Community

Gender awareness in Kuapa aims to enhance the active and effective participation of women in decision making throughout the organisation. Measures have been introduced to ensure that a minimum number of members of the various councils and committees are women. Further special seminars and workshops are organised for women on a wide range of issues, for example nutrition, child care, health and credit facilities.

Kuapa has also supported income generating activities to supplement their incomes and to make them less dependent on their men as well as provide money for the family during the off season whilst the cocoa is growing. For example they have set up a project making soap from the potash produced from burnt cocoa husks. This soap is then sold, generating additional income from the waste cocoa materials. They have also provided women with machines for cracking palm kernels for cooking oil, this is far faster than the traditional method of using stones to crack the kernels.

Kuapa supports other community projects through the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’
Trust fund.

The Co-operative Group was one of the first major UK retailers to sell Fairtrade products and in 2002 converted all of its own brand chocolate to Fairtrade. All the cocoa was bought from Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana and processed through The Day Chocolate Company. This doubled the amount of Fairtrade chocolate in the UK overnight and demonstrated successful co-operation between the organisations.