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Corporate Social Responsibility
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10.31.2007 - 01:15pm ET
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Verite Selected For Key Role in Improving Labor Conditions in Cocoa Production
Bringing Together Industry, Governments, Nongovernmental Organizations, Unions and Academics to Create a Transparent, Effective and Credible Verification Process
(CSRwire) AMHERST, MA - October 31, 2007 - Verite, a worldwide NGO leader in
advancing sustainable business practices that promote just and humane
work, has been selected by the global cocoa industry to develop a
practical and independent approach to verifying and addressing labor
conditions in cocoa production in West Africa.
The Verite Road Map provide credibility to the measurement of labor
conditions on West African cocoa farms, ensure that any abusive labor
practices are effectively identified, and that instances of trafficking in
children are immediately addressed.
The Verite Road Map is collaborative and transparent, emphasizing a
strategic verification process leading to improved labor conditions in the
world's largest cocoa exporting countries of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.
Central to the Road Map is the establishment of an independent
Verification Board, convened by Verite that will facilitate cooperation
among the governments of cocoa producing countries; the Cocoa industry
itself; international and domestic NGOs; trade unions and academic
specialists.
"Verite's experience over the past decade makes it clear that complex
problems like labor conditions in cocoa farming can't be solved by
businesses, NGOs, trade unions or governments alone," said Dan Viederman,
Verite's Executive Director and winner of the Skoll Foundation Award for
Social Entrepreneurship in 2007. "As the architect and facilitator of the
Verification Process, we have designed a collaborative multi-stakeholder
process that will improve the lives of cocoa farmers and their families."
According to Bill Guyton, President of the World Cocoa Foundation, an
industry supported, non-profit organization playing a leading role in
facilitating public-private partnerships to benefit cocoa farming
communities around the world, "While much hard work remains, the
involvement of Verite has brought a tremendous amount of insight and
experience to the verification effort. And, it has yielded a way forward,
one that will deliver on the promise of credible, independent verification
for cocoa farming certification."
The findings from the Verification Process will be used to strengthen
survey methodologies used by the governments of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
and ensuing remediation activities, in the context of the Harkin-Engel
Protocol.
About Verite
Verite is a US-based nonprofit and award-winning pioneer in the social
auditing, training, research and consulting field. The organization has
over a decade of experience working with Fortune 500 corporations and
their local suppliers through our global network of NGO partners. Verite
works in over 60 countries to empower companies, factories, NGOs,
governments, and workers to create sustainable workplace practices in the
factories and communities where our consumer goods are made. For more
information on Verite, go to www.verite.org.
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