Cocoa Resources

Labor, Economic, Social Conditions | Global Trade & Fair Trade | Environment | Educational Resources | History, Processing, and Basic Facts

Global Exchange Report on abusive child labor, corporate accountability, and Fair Trade
Toler, Deborah, Ph. D. & Schweisguth, Melissa A. J. D. Mark. (Ed.) October 2003. "While M&M's Smile, Child Cocoa Workers Cry." [1] Global Exchange. (Appendices) [2].

Get Fair Trade Resources [3] from GX's Fair Trade store!

Labor, Economic, and Social Conditions

Fortune Magazine. Chocolate's bittersweet economy [4]. February 15, 2008.

Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer Tulane University. Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector in Code d'Ivoire and Ghana [5] October 31, 2007.

Chocolate Manufacturers Association of America. Global Chocolate Industry Plan to Combat Abusive Child Labor [6]. Vienna, VA: CMA. 2001.

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa: A synthesis of findings in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria [7]. Croydon, UK: IITA. August 2002.

International Labor Organization [8]. Combating Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, World of Work. Geneva: ILO. 2001.

Raghavan, Sudarsan and Chatterjee, Sumana. Nearly hidden, slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms is easy to miss [9]. Knight Ridder News Service. June 25,2001.

Raghavan, Sudarsan and Chatterjee, Sumana. Much of America's Sweets Made Possible Through Slave Labor on Ivory Coast [10]. Knight Ridder News Service. June 25,2001.

US Department of State. Cote d'Ivoire, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [11]. Washington, DC: US Department of State. 2001.

Wood, Brian and Blewett, Kate. Slavery, A Global Investigation. London, England: True Vision Productions.2001. [Video ]

Global Trade and Fair Trade

Photos and stories from Nicaraguan Fair Trade cocoa farms [12]

Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International. Fairtrade Standards for Cocoa [13]. Bonn, Germany: FLO. 2001.

Barratt Brown, Michael. Fair Trade; Reform and Realities in the International Trading System. New Jersey: Zed Books. 1993.

Collinson, Chris and Leon, Marcelo. Economic Viability of Ethical Cocoa Trading in Ecuador [14]. Greenwich: Natural Resources and Ethical Trade Programme, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. 2000.

Coote, Belinda. The Trade Trap: Poverty and the Global Commodity Markets. Oxford: Oxfam UK. 1996.

Grout, Phil. 2003. Harvest of Hope [15] (A beautiful book on the Kuapa Kokoo Fair Trade co-op, with 72 color photographs.

New Internationalist. Best of the Best [16]. New Internationalist. August 1998.

Ransom, David. The No-Nonsense Guide to Fair Trade. New Internationalist/Verso. 2001.

Environment

Bright, Chris. Chocolate Could Bring the Forest Back [17]. World Watch Magazine. November 2001.

Educational Resources

Global Exchange Educational Materials [18]

Elementary School

Chocolate and Fair Trade

story about children and cocoa farms [19], from Global Gang (UK)

Children's poems on Fair Trade chocolate [20], from Global Gang (UK)

"Farming in African countries" [21], from Global Gang (UK)

Divine Chocolate (UK) [22] Educational materials on Fair Trade chocolate and Ghana

Fair Trade chocolate and Ghana [23]
Educational materials from the Dubble Chocolate Company (UK)

Fair Trade chocolate (and bananas) and world trade [24]
Educational materials from the Fairtrade Federation (UK)

Fair Trade Chocolate and Bananas [25]
Educational materials and lesson plans from Banana Link (UK)

Child Labor and Education
Free the Children/Kids Can Free the Children [26]
Campaigns focused on child labor, child poverty, war affected children, education, and children's rights. They offer a listserv, youth leadership training program and have a wonderful action guide for kids, "Take Action!"

Countries where cocoa is grown

Activities for kids [27] from Catholic Relief Services
Focuses on Africa, Latin America, Aouth East Asia, Eastern Europe, Pacific Islands. Features "fascinating facts," pages to color, word games/puzzles, interactive games, world recipes, and a newsroom

Activities for teachers, "Countries and Issues in Africa" [28], from Catholic Relief Services
(Additional activities on Cambodia,Haiti, and Peru)

Life in Ghana [29], from Cool Planet (UK)

General

Globe in a Box for Primary Kids [30] (Social Justice Alphabet), from Oxfam Canada
Other human rights and social justice materials available

Kids and Fair Trade: Maya Arts and Crafts of Guatemala [31]
A user friendly guide for parents and teachers of children school ages K-8 written by Marilyn Anderson

Junior High & High School

Chocolate and Fair Trade

American Civics class web page on chocolate, slavery, and Fair Trade [32]
Described as "a very comprehensive interactive lesson in which students encounter the worldwide problem of child slavery in hopes of finding a solution."

Child Labor and Education

Child Labor Coalition Students' Page [33]
On-line discussion forum for students, listserv, resources, and more.

Child Labor Coalition [34]
Member web pages and resources for parents and teachers

Free the Children/Kids Can Free the Children [26]
Campaigns focused on child labor, child poverty, war affected children, education, and children's rights. They offer a listserv, youth leadership training program and have a wonderful action guide for kids, "Take Action!"

Free the Slaves [35]
Action center, on-line glossary, news, and resource documents

Special "Campaigner" issue on Education [30], from Oxfam Canada

Countries where cocoa is grown

"Challenges in Africa" [28]
Activities for teachers from Catholic Relief Services. Additional activities on Cambodia,Haiti, and Peru

General

Economics for All grade eight teachers' guide [30], from Oxfam Canada
Other human rights and social justice materials available

Note The UK uses "key stages" for grade/age levels. Key Stage 1 covers grades K-2, Key Stage 2 covers grades 3-4, Key Stage 3 covers grades 5-6, Key Stage 4 covers grades 7-8, and Key Stage 5 covers grades 9-10.