Women and Cocoa Communities Initiative (WCCI)

This project aims to improve living conditions in rural cocoa communities in Côte d’Ivoire especially those of women and young girls. Project activities include the following: (1) raising awareness among training and supporting women producers in terms of starting and strengthening small businesses and cooperatives; (2) making it easier for them to access credit and agricultural insurance; and (3) increasing climate change resilience through tree nurseries and sound agroforestry practices. The financing approach allows for a large amount of responsible private investments to be mobilized from cocoa companies complementing Canadian development assistance. It is innovative and part of a fair-trade approach in the cocoa industry.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased socio-economic empowerment of women and young girls in the targeted rural cocoa communities; (2) improved performance of the Fédération nationale des femmes productrices de café et de cacao cocoa cooperatives and women’s associations in delivering products and services that meet their members’ needs in terms of adapting to climate change especially women and young girls; and (3) increased resilience of the targeted rural cocoa communities and their food systems especially women to climate change and socio-economic shocks.