CARE and Mondelēz International have been working in partnership since 2008 , with a shared vision of helping to improve livelihoods in cocoa growing communities of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
We partner with Mondelēz International’s Cocoa Life programme to promote sustainable cocoa farming. Through a community-focused approach, Cocoa Life supports farmers, uplifts communities, and protects landscapes in key cocoa-producing regions.
To date, CARE has worked across all aspects of Cocoa Life:
- Promoting improved and more sustainable agricultural practices.
- Supporting farmers and their households to increase financial resilience through savings and loans and small-scale income diversification.
- Helping communities to become more able to advocate for their needs with local and regional government.
- Improving forest protection, restoration and reforestation on former forest land.
- Supporting the mitigation and prevention of child labour in cocoa growing communities.
Focus on community empowerment and income diversification
Since 2024, the CARE and Mondelēz partnership has focused on community engagement and financial resilience. This work aligns CARE’s focus on addressing gender inequality and financial resilience, supporting the set up and scaling of savings and loans groups, with over two thirds of the membership being women. Under Cocoa Life, CARE worked with 752 communities in Cote d’Ivoire last year.
In 2024, the partnership expanded the support to micro and small businesses from Village Savings and Loans groups, helping cocoa communities move closer to a sustainable living income. This new Opportunities for Entrepreneurship Pathways (OP-EN) initiative helps micro-entrepreneurs and their households to access the tools, training and finance necessary to safely build more sustainable incomes, with a focus on women.
