Engagements with other commodities and multistakeholder initiatives
Engagement and collaboration with other commodities and multistakeholder initiatives constitute a crucial element of the ECLT Foundation’s strategy to secure the resources required for accelerating action toward the elimination of child labour in tobacco-growing and agriculture at large. These engagements are strategically designed to cultivate trust and foster sustained collaboration across various commodities and multistakeholder initiatives over the long term.
Engagement with the International Cocoa Initiative
The ECLT Foundation continues to consult and work closely with International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). In 2023, ECLT and ICI engaged on two initiatives.
First, ECLT Foundation reached out to ICI to learn more about its current business model, its advantages, and disadvantages. From this exchange, ECLT Foundation reviewed and refined its business model, proposing variable and fixed funding options, funding criteria and minimum conditions. The resultant new business model for ECLT Foundation was finalized and implemented in 2023.
Second, the ECLT Foundation was invited to attend an ICI event titled ‘ICI Learning event: Measuring child labour and forced labour in cocoa’. The event facilitated the sharing of experiences, internationally agreed standards and guidance, recent research and learning on measurement of child labour and forced labour.
ECLT and ICI are in continuous exchange of best practices, information, and expertise from the specific regions where they operate.
Engagement with the Better Cotton Initiative
The ECLT Foundation re-ignited engagement with Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) on two initiatives in 2023.
First, following the International Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Durban, the ECLT Foundation engaged BCI as part of efforts to discuss opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration towards the elimination of child labour in agriculture. The result of this engagement was a commitment to work together, provided more global agencies could be brought on board.
Second, the ECLT Foundation reviewed, provided input and feedback for the Better Cotton Initiative’s ‘Global Guidance on Child Labour’. This guidance is intended to support the implementation of the BCI standard, while improving the understanding of child work and child labour, promoting effective systems to identify and respond to risks and incidents, and integrating a gender perspective.
BCI is in talks with ECLT to be the main speaker at a webinar on Decent Work best practices in Q1 2024.