An African Update
Recognising Social Innovation at the World Economic Forum
"I had the honour to join social innovators from around the world, with leaders like Al Gore, on the stage in Davos to receive the Schwab Foundation Collective Social Innovators award on behalf of the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative. A week in Davos opened my eyes to the many and varied conversations going on between private sector, governments and individual global leaders – so distant from the smallholder palm oil, shea and cocoa farmers who drive the economies of many countries in Central and West Africa." - Abraham Baffoe, Proforest Executive Director, Global and Africa.
Proforest and Fairtrade partner to launch 'Initiative for Deforestation-Free Cocoa Supply Chains in Ghana'
This new International Climate Initiative (IKI)-funded programme?aims to transform the cocoa sector with regenerative agriculture, targeting over 14,000 smallholder cocoa farming households in the Ashanti, Eastern, and Ahafo Regions, with 35% of participation being women. The Proforest-Fairtrade collaboration will focus on skills development in agroecology, traceability systems, financial inclusion, gender equality and youth inclusion. Some expected outcomes are improved cocoa productivity through regenerative agriculture and improved producers’ income through financial inclusion and diversification. Read more here.
Community voices
For our Impact Stories series, we are visiting community leaders in Asunafo-Asutifi in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. Join us in celebrating 25 years of Proforest by exploring how we are empowering local communities through resilient cocoa production and alternative livelihoods for women. Our local team has been actively engaged with the community, providing technical training and strengthening local opportunities to pave the way for a sustainable future in cocoa farming.
Is the Valentine's Day chocolate finished yet?! ????
Why not try a 45-minute e-learning course to find out about the cocoa in that box of chocolates? This free Proforest Academy primer explains how we work throughout the global cocoa supply chain for positive outcomes for people, nature and climate. With several cocoa and chocolate companies, we?address the key issues in production at the landscape level through the development of landscape/jurisdictional initiatives (e.g. with our many wonderful partners in the Asunafo-Asutifi jurisdictional initiative in Ghana and the San Pedro jurisdictional initiative in C?te d'Ivoire). These initiatives aim to tackle deforestation and enhance cocoa productivity and livelihoods for the many cocoa farmers and their families in these landscapes.
Join us at future events:
For more on Proforest's work across responsible sourcing &?production of?multiple?commodities, landscape programmes, company collaborations and multi-stakeholder initiatives see our website at?www.proforest.net. Do contact us if you would like further information about any of our work.