Cadbury, UNDP Team Up For Sustainable Cocoa Farming
So…who had chocolate this past Valentine’s Day? Here is a cool article on how global partnerships better the livelihood of cocoa farmers so that the decadent treats can continue to win our hearts over year after year:
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Accra - Which ever way you eat yours, the next time you sink your teeth into a Cadbury’s Cream Egg be assured that a local Ghanaian cocoa farmer will be taking home a bite of the profits. Cadbury, the world’s leading confectionery company, announced in Accra, Ghana, today the establishment of the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ghanaian Government and other partners, in an initiative designed to secure the sustainable livelihoods of a million farmers in cocoa-growing communities across Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean.Cadbury is to invest seed funding of US$2 million (£1 million) in 2008 to establish the Partnership, with annual funding levels rising to US$10 million (£5 million) by 2010. Seventy percent of the funds will be invested in small farming communities in Ghana, which provides the cocoa beans for Cadbury’s UK chocolate including Cadbury Dairy Milk, Wispa, Flake, Creme Egg and Buttons. The announcement marks the centenary of Cadbury Brothers’ trading partnership with Ghana.
With current cocoa yields hitting only 40 percent of their potential in the African country, the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership is designed to improve the income of cocoa farmers by helping them increase their yields and produce top quality beans, introduce new sources of rural income through microfinance and business support, and invest in community-led development from schools and libraries to biodiversity protection projects and wells for clean water.
The pioneering public-private model will be led from the grassroots up, with farmers, non-governmental organisations, governments and international agencies including the United Nations working together to determine how best to spend the money and turn plans into sustainable action.
Announcing the partnership, Matt Shattock, President of Cadbury Britain, Ireland, the Middle East and Africa, said: “Sustainable cocoa production is vital to Cadbury’s commercial success: not simply the supply of our most important ingredient, but guaranteeing a reliable, long term source of the right quality cocoa, produced to the high standards our business, customers and our consumers expect.”
With its development expertise and longstanding experience of working with partners in Ghana, UNDP will help to maximize the effectiveness of Cadbury’s investments over the next 10 years.
Welcoming the initiative, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Ghana, Daouda Touré, said: “UNDP strives to promote inclusive, sustainable development, where everyone benefits as a country gets to grips with fighting poverty. With this new win-win approach developed with Cadbury, where both the small producer and the consumer benefit, we hope to show just how effectively sustainable cocoa production can be in generating improved opportunities for local farmers, conserving the environment and building a brighter future for younger generations.”
James Boateng, Managing Director of Cadbury Ghana, added: “In the centenary of our relationship with the cocoa farming industry in Ghana, we are incredibly proud to launch the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership in Accra today which we hope will have a lasting impact on the lives of cocoa farmers.”
“I grew up on a cocoa farm, and owe my education to the prosperity which cocoa brought to my family, and look forward to contributing to the future of cocoa farming. In Ghana there is a phrase ‘Coco obatanpa’ which means ‘Cocoa is a good parent; it looks after you.’ We hope with this initiative Cadbury and our partners can be a good parent to cocoa.”
http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2008/january/cadbury-undp-ghana-20080128.en
February 28th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
With President Shattock of Cadbury, Inc. announcing the thrilling news of a global partnership between the struggling republic of Ghana and the established corporation of Cadbury, it is only a matter of time before several others follow the footsteps of great leaders of companies and nations alike and utilize the vast benefits of mutual partnerships. The fact of the matter simply is that global partnerships provide dependable assistance for developing nations and ultimately offer an immediate boost for flailing economies of these countries. It as well concurrently concerns itself with issues such as the eradication of ever growing foreign national debt, the facilitation of providing medical technology, drugs, and health care for citizens, and the advancement in quality of work among the youth. Such vast adaptability has presented an idealistic perspective on restoring recognition and encouraging expansion for developing nations on the international spectrum, and at the rate of the program’s development, many expect to observe the exodus of developing nations from a sea of ponderous debt to international prominence by the year 2020.
Ultimately, the only manner in which we as a society may function with prosperity is through communication and social and economical reliability provided through the safeguards of established international relations. For this China has long advocated the necessity for a strong union between not only economically differentiating nations, but as well between nations that possess similar aspirations and interdependent relations. Global partnerships, in this sense, have the volatile potential to not only provide access for developing nations to the funds and resources to ultimately display growth on the international spectrum, but as well to provide a common cause for developed nations to facilitate the gradual growth of developing nations.
That being said, it is no secret that China actively participates in numerous international partnerships that involve the fostering of a lesser developed nation, and in no way would we assume the value of global partnership as a medium for exploitation and manipulation. Along with other nations such as Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa, we have jointly expressed a policy that shares common objectives and goals with these four rapidly growing nations, which is “to increase the say of developing nations in the global forums and work to establish a new global partnership for development based on equality and mutual benefit.”, as quoted by Chinese president Hu Jintao.
The most prominent of our global partnerships with a developing country is with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in which in recent history we have established a “firm, smooth, and steady developing relationship” with the developing nation. In the past 35 years, we have instituted over 30 joint ventures in Nigeria (all for the sake of public and social services that are in dire need, such as the rehabilitation of railways and public education) and we have as well signed a number of agreements on trade, economic and technical cooperation, scientific and technological cooperation, as well as an agreement on investment protection.
