Project Hope and Fairness
Improving Earning Opportunities for Cocoa Farmers
Fast Facts
Cote d’Ivoire
Don Maruska
2021, 2022-23, 2024, 2025
Job Training
How Project Hope and Fairness (PHF) Is Making a Difference
PHF works with cocoa farmers across West Africa to help them build their capabilities and assume a more productive role in the vertically integrated cocoa bean processing and chocolate-making industry.
PHF promotes acquisition of equipment and development of skills in marketing and performance tracking through targeted education, job training and entrepreneurship, all aimed at a bigger role in the cocoa value chain for the farmers. This multi-pronged approach is designed to generate higher profits that flow directly back to village cooperatives and increase standards of living.
What PHF Does
- Provides direct assistance through grants and in-kind contributions to promote sustainable farming practices and livelihoods for cocoa farmers.
- Builds facilities and purchases machinery to support improvements in chocolate making, including the establishment of a new chocolate production hub to gain efficiency in the chocolate bar-making process.
- Supports the development of international markets for chocolate products.
- Supports the improvement of cocoa bean quality to command higher prices.
- Educates chocolate consumers (especially Americans) about the realities of the world cocoa market and heightens sensitivity to the inequities suffered by African cocoa farmers.
Initiatives Supported by Project Redwood
2021: $30,000 to help fund machinery for two existing chocolate processing factories — first, a pulverizer to convert what is known as presscake into finished cocoa beverage mix, and second, a tempering machine to improve efficiency in chocolate bar-making.
2022-23: $30,000 to support the creation of a business plan; the documentation of production processes; and the purchase of existing equipment to set up a new chocolate production hub to streamline the production chain that processes harvested cocoa beans into retail-ready chocolate bars.
2024: $40,000 to support the purchase of equipment to expand facility capacity, support development of international markets, and improve cocoa bean quality to command higher prices.
2025: $30,000 to support PHF’s initiative, “Build Sustainable Chocolate Business Brand and Community Benefits,” which has been developed to fine-tune cocoa farmers’ marketing to gain profitable revenues, boost skills and procedures to track business performance, and provide additional targeted education and job training, leading to a more sustainable economic environment in the villages.