Desmet, CarlosDendoncker, CharlotteCharlotteDendonckerBlavier, AliciaAliciaBlavier2025-05-142025-05-142025-05-142019https://hdl.handle.net/2078.2/12819Chocolate products are part of our daily life. But behind the sweet taste of chocolate hides a scary reality. Today in West Africa, millions of children are working in illegal conditions in the cacao industry and the average cocoa farmer working in Côte d’Ivoire earns an amount far below the poverty line. West Africa cocoa sector is at the focus of every article and documentary on television. They talk about child labour, slavery, illegal plantations, deforestation and extreme poverty. In order to tackle this question about human rights and the supply chain of the cocoa sector, we followed a specific strategy. Recently, this thematic of human rights in West Africa was highlighted by the media and actors involved in the sector began to work on the subject by delivering reports with real facts and figures. We began to read and analyse reports that have been made on the subject in order to gather the information already known and have a better overview on how the industry is working. After that, we started to contact many actors from the cocoa sector, from large multinationals to NGOs, passing by smaller chocolate makers. We managed to conduct several interviews with actors of different sizes, roles and financial means: from an industrial company, a certification body, a trading company to a little Belgian chocolatier. The concept of living income often came out and it became obvious to us that the main issue of this sector was the extremely low income received by the cocoa farmers. We decided then to focus on this topic and think about how this living income could be obtained. We answered this question by using all the already made reports and studies on the subject and the advices of all the people whom we interviewed to highlight what is already in place regarding how to reach the living income. After that, we conducted our own analysis regarding the different solutions that we have listed to establish their impact in time and see what is possible to do, who is responsible and have the means to make things change for a better future at the beginning of the cocoa value chain. All along this work, it became obvious to us that the solution is multifactorial. Every actor taking part of the cocoa value chain must take actions to make things move. Each action of each actor will have its cost and its impact in time. However, the key to see the impact of all the measures and projects done by the industry is the positive reaction of the customer in terms of purchasing behavior.cocoaHuman RightsPovertyLiving IncomeSolutionstext::thesis::master thesisthesis:19110