Exploring the Role of Local Agriculture-Based Civil Society Organisations in Addressing Child Trafficking in Ghana's Cocoa Industry: A Qualitative Case Study

Author: Mensah-Apenteng, Stephen & Miles, Glenn

Abstract: This bounded qualitative case study explores the contributions and constraints of local agriculture-based Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in addressing child trafficking-related vulnerabilities within Ghana's cocoa sector in the Ashanti Region. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 participants--10 cocoa farmers, 8 government officials and 2 CSO actors--the study examines CSO interventions, operational challenges and strategies for improving community-level child protection. The findings indicate that local CSOs contribute to victim identification, referral support, rescue coordination, community sensitisation, policy advocacy and household-level economic empowerment. However, their effectiveness is constrained by funding instability, institutional marginalisation, weak state collaboration, geographical isolation and the difficulty of sustaining long-term support. Migration Theory and Vulnerability Theory are used to explain how poverty, unsafe movement, livelihood insecurity and institutional fragility increase children's exposure to exploitation despite existing legal and policy frameworks. The study identifies five strategies for strengthening CSO effectiveness: sustainable funding mechanisms, clearer institutional collaboration, culturally sensitive behaviour-change programmes, legal and administrative safeguards for CSO actors, and capacity building through training and digital resources. Although the small CSO sample limits statistical generalisation, triangulation across farmers, officials and CSO actors strengthens the credibility of the findings and supports analytical transferability to comparable cocoa-growing and rural child-protection contexts. The study contributes to policy debates on ethical cocoa production, grassroots civil society, and the implementation gap between national anti-trafficking policy and community-level protection practice in agricultural supply chains.

Keywords: child trafficking, civil society organizations, cocoa industry, Ghana, qualitative case study