocoa supply chain together.

Q4
OCTOBER 2, 2017 – INDONESIA IMPACT EVALUATION

Ipsos publishes its first study demonstrating how Cocoa Life is creating impact in Indonesia by helping farmers improve their farming practices, strengthening economic resilience and supporting community development.

NOVEMBER 21, 2017 – A JOY AMBASSADOR’S JOURNEY: FROM NORWAY TO GHANA

Joy Ambassador who traveled to Cocoa Life’s cocoa-farming communities chronicles her experience learning how to harvest cocoa and meeting students of a school Cocoa Life helped build.

DECEMBER 7, 2017 – EXTERNAL ADVISORS WITNESS COCOA LIFE’S PROGRESS

Cocoa Life’s external advisors visit Indonesia, meeting with governmental stakeholders, farmers, suppliers, youth and women to witness how the program is making a difference in Indonesia.

Follow our progress - sign up for our newsletter here