CARE and The Hershey Company have been partnering in the cocoa supply chain since 2019 to empower cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire. In 2023, CARE and Hershey announced a new multi-stakeholder initiative to support increased income for cocoa farming households in Côte d’Ivoire, as part of Hershey’s five-year Hershey’s Income Accelerator (HIAP) Program. Designed and implemented in partnership with CARE, the Conseil du Café-Cacao, Rainforest Alliance, and PUR, HIAP aims to support cocoa farming households through cash transfers (CTs), Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), skills building, community development, and entrepreneurship. The Income Accelerator offers a proven, multi-faceted approach to help address poverty among cocoa farmers while supporting sustainable farming practices and mitigating the risk of child labor.
CARE and Hershey’s partnership will support program participants in developing income diversification activities, tapping into new markets, and pursuing entrepreneurship pathways. This will include reducing gendered barriers to participation, thereby increasing household income and resilience. Our partnership aims to strengthen approximately 200 existing VSLAs in Hershey’s supply chain and establish another 350 new ones. These 550 VSLAs will support an estimated 15,000 members and their families. Finally, using the platform and cohesion created by VSLAs as an entry point, CARE will deploy interventions to increase community access to essential healthcare, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, and social protection systems. Overall, the HIAP program seeks to positively impact 20,000 households in and around Hershey’s cocoa supply chain, while driving greater supply chain resilience.