CAOBISCO Press Release

Norway: $100,000 per year to ECHOES for 2010 and 2011

Added: 17 April 2009

The Norwegian Association of Chocolate Manufacturers (NACM) has committed a further two years of funding for World Cocoa Foundation/Winrock programme ECHOES1 , and raised the contribution from currently USD 75,000 to USD 100,000 per year.

The add-on funding will provide family support scholarships in Côte d’Ivoire. It will impact individuals, community development, and long-term solutions for students. The two-year program will focus on providing family support scholarships to primary and secondary school students in up to three ECHOES cocoa-growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire.

The Winrock component of the World Cocoa Foundation’s ECHOES programme assists cocoa-growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire by offering young people; predominately age 10-30, leadership and agricultural vocational education. The overall objective of the Winrock component of ECHOES is to improve the relevancy and quality of education for children and youth in cocoa-growing communities. By offering timely, relevant education, we support a new generation of farmers who can make cocoa-growing a much more equitable and profitable sector. The program improves quality, safe access and relevance in schools, and contributes to increased school enrolments, retention, and future work opportunities for this new generation of farmers.

NACM is impressed with the work of Winrock and World Cocoa Foundation, the cooperation between Winrock, IFESH, ICI and Making Cents, and the results of ECHOES. We will especially highlight the sustainability of the project. NACM would like to see an extension of the project to new areas and villages, and do challenge more federations and companies to support the project.

For more information, contact

Dag Kjetil Øyna
DKO@nhomd.no
Cell: +47913 69 561