The Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), an anti-corruption and human rights advocacy group, has secured a $60,000 grant from Canada’s Unifor Social Justice Fund to tackle child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector. The two-year project, known as Rights4Cocoa, aims to improve education access, raise community awareness, and create alternative livelihoods for families in cocoa-growing areas.
Targeting over 1,000 at-risk children in the Dormaa West and Dormaa Municipality of Bono, as well as the Ahafo-Ano North cocoa districts, the initiative also seeks to boost the financial stability of 500 farming households through sustainable farming practices. Additionally, 200 cocoa farmers will receive financial literacy training and access to microcredit to help them grow their businesses.
Raphael Godlove Ahenu, CEO of GloMeF, emphasized that despite the economic benefits of cocoa, poverty and child labour remain serious issues. According to the International Cocoa Initiative, an estimated 770,000 children in Ghana are engaged in hazardous labour, often missing school and facing dangerous conditions such as carrying heavy loads and exposure to harmful chemicals.
Ahenu stressed the importance of eliminating child labour to break cycles of poverty and align with international commitments to protect children’s rights. The project aims to provide lasting solutions through education, economic empowerment, and stronger community protections.
