Empowering African Nations Since 1981
Empowering Cocoa Households with Opportunities and Educational Solutions
The ECHOES Alliance evolved out of a commitment by the World Cocoa Foundation and USAID to strengthen the capacity of cocoa farmers by promoting sustainable income and also to increase education opportunities for families to reduce the prevalence of child labor and to increase literacy levels. The Alliance has three components: basic education, youth livelihoods and innovative activities. The basic education component increases access to education for children through teacher training, functional literacy, resource centers, and developing education steering committees in cocoa farming communities. Under the youth livelihoods component, both in-school and out-of-school youth participate in vocational agriculture and youth leadership education projects. ECHOES' innovative activities include:
• Fostering relationships between students in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and the United States.
• Developing cocoa education models for use in Ivorian and Ghanaian primary and secondary schools.
• Providing family support scholarships to support children's education by enhancing the parents' income generating potential.
Activities under the basic education component are implemented by IFESH, those under the livelihoods component by Winrock International, and those under innovative activities by Winrock and Making Cents.