However, this is not to imply that we believe the institution of mutual international relations is absolutely flawless: in many ways, as the Jubilee USA Network (an international association for the promotion of developing nations) has noted, the program lacks a broad administration policy that ensures the apt utilization of precious funds for the purpose of expansion and development. To guarantee such, the introduction of a sub-organ of the United Nations Development Program might be necessary in order to more closely scrutinize the hand to hand execution of monetary matters in global partnerships. Even further, we must examine the considerable debt (mostly foreign and national) that these developing nations face. Many have considered the reduction of import tariffs and the partial cancellation of debt a viable solution, but following such action the investment of developed nations and corporations becomes obsolete, and this issue may scare off potential investors and developed nations. Considering these issues in debate is essential to the expansion of global partnerships, and China strongly believes that until we are able to take significant strides in providing solutions to the issues of administration policy, tariffs, and manipulation, the incompetence that plagues the program will continue to arrest the development of these disadvantaged nations and the global community at large.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Seeing that global partnership can be brought through a companies investment, Germany believes that we can achieve global partnerships through NGO’s, corporations, and etc. Germany believes that we should not be limiting ourselves to just the political aspect of global partnership. We believe that these partnerships should be built upon idea the betterment of BOTH countries. Many times partnerships are created in a very self-interest manner which brings chaos to the partnership. Germany sees that we as the UN must first come to the agreements acknowledging the others culture, borders, and needs. Then move on in making new global partnerships that will last.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:50 am
South Africa, as a leader on the African continent, wishes to raise some of the concerns of developing African nations. In contrast to China’s idealistic view of global partnerships, South Africa feels that global development partnerships are plagued with inefficiencies and harmful practices. The primary concern of developing nations is that there is no reliable and widely agreed upon framework for establishing and implementing global partnerships for development that are mutually beneficial. As China advocated, the introduction of a sub-organ of the UNDP that would monitor global partnerships would be beneficial in this regard, and could also serve to establish a much-needed framework for global development partnerships. South Africa would draw attention to the Monterrey Consensus, which established a landmark framework for global development partnerships. It has yet to be widely implemented and followed; this could indeed be the framework global partnerships need to realize their potential as the most important development tool. Without such a framework, developing nations are often harmed by partnerships, especially those that encompass trade relationships. When unequal economies are partnered together in so-called partnerships for development, the fragile markets of developing nations are often inundated with cheap goods, destroying fledgling industries. Finally, South Africa emphasizes the need for country-ownership of the development process; all relevant stakeholders should have a voice in partnership negotiations, including the public, civil society and non-governmental organizations, and spokespersons for the industries affected. Cadbury and Ghana are to be congratulated on encouraging this in their partnership as it will be led by the farmers, NGOs and assisted by the UN to mutually determine best practices.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Of course possessing an entirely optimistic outlook on the future of global partnerships is a little naive; there is no doubt that the program is flawed. Emphasizing South Africa’s point, the manipulation and incompetence that is heavily implicated by the loose framework is one of the major points to consider, and, as we proposed, China would endorse any sub-organ of the United Nations Development Program to be introduced for further examination and consideration of the questionable tactics used in the process.
However there is also no denying the promise of financial, economical, social, and political stability in using the global partnerships program for its benefits. It’s evident even the African nations, as South Africa has mentioned, where the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) has provided an integrated socio-economic development partnership for Africa. Instituted by the African Union (and headed by South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Algeria, and Egypt), NEPAD has already gone to work, proposing the construction what would be the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, one that would significantly boost the economic and social status of the African nations. It would as well provide much-needed energy at a comparatively low input cost, and has already gained the trust and funding from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the European Investment Bank. Such progress is much needed on the African continent, and as aforementioned China has as well taken great involvement with Nigeria to establish a global partnership for mutual benefits.
Another issue to consider is the meeting mechanisms involved with global partnerships, in the sense that several nations believe that much of the depravity that is encountered with the system is due to the lack of consistent summits on the issue. President Jintao of our Chinese Republic has stated in the past that if we are able to improve meeting mechanisms by increasing the number of conferences held, while still maintaining productive and orderly progress, that we may be able to take great strides towards the gradual and systematic revival of the program.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Ghana called upon Cadbury to “also invest in processing cocoa beans in the West African country” so that they know that “the partnership is not limited to the farmer alone.” (Ghanaian President Kufor).
Ghana’s next generation do not want to become farmers, but would rather work in the oil industry because it provides a better profit. The oil companies in Ghana are becoming more developed because Norway has agreed to help finance Ghana’s developing oil industry. It is going to provide experts and technical resources.
Both of these are examples of what developing countries should do to help themselves become more developed. The profits made by oil exports will boost the infrastructure and that will make the transportation of goods in and out of the country easier. And with Cadbury, Ghana is ensuring that its economy is not completely dependent on the success of just Cadbury. Ghana is ensuring that if Cadbury were to fail or if the company were to end the agreement with the country, that Ghana would have some way of exporting its chocolate.