Global Voices Information Sheet

Chocolates bitter truth: fair trade and the cocoa supply chain

A farmer holds a basket of cocoa pods

Background Info Each year, consumers around the world spend more than $7 billion on chocolate, and eat about 3.5 kilograms per person. Chocolates main ingredient is cocoa, which grows on trees in hot, rainy environments near the equator. The largest cocoa producing countries are Ghana and the Ivory Coast in West Africa. Typically, cocoa is grown on small family farms where income is very low. Since cocoa grows in poor countries, poverty and other conflicts like civil war worsen the problem of child labour because the cycle of poverty continues. Farmers employ children for cheap labour, or do not pay them any wages at all. Between 2007 and 2008 its estimated that 819,921 children were working on cocoa production in the Ivory Coast alone. By the time chocolate gets to the store, it has moved through a long and complex supply chain of farmers, traders, exporters, manufacturers and distributors. Chocolate companies, like Hershey, often dont purchase cocoa directly from farmers, and so tracing the cocoa back to its source is difficult. Fairtrade certification allows consumers to make ethical choices because they can buy chocolate with Fairtrade labels and know that child labour was not used.

Key terms Child labourwork that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) which restricts or damages a child's physical, emotional, intellectual, social and/or spiritual growth. INTERPOLthe international police organization, an association of national police forces that investigate international crimes. Fairtradean official, international certification system that ensures farmers are paid fair wages, child labour is not used in production and certain environmental standards are met. Chocolate companies using Fairtrade cocoa have Fairtrade symbols on their chocolate bars. Fair Traderefers to the broader concept of fairness in the market place, or to other certification systems, including UTZ Certified, Rainforest Alliance and Certified Organic. Consumer demandpatterns of buying behavior that can affect decision-making in large companies.

Global Voices Elementary Educator Resources

Note to Educators:
The following activities are designed to stimulate a current events discussion. Generative in nature, these questions can be a launching point for additional assignments or research projects. Teachers are encouraged to adapt these activities to meet the contextual needs of their classroom. In some cases, reading the article with students may be appropriate, coupled with reviewing the information sheet to further explore the concepts and contexts being discussed. From here, teachers can select from the questions provided below. Activities are structured to introduce students to the issues, then allow them to explore and apply their learnings. Extension and conclusion activities are included to challenge students and finally, encourage them to reflect on the issues at hand. Since these activities are designed as discussions rather than formal lessons, assessment strategies are not included.

Themes and Course Connections

Themes: child labour, fair trade, and consumerism. Course Connections: Language, Science and Technology, and Social Studies.

Materials
Chart paper or blackboard Global Voices column

Specific Expectations and Learning Goals

Students will: Develop and express responses to issues and problems. Reassess their responses to issues on the basis of new information. Participate in active group work and class discussions. Communicate effectively in written and spoken language or other forms of expression. Demonstrate the ability to think critically. Develop, express, and defend a position on an issue and explain how to put the ideas into action.

Knowledge and Understanding

1. Chocolate (estimated time: 15 minutes) a. Ask students to describe chocolate. Write all descriptive words on the board b. Watch the following video on the chocolate industry and child labour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y882AajKo1s c. After watching the video, ask children to describe chocolate again. Write descriptive words on the board. d. Explain to students that there are ways that they can be sure they are not purchasing chocolate at the cost of the health and safety of children overseas in places like the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Tell students that these are the issues they will be discussing today in this Global Voices lesson.

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Thinking
1. Guided Reading: The Global Voices Column (estimated time: 20 minutes) a. Have students sit in a circle and distribute one copy of the Global Voices column to each student. b. Pre-reading steps: i. Make predictions: ask students to read the title of the column and view the pictures. After doing so, ask them to make predictions as to what the column is going to be about. ii. Introduce vocabulary: iii. Assess prior knowledge: ask students to discuss what they already know about these topics. c. Reading steps: i. Go around the circle and have each student read a section of the column to the class, so that everyone gets a turn to read. ii. As students are reading, offer guidance and coaching by providing prompts, asking questions, and encouraging attempts at reading strategy application. d. Post reading steps: i. Encourage students to provide a summary of the column in order to ensure they have understood the series of events. ii. Ask questions about the text to judge comprehension.

2. Media Literacy (estimated time:15 minutes) a. On a piece of paper ask each student to write the title of the column at the top of the page. Underneath the heading, have them create a chart with two columns across and five rows down. b. In the first column, have them write the following questions: i. What is the title of this column? ii. Who is the author? iii. What is the purpose of the column? iv. What statistics or facts are listed in the column? v. Are there biases or obvious points of view? c. Have the students revisit the Global Voices column and fill in the chart answering the above questions. d. Discuss the students charts as a class. Address the reasons why it is important to understand the source and potential bias of a website or print resource offering news information. Explain that just because a source has a bias doesnt mean it has no value. One of the traditional purposes of publications is to express opinions and attempt to convince readers of their validity. Explain that this is why its important for each of them to form their own opinion while reading publications instead of agreeing with everything.

Communication
1. We Want More from our Smores (estimated time: continuous project) a. Watch the following video by Global Exchange to explain the We Want More from our Smores campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRzbjdBENoM&feature=player_embedded b. Explain to students that this group of youth is taking a stand against poverty and child labour by supporting fair trade products. c. Over the next week, when students are out with their parents, ask them to explore their community (grocery stores, shops, coffee shops, etc.) to find fair trade products (encourage them to ask for their parents help with this task). As they find these products ask them to record the name of the products along with where they found them (i.e. name of store, coffee shops etc.).

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d. When students return to class, they must report their findings to their teacher and the rest of the class. Eventually the class will have a list of fair trade products that they can purchase in their neighbourhood.

Application
1. Fair Trade Reflection (estimated time: 15 minutes) a. Ask students to write a reflection about fair trade and what they learned during the course of this lesson. b. At the end of their reflection ask them to write two points on how they are going to commit to buying fair trade products.

Additional Resources
In addition to the above lesson plans, you may want to share some additional resources with your students. Listed below are some links to useful online resources: Me to We http://www.metowe.com/our-story/ Global Exchange - http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/smoresproject.html Fair Trade - http://www.fairtrade.net/ Rainforest Alliance - http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/ Utz - http://www.utzsnacks.com/

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