VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAR #0574 1700721
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190721Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7929

UNCLAS ACCRA 000574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EAGR PHUM SOCI XA XY IV GH
SUBJECT: CHILDREN WORKING ON COCOA FARMS IS DEVELOPMENT 
ISSUE, NOT JUST LABOR ISSUE 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Removing children as workers on Ghanaian 
cocoa farms encompasses a number of social and economic 
issues more far ranging than simply that of child labor. 
While few would disagree with the premise of improving access 
to basic education, encouraging children to attend school 
rather than work on a family farm exposes a myriad of social 
concerns ranging from poor quality education to the dangers 
of walking to school on country roads. While NGOs funded by 
the cocoa industry promote sending children to school rather 
than to work, the GOG needs to address additional societal 
issues if the NGOs' efforts are to be sustainable. END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (U) Over a recent two day period, Poloff and DRL/ILSCR 
officer toured three cocoa villages in western Ghana 
accompanied by the program manager of the International Cocoa 
Initiative (ICI) and representatives of local NGO 
implementing partners.  The officers found that the NGOs have 
been successful in encouraging parents to send their children 
to school rather than to work on farms, but in each of the 
three villages, the children face additional difficulties 
when attending school. 
 
¶3.  (U) One village had a school within easy walking 
distance, but the others had no collocated school. Children 
of all ages walk four kilometers one way to attend class. 
They are forced to walk on dirt roads that are dangerous 
either from heavy trucks that ply the route or rivers that 
flood low lying areas during the rainy season. 
 
¶4.  (U) The lack of qualified teachers in rural schools and 
of material resources results in gaps in pupils' learning. 
Teachers often must travel by public transportation for an 
hour before beginning the long walk from the main highway to 
the school. 
 
¶5.  (U) Only one of the three villages visited had 
electricity, but one had six solar powered communal lights 
located around the edge of the village. When asked about the 
solar lighting, one village elder quickly dismissed the 
project as inadequate because the lights were not in 
individual homes and were, therefore, of little use to the 
students for studying after dark in their own homes. 
 
¶6.  (U) The common refrain in all three villages was, "What 
are you going to do for us?"  Each village was a model for 
reducing child labor on cocoa farms, but village elders all 
wanted to know what the USG could do to improve their living 
standards now that the children were attending school.  The 
answer to the elders' question should not come from the USG 
or the cocoa industry; the GOG needs to address the question 
in a comprehensive manner. 
 
¶7.  (U) The education system needs investment of human and 
material resources, transportation infrastructure needs basic 
improvements, and the electricity grid should be extended to 
rural areas.  These tangential issues have now been 
highlighted following marked success in reducing the number 
of children working on cocoa farms. 
 
¶8.  (U) COMMENT: Unless the GOG provides clear, tangible 
evidence of improvement in the lives of villagers following 
the decision to educate their children, some families are 
likely to opt to keep their children working at home rather 
than to send them to school, negating the positive advances 
made in reducing child labor on cocoa farms. END COMMENT 
TEITELBAUM