Our Work
WELL Africa is a Nonprofit Organization which mission is to provide a long-term and sustainable solution to the issue of child labor and poverty in the Ivory Coast cacao supply chain by working side by side with communities, their leaders, and other key players to make a the biggest impact possible. WELL Africa empowers the children working in the coca plantations and the communities in which they live through the liberating power of education and business. This program consists of three primary areas of focus: provide educational opportunities to the children, train the farmers on good agricultural techniques, and implement a small loan program to help women create small businesses.
Projects Completed
Progess on the school
Started in March 2014, the WELL Africa’s first school has opened its doors this month. The school has 6 classrooms, an office for the teachers, and a cafeteria where children will have lunches. From the 400 students that we expected 250 started because the others have to wit until they turn 6 before they can start school. For this year, we will use the current curriculum available in the country, but moving forward, we are working on building a new curriculum that will position the school as one of the best in the country. Our goal is to open the children to the world and transform them in a powerful force for good. We leveraged our unique partnership with the government of the Ivory Coast to get 6 certified teachers that will be paid by them in our effort to reduce our expense and build more school. . An internship opportunity will be given to all those in the US and elsewhere that would like to contribute to educate these children and make them successful.
Farmers Training Program
Our unique approach required partnership of all supply chain stakeholders, from children to farmers to co-ops to distributors to large buyers to end consumers of cacao products. We conducted a needs analysis to understand the controllable root causes that pressured farmers to use child labor. From 5 potential locations, we selected the village of Touih as the most appropriate place to start. 279 farmers were surveyed. We learned: The average farm in Touih produced 40% less than a normal farm; Farmers’ annual revenues averaged $1,500; and there was a strong positive correlation between a farmer’s economic performance and the use of child labor. We reviewed the survey results with the community leaders and together agreed to design solutions that could be supported through a 50/50 partnership model. New training was provided to 10 Coops to provide computer skills and business principles. 45 farmers were trained to keep track of data, creating a data set of 3,000 farmers and their crop yields. We analyzed the 24 farmers who had been trained using these new tracking tools. Their yield increased by 30% after our training! This increase allowed one farmer, Louis, to have enough extra profit to build a house for his family.
Women Economic Project (WEP)
Someone said, “If you educate a woman, you educate an entire community”. At WELL Africa, we share the same belief. We believe that building strong families, communities, and countries starts with women. We understand that women could be, if given the opportunity, the positive force that would help prevent, fight, and ultimately eliminate child labor. Our goals are to:
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Organize our target groups into cooperatives, so that they could gain control on the market price of the crop they produce.
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Help them understand the basics of supply and demand, so they can make farming and/or small business decisions accordingly.
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Teach crop diversification to ensure a constant flow of revenue for individual families
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Offer micro-loans that must be reimburse at 10% interest rate.