At this year’s SchoggiFestival in Zurich we are organizing a live online interview with Kathrin Heitz Tokpa, the president of CABOZ Action Côte d’Ivoire. On 26 March at 13:00 summer time we will discuss the “Risks of child labour in the cocoa industry – what can be done? (taking place in German) and would love to meet any members and friends in person there. Come and enjoy some very special chocolate and cocoa juice at the festival. And try out some ‘savon noir’, a black soap made from burnt cocoa husks and palm kernel oil by members of one of the savings groups CABOZ Action supports.

The Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs, in French AVECs) have proved to be very popular. With the support of the Rainforest Alliance and CABOZ AG, we were able to help set up 6 new VSLAs at the beginning of the year – 4 in Soubré and 2 in Duekoué. With the groups in Duekoué, we are experimenting with setting up school funds to help parents equip their children with what they need when the school year starts.

Having good relations with the local state authorities is essential for the long-term acceptance of CABOZ Action’s work and is particularly important in preventing the risks of child labour. Our team has therefore informed the Centre for Social Work (Centre Social) of the Platform “Système d’Observation et de Suivi du Travail des Enfants en Côte d’Ivoire” (SOSTECI) and the prefecture in Soubré about our project with the Rainforest Alliance and the new approach we are taking to address this sensitive issue. We are now in a better position to cooperate with state agencies should we encounter human rights violations or cases of hardship.

Following a request from the residents of Marcelinkro, we installed two 6000-L rainwater-collection tanks by the school, and solar panels on the roof to power the pump and UV-lamp kindly donated by Aqua Pura together with their Waterflow microfilter system. With the support of Fulbert, our project manager in the region, the villagers set up a water committee, which helped install the water system and is responsible for maintaining it. The committee also collect the small fees families pay to use the water to cover the cost of repairs. The children and teachers at the school, which the villagers built themselves, now have access to clean drinking water.

We are delighted that Nathalie Windlin and Jey Wegner are happy to be nominated to join the committee and are already helping with CABOZ Action projects. Elections for the committee will, however, not take place until the AGM, which will probably be in May 2023.

Nathalie Windlin

resident in Zurich

Nathalie Windlin is an agronomist and works at Bio Suisse on the further development of the guidelines for tropical crops.

J Wegner

Resident in Berlin

J Wegner is a freelance social impact and Media Viability consultant & researcher – Passionate about reimagining the development space.

Start of the Rainforest Alliance project with village savings and loan groups (AVEC), income-generating activities (AGR) and a new programme for reducing the risk of child labour. 8 new facilitators including 2 women have now been selected and trained. We are grateful to the Rainforest Alliance and CABOZ AG for their support. 

Visitors to our stand at the Festival of Nations on 12 June in Nussbaumen enjoyed tasting CABOZ cocoa juice made from fresh cocoa pulp. We also sold some Ivorian soap women from Western Côte d’Ivoire made from burnt coffee and cocoa husks. Producing the soap could be a new income generating activity for AVEC (savings and loan groups) participants. 

Our 10th annual general meeting took place in Baden on 28 May 2022. Kathrin Heitz Tokpa, who is president of CABOZ Action Côte d’Ivoire and who lives in Abidjan, gave an inspiring talk on our savings and loans groups (AVEC) project, and the income generating activities they have enabled participants to start.

Looking back, we are confident CABOZ Action has had a positive impact in the cocoa villages over the past 10 years. Examples are: 

• The drinking-water systems we have installed in five villages. Local committees are now in charge of their maintenance, but can call on our two project officers for support if necessary. 
• The income-diversification project has trained over 500 young people in the cocoa villages to set up very small, local businesses. This has led to some exciting new ventures, ranging from selling second-hand clothes to food stands and grinding cassava.
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We celebrated these achievements with some delicious Ivorian food and cocoa juice made from fresh CABOZ cocoa. Now we can look forward to continuing our work with the support of CABOZ and the Rainforest Alliance, and to building up the local association of CABOZ Action in Côte d’Ivoire.

Photo (from l to r): Kathrin Heitz-Tokpa, Joel Diet Bohon, Silvia Dingwall and Marie-Louise Nussbaumer.

The Swiss ambassador Anne Lugon-Moulin (L in photo) visited our AVEC savings groups in Cabozkro near Soubré, and learned about some of the very small businesses the group had set up, such as grinding cassava.

Pump (nearly 50 m deep) for drinking-water installed in Diégokro. CABOZ Action Côte d’Ivoire, Kathrin Heitz Tokpa,  (President CA CI) visits this and 2 other villages in Duékoué with Lydie, who is responsible for our activities in the region. Kathrin was impressed by the dynamism of the village loan and savings groups.