FDBusiness.com

A first of its kind public-private partnership between the Conseil du Café-Cacoa, Cargill and CAREhas enabled 14 cocoa farmer cooperatives to build 11 new schools and three new health centers in Côte d’Ivoire. The new facilities will provide over 1,650 children with access to education and healthcare for 25,000 people across the local communities.

Bringing together investment from farmer cooperatives and the private/public partners, the US$1.9 million program has enabled 14 cooperatives to make their own decisions about investments in facilities that can benefit their communities. Using the premium payments for certified cocoa paid to cooperatives under the Cargill Cocoa Promise, each cooperative also has benefitted from additional funding from the Conseil du Café-Cacao and Cargill, as well as the expertise of CARE to build the new schools and health centers. CARE has additionally helped communities to adopt project management processes and good governance principles during the program.

“The investment in new schools and clinics clearly demonstrate the critical role farmer cooperatives play in improving the education and living standards in their communities,” says Lionel Soulard, Managing Director West Africa, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate. “By bringing together the resources and expertise of public-private partners it is empowering farmer cooperatives and supporting a sustainable future for cocoa growing communities.”

The first schools and health center were officially inaugurated on 11 June at a ceremony in Manzannouan, in the east of Côte d’Ivoire attended by the Managing Director of Conseil du Café Cacao, representatives of Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health.

“Through this partnership we are supporting our farmers and enabling them to be part of the solution to improve their well-being. Farmers are now able to have a direct influence on the livelihood of their own communities,” says Massandjé Touré Litsé, Managing Director of Conseil du Café Cacao.

Each brick constructed school includes three classrooms, one house for the school director, three houses for school teachers, a canteen, latrines and access to water. The dispensary clinic projects include the clinic, equipment and a house for the doctor. The construction of all the schools and healthcare centers is complete; the schools will begin teaching their first students in October and the clinics will all soon be offering healthcare in their local communities.

There already are plans to extend the program to enable an additional 10 farmer cooperatives to build facilities to support their local communities.