Conceiving Partners
A shared value platform for sustainable cocoa supply chains.
The private sector is increasingly aware that sustainable production and community development need to be at the core of corporate sourcing strategy as well as day-to-day operations. Cocoa is one of the commodities that present a range of significant environmental and social sustainability challenges that could ultimately lead to disruption of global supply. However, not one company, and indeed, not one stakeholder linked to the cocoa value chain can solve these issues on their own.
The CHOCOTHON initiative aims to empower and connect cocoa farmers and create new opportunities for them and other value chain stakeholders in cocoa production and to reduce the supply disruption risks.
Based on the imperative that ‘true impact’ is only achieved through consensus, compromise and cooperation, Google Food Lab (GFL) in collaboration with the International Trade Center (ITC), the Future Food Institute, the Business School Lausanne decided to join forces with companies to empower and connect cocoa farmers through a shared value sustainable cocoa supply chain platform.
CHOCOTHON’s APPROACH
SHARE KNOWLEDGE
Organize crowdsourcing experiences, share technical expertise, and develop approaches to identifying and solving potential obstacles to achievement of the platform imperative: Shared value within sustainable cocoa supply chains.
Conferences, workshops and meetings will allow the exchange of ideas, identification of challenges as well as the coordination of development and implementation of solutions that will benefit the platform members.
CONNECT STAKEHOLDERS
Bring actors together using cutting edge technology, by developing global public online tools and offline solutions such as applications that tackle obstacles to connect upstream to downstream actors in the cocoa supply chain.
EMPOWER PRODUCERS
The voices of cocoa farmers need to be heard and their interests need to be taken into account. This is a key success factor for companies that wish to secure a network of technically knowledgeable and empowered farmers to supply them with sustainable cocoa. The platform will build trust among the cocoa supply chain by helping to identify suitable farmer profiles for sustainable cocoa production. It will also help farmers to tackle the problems they face by developing customized training and tools that contribute to solving the sustainability challenges they are experiencing.