The FLA annually conducts independent assessments of a sample of each affiliated company’s supply chain. For Nestlé in Ivory Coast, the FLA has been monitoring since 2013 a growing portion of its cocoa supply served by the Nestlé Cocoa Plan (NCP). As of mid-2015, the NCP represented around 25 percent of Nestlé’s total cocoa supply chain.
From September to December of 2014, during the peak cocoa-harvesting season, the FLA conducted 13 unannounced independent external monitoring visits to four cooperatives in the Ivory Coast supplying to Nestlé via the NCP. The FLA selected these four cooperatives through a stratified random sampling taking into account criteria such as location, tier-1 suppliers sourcing from the cooperative, certification status, and involvement in Nestlé’s Child Labor Remediation and Monitoring System (CLRMS). A team consisting of trained external assessors conducted the visits in four different regions of the Ivory Coast visiting three to four communities in each of four locations: Aboisso, Divo, Guitry, and San Pedro.
The report summarizes the 2014 assessment findings, the company’s responses to the 2014 findings, and actions taken in 2014 in response to the 2013 assessments.
