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Good practices of initiative:
Chocolate Island — Cocoa, Carbon and Community
Relevance
It measures the alignment of the initiative with existing policy frameworks in the country. In addition, the scalability of the initiative to other realities and geographies is valued.
| Marco | Description | Ambit | Country | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UN: Sustainable Development Goals | The project contributes to three SDGs with their respective specific targets. Regarding SDG 8 (target 8.3, formalization and growth of micro-enterprises and SMEs with access to financial services), it aims to formalize and strengthen the commercial capacity of producers. With respect to SDG 13 (target 13.b, effective management of climate change in small island developing states), the project evaluates carbon reduction and offsetting options in the cocoa value chain, developing carbon credit business models and carbon footprint audit protocols. Regarding SDG 15 (target 15.1, land degradation neutrality), the project promotes climate-smart agricultural practices, incorporating agroforestry systems with proven carbon sequestration potential. | Global | World (aggregate) | Link |
Eficacy
This measures how well the objectives and goals set out in the initiative were fulfilled, as well as the extent to which the results achieved are attributable to the actions implemented by the initiative.
| Indicator | Description | Indicator Type | Measure Unit | Base date | Base | Goal | Measure Date | Measure | Compliance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effectiveness | 01-11-2022 | 0 | 300 | 02-12-2024 | 44 | 14.7 | ||||
| Effectiveness | 01-12-2022 | 0 | 30 | 25-07-2023 | 30 | 100 | ||||
| Effectiveness | 01-11-2022 | 0 | 2 | 27-07-2023 | 8 | 400 | ||||
| Effectiveness | 01-11-2022 | N/A | 50% | 13-02-2024 | 53% | 100 | ||||
| Effectiveness | 01-11-2022 | 0 | 1 | 26-10-2024 | 1 | 100 |
Sustentaibility
It measures the installed capacities or actions identified to maintain or improve the results of the policy initiative.
| Indicator | Description | Indicator Type | Measure Unit | Base date | Base | Goal | Measure Date | Measure | Compliance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impact investment contracts executed with local organizations in the cocoa sector | The project incorporates two sustainability mechanisms: the integration of InvesTT as a strategic partner to institutionalize the C3 model in its future operations, and the creation of the C3 Impact Investment Fund to manage future capital investments. At the operational level, six public-university-business partnerships were identified to reduce investment risks in the cocoa ecosystem. | Sustainability | Number of investment contracts executed | 2022-12-12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | No | Link |
Learned lessons
Gained knowledge from implementing, evaluating, and managing a policy intervention, including why it was or was not effective and how it could be improved in the future.
| Lesson | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The labor shortage as a structural barrier to cocoa expansion can be addressed with delegated management | Cocoa farmers in Trinidad and Tobago identify labor shortages as one of the main obstacles to expanding production, a factor difficult to address directly through the project. However, the initiative found that almost all of the farmers surveyed were willing to hire a private company to manage their farms, leading to the development of the Cocoa Farm Management Co. model. This model incorporates workforce training from the Cocoa Research Centre and includes capital investment from the management company in the farms, aligning incentives between managers and investors. | Link |
| Public-university-private partnerships are key to reducing investment risks in the cocoa ecosystem | The project identified six public-university-private partnership models that address critical infrastructure and service gaps in the sector: Cocoa Farm Management Co., Cocoa Nursery, Anthurium Nursery, Biochar Services, Chocolate Factory, and Chocolate Island Shop. These partnerships are essential for attracting impact investments by reducing perceived investor risks and improving the internal rate of return (IRR) of coca projects. | Link |
| The lack of proven practices limits the adoption of the model by new players | One of the main external factors hindering the scalability of the Cocoa, Carbon and Community model is the lack of proven best practices that would allow clients, companies, and organizations to familiarize themselves with similar solutions. This suggests that systematizing and disseminating evidence of early results is essential to accelerating the model's adoption in other cocoa-growing contexts or territories in the Caribbean. | Link |