1st Meeting of the Technical Secretariat of the Sustainable Cocoa Committee in Yaoundé

Following The adoption of the National Action Plan (NAP) 2023-2025 of the Sustainable Cocoa Committee, The NCCB participated in the very first meeting of the technical secretariat of the Sustainable Cocoa Committee on Friday 26th of July 2024 as part of the "Roadmap to Deforestation-free Cocoa" initiative which unites Government, public and private sector players, national and international civil society organizations, farmer organizations, research institutions, development partners and other stakeholders in Cameroon and at the global level with a single objective to end cocoa-related deforestation in Cameroon. 

The Roadmap to Deforestation-free Cocoa is a public, private, civil society partnership that aims to end cocoa-related deforestation in Cameroon. It builds on the Cocoa & Forests Initiative’s Statement of Intent signed by the industry in 2017, through which companies committed to working together, pre competitively, to end deforestation and forest degradation in the cocoa supply chain.

The Roadmap will help create a competitive advantage for Cameroonian cocoa in the global market, help coordinate public-private-civil society efforts to achieve higher and more stable cocoa quality and promote greater cocoa sustainability by promoting cocoa agroforestry.

The meeting which held at the Centre spirituel St Jean XXIII in Mvolye, Yaoundé brought together members of the technical secretariat and representatives from the IDH, NCCB, MINADER and MINCOMMERCE had as key objective to examine the Committee's communication strategy, and to update the list of members of the Committee's five thematic working groups.

Considering that most of the activities in the NAP 2023-2025 are already being implemented, the committee sought to create strategies that promote ownership of the NAP by all stakeholders in the cocoa chain and ensures all stakeholders are kept informed of progress and interventions of the implementing agencies.