The work of the WNCB partners in Côte d’Ivoire is work in progress. From 2018 they have worked together with different successful strategies that fit within the context of the cocoa supply chain and that led to changes. And at the same time, they continuously need to adapt these strategies and respond to (new) challenges. 

Continuing community engagement 

Awareness-raising and norms change around children’s rights and protection, and supporting communities to organise themselves to become functional in addressing children’s vulnerabilities remains key. This includes ensuring that child ‎protection cases are ‎identified and referred ‎to by strengthening child ‎protection systems and ‎structures, and that community-based child protection ‎mechanisms and structures ensure outreach to ‎out-of-school and working children and link ‎them to services, including education. 

Next steps will be to establish community feedback mechanisms & ‎monitoring systems, and to set up activities to improve the financial ‎situation of the most ‎vulnerable families through income generating activities and VSLAs. 

Strengthen access to quality education 

Improving access to ‎quality education ‎through collaboration ‎with governments, ‎schools, parents, and by ‎setting up bridge schools that ‎support children to ‎access formal education will be continued. Also, teacher training ‎to improve child-friendly teaching methods ‎and tools in schools, including a gender ‎transformative approach, will be continued. 

Further engagement with governments 

Engagement at national and district level ‎engagement will continue to handover bridge schools, establish formal government schools and to develop the capacity of teachers and education ‎officials in tracking, referral of children in ‎school for increased retention. 

Expand working with private sector

The partners will follow up on advocating for supply ‎chain transparency, ‎leading to awareness ‎and action on the part of ‎the private sector, continue with CRBP trainings for the private ‎sector (both formal and informal), and ‎implement and guide the community action ‎plan to eliminate child labour & promote child ‎rights.