KIT
Living Income

Living Income

Living Income Benchmark for the Eastern Province and Living Income Reference Price for the cocoa sector in Sierra Leone (2024)
- Institute
- Publication
This study, commissioned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as part of its effort to support the cocoa sector in Sierra Leone, compute two important indicators: the Living Income Benchmark (LIB) for the cocoa-growing areas located in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone and the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP) for the cocoa sector. To bridge […]

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Understanding Smallholder Inclusion Efforts of the Private Sector
- Institute
- Publication
Large (buying) companies in global value chains are increasingly seeking to integrate smallholder farmers into their supply chains. Accordingly, they have developed programs to promote smallholder inclusion through productivity growth, market access, quality improvement, and other initiatives. The complexity of these initiatives highlights the need for a deeper understanding of smallholder inclusion models, applying both […]

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How to accelerate South Sudan’s transitionfrom seed aid to seed market?
- Institute
- Publication
This policy brief outlines practical recommendations aimed at accelerating the transition of South Sudan’s seed sector from reliance on seed aid, or free seeds distributed by humanitarian agencies, towards the development of a viable, inclusive and sustainable seed market.

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KIT Cocoa Living Income Questionnaire
- Institute
- Project
KIT Institute has for long been at the forefront of living income research in the cocoa sector. Our experts have actively contributed to the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP) and the Alliance on Living Income in Cocoa (ALICO), developing several tools and guidance documents for measuring the incomes of smallholder cocoa producers and evaluating […]

Read more : KIT Cocoa Living Income Questionnaire
Nestlé Income Accelerator Program: Progress Report of the Test-at-Scale Phase
- Institute
- Publication
In 2022, Nestlé launched the Income Accelerator Program in Côte d’Ivoire as part of their ambition to help close the Living Income (LI) gap in their cocoa supply chain and combat the root causes of child labour risks. The current test-at-scale phase involves 10,000 farming households in Côte d’Ivoire, following a previous one-year piloting period among 1,000 farming households. These […]

Read more : Nestlé Income Accelerator Program: Progress Report of the Test-at-Scale Phase
Cocoa Household Income Study (CHIS) Methodology
- Institute
- Publication
The cocoa sector has been working to deliver living incomes for cocoa farming households since 2015, but learning at the sector level aimed at achieving living incomes has been hampered by challenges in data collection and sharing. To address these challenges and to inform policy and strategy design and delivery with a focus on impact […]

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Towards more effective ways to address child labour in the cocoa sector
- Institute
- Project
Child labour remains a persistent human rights violation in the cocoa sector, impacting children’s physical and mental health while depriving them of educational opportunities. The cocoa sector is increasingly responding to this issue by implementing innovative programmes, targeting the root causes of child labour, such as poverty and a lack of access to quality education. […]

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The potential of landscape approaches for addressing child labour in sustainability programmes in the cocoa sector
- Institute
- Project
KIT Institute is working with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) to map the initiatives that have taken measures to address child labour in West Africa using a landscape, or an area-based, approach. A landscape approach A landscape approach in a programme is a holistic strategy that addresses complex issues by involving all the stakeholders, recognising […]

Read more : The potential of landscape approaches for addressing child labour in sustainability programmes in the cocoa sector
Nestlé Income Accelerator Programme (IAP)
- Institute
- Project
This innovative intervention aims to tackle child labour, decrease poverty, promote diversification and push for more gender equality. The Income Accelerator Programme (IAP) is a four-year program initiated by Nestlé and six of their traders aimed at increasing the income levels of 10,000 cocoa farming households in Côte d’Ivoire while reducing the prevalence and risk of […]

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Evaluation of the IDH Cocoa Origins Program
- Institute
- Project
In 2010, the Dutch Government and cocoa and chocolate sector initially committed to reach 100% sustainable cocoa consumption in the Dutch market by 2025. The Dutch Initiative for Sustainable Cocoa expanded on these ambitions in 2020. The Cocoa Origins Program supported companies that use small and medium quantities of cocoa and supply the Dutch consumer market, […]

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A living income for coffee farmers in Guji, Ethiopia
- Institute
- Project
Until 2021, there was no research available on the income levels of Guji coffee farmers, and no living income benchmark had been established. In a multi-year programme Fairfood is working with Trabocca, a Dutch specialty coffee trader, to bring 300 coffee farmers in Guji Ethiopia to a living income. In the design phase, KIT was […]

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A machine learning tool to estimate net annual income of cocoa and coffee farming households
- Institute
- Project
What is the income of farming households and does it afford a decent living standard? This is a key question to answer in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of interventions seeking to improve livelihoods of farmers at the starting points of global supply chains such as cocoa and coffee. The answer requires primary data collection […]

Read more : A machine learning tool to estimate net annual income of cocoa and coffee farming households