Fundamental: health care and education
Medical needs
Through the Growing Great Chocolate™ programme, Callebaut® assists cooperatives to meet some of the basic health care needs of their farmer members. We sponsor and distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets throughout the year, co-organise the distribution of medical kits to cocoa farmers and sponsor vaccination campaigns in several cocoa growing communities.
We’ve also built a medical centre in Goh village in Côte d’Ivoire in partnership with UCAS, a participating cooperative union.
Co-funding schools
As remote farming communities in West Africa often lack
sufficient schools and qualified teachers, we understand the
importance of schooling the children of cocoa farmers. Working
together with local NGO partners, we have organised training
activities to raise awareness among farmers and coop
representatives about the issue of child labour.
In 2009 we inaugurated a new secondary school which, with other
partners, we plan to develop into a community learning centre to
benefit hundreds more of all ages.
In 2010 we initiated two rural school construction projects with
two cooperatives and the local authorities. Our long-term goal is
to support participating cooperatives in building primary schools
in cocoa farming communities that don’t have their own.
