An innovative project involving institutions, businesses, and civil society has been launched, aimed at protecting girls, boys, and adolescents living in cocoa-growing communities in Ivory Coast. This program, the center of a multi-stakeholder partnership involving the Italian Development Cooperation, Save the Children, and Ferrero, will be implemented in the Haut Sassandra region and the Montagnes district.

The project, which will last until 2030, builds on and expands an existing program launched by the Organization in 2017 with the support of Ferrero, which will continue to finance the initiative through a public-private partnership. Furthermore, the project will benefit from funding from the Italian Cooperation Agency, following the selection process managed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Once the selection process was completed, the program was presented in Abidjan during the Italian Cooperation System's mission to West Africa in May 2025, led by Director General for Development Cooperation Stefano Gatti . Thanks to the funding provided by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AIC) and Ferrero's renewed support, the project has received a total funding of nearly €20 million. The program aims to strengthen the protection and respect for children's rights in cocoa-producing communities, implementing various actions to reduce risks and address the root causes of child labor, which are closely linked to socioeconomic vulnerability.

The project takes a holistic approach, involving governments and institutions, civil society, and businesses. Through the development of resilient and economically sustainable communities, it creates the conditions to protect children, providing them with access to education and basic health services, improving birth registration, ensuring livelihoods and nutrition, supporting communities and female entrepreneurship, and combating child labor.

True innovation lies in working with an integrated, systemic approach, both on the ground—connecting communities, families, suppliers, and local governments—and at the level of economic sustainability through private and institutional financing that can enable long-term, structural change.

Working in the cocoa supply chain, with corporate partners and local suppliers – who are directly involved in the process from the very beginning of the interventions – creates a powerful cross-fertilization of knowledge and skills between the public and private sectors, which multiplies the impact well beyond the initial investment and gradually transforms good practices into public policies.

Furthermore, this way, child protection measures are integrated into supply chain operations, ensuring that interventions reach the most vulnerable children, promote long-term sustainability, and can be replicated at scale. Finally, the intervention is based on performance indicators and evaluation systems to ensure concrete and lasting results.

"We have always believed in the importance of collaboration between public institutions, both nationally and internationally, civil society, and the private sector, leveraging the experience and expertise of each of these actors," explains Daniela Fatarella , Director General of Save the Children. "True change doesn't come from isolated actions, but from transformative and lasting alliances. That's why, at Save the Children, we believe this partnership gives meaning to the word investment: investing in the long term with cross-cutting actions, involving multiple stakeholders for lasting results."

"This project," Fatarella continues, "demonstrates how sustainable socioeconomic development in a country like Ivory Coast is possible thanks to the supply chain expertise of a company like Ferrero, the Italian cooperation strategy, which with adequate funding and Italy's commitment can create enabling conditions for development, and an organization like Save the Children, which has always been present in the area with expertise and professionalism. Multiple stakeholders, who together can achieve a result greater than the sum of its parts, becoming real agents of change."

"At Ferrero, respecting and promoting human rights are fundamental," adds Isabel Hochgesand , Global Chief Procurement Officer of the Alba (Cuneo)-based company. "These core principles are embedded in our sourcing practices, supporting the people and communities in our supply chain. This new phase of our collaboration with Save the Children and the Italian Cooperation represents an important step toward a more sustainable cocoa ecosystem. By working together along the entire cocoa supply chain, we aim to build a transparent, inclusive, and sustainable supply chain capable of generating a tangible impact for both communities and our business."