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UNICEF Sahel Violent Extremism Risk Assessment
AdMERLConsult was contracted by the Institute for Intelligence and Strategic Security (IISS) as a consultant on the UNICEF Sahel Violent Extremism Risk Assessment Project. Under this partnership, AdmerlConsult provided data analysis services, supporting the evaluation of both household and institutional survey data. Our team played a key role in processing, analyzing, and interpreting the data, which contributed to the development of a comprehensive report aimed at informing strategic interventions and policy decisions in the Sahel region.
A Rapid Assessment on child labour and protection systems in cocoa-growing communities in Ashanti, Eastern and Western regions of Ghana.
Child labour remains a persistent challenge in Ghana’s cocoa-growing communities, affecting an estimated 1.56 million children across Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Despite sustained interventions, progress toward SDG 8.7 and Ghana’s Accelerated Action Plan Against Child Labour (2023–2027) has been constrained by weak coordination, limited funding, and low remediation coverage. This study examined the socioeconomic, gendered, cultural, and institutional drivers of child labour in selected communities in the Ashanti, Western, and Eastern Regions of Ghana.
Using a mixed-methods approach, the study collected quantitative data from 190 randomly selected households across five communities, complemented by key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Data analysis combined descriptive statistics with thematic analysis to capture household realities, gender dynamics, and institutional gaps shaping child labour practices.
Findings show that poverty, low cocoa productivity, high production costs, and limited alternative livelihoods are the primary drivers of child labour. Distinct gendered patterns persist: boys are more likely to engage in hazardous farm work and illegal mining, while girls are disproportionately involved in domestic labour and petty trading, exposing them to heightened risks of exploitation, early pregnancy, and school dropout. Although Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) and community-based protection structures exist, their effectiveness is limited by weak data systems, inadequate funding, poor coverage in remote areas, and fragmented stakeholder coordination. Access to education is generally available, but challenges related to quality, hidden costs, and student retention remain significant.
The study underscores the need for integrated, gender-responsive, and well-coordinated interventions. Key priorities include strengthening household livelihoods through farm rehabilitation and income diversification, scaling up gender-responsive programming for boys and girls, digitizing child labour data and follow-up systems, improving coordination among government, NGOs, cocoa companies, and communities, expanding education and school feeding support, and strengthening community-based child protection mechanisms. Addressing these priorities is critical to achieving sustainable reductions in child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector.