Eliminate Child Labour in Our Cocoa  Supply Chain

Our company aims to eliminate all forms of child labour from our supply chain, while respecting family situations and the legitimate need for rural development.

We believe in being open and transparent about the issue of child labour and how we are addressing it. We are working with others, first to identify where child labour is a problem and then to tackle its root causes.

Our progress

In 2012, Nestlé became the first company in the food industry to become an affiliate partner of the Fair Labor Association  (FLA) and drew up an action plan in response to its report, which mapped our cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire.

The action plan included the launch of the ‘Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System’ (CLMRS) in Côte d’Ivoire in partnership with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI).

We are the first cocoa buyer to establish such a system, which goes beyond certification. It uses community liaison officers chosen by their local communities, who gather data on whether children of farmers are involved in child labour rather than non-hazardous work that doesn’t interfere with schooling.

There are currently 1056 of these officers in Côte d’Ivoire, and they report to 69 cooperative child labour agents who organise intervention efforts when required.

By the end of 2015, we completed action plans to reduce child labour in our cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire with 44,617 farmers and 120,067 community members sensitized on child work/labour practices, 42 schools built or renovated, and 50% of cooperatives covered by a child labour monitoring and remediation system. By 2016, we aim to achieve 100%.

Read more in the Rural Development section.