Impact and achievements

1. Global Collaboration

An informed global civil society is the key of our work. Over the past fifteen years, we have grown from a network of 7 organizations primarily based in Europe to a large and diverse global coalition of around 30 members. We’ve reached a far more significant impact and recognition by bridging CSOs in the Global North and the Global South and making them more united, aligned, and visible. Learn about the coalition here.

2. Independent research

We have released 21 publications that have become essential pieces in advocacy and have become key drivers in sustainability discussions, including our flagship publication, the Cocoa Barometer. Our publications have helped shift the narrative in cocoa to emphasize living income rather than solely focusing on child labour or increasing yields.

3. Effective advocacy

Leveraging our network and publications, VOICE engages with the sector through cutting-edge advocacy and policy influencing.

For more details, check our annual reports.

Published every two to three years since 2008, the Cocoa Barometer has cemented itself as the definitive benchmark for sustainability progress in the cocoa sector. Beyond being a research tool, it serves as a catalyst for coordinated advocacy, ensuring that civil society and industry actors align on key messages and priorities.

“The Cocoa Barometer is perhaps the single biggest contribution [of the VOICE network]. More generally, the willingness of the VOICE Network to engage in constructive dialogue with industry has contributed in immeasurable ways to advancing the broader sustainable cocoa agenda.” Response from a large chocolate company to our 2024 stakeholder impact survey.

Sector-wide conversations on purchasing practices and farm gate prices have been strongly influenced by sustained pressure from our work, including advocacy work, the Cocoa Barometers, and our Living Income campaigns.

Our Living Income Workshop Series brought together farmers, CSOs, and industry leaders to co-develop strategies for achieving living incomes, leading to greater alignment on policy asks and implementation frameworks. We are also active in the Living Income Community of Practice and are providing input and advice on general strategies of this cross-commodity multi-stakeholder platform.

That said, recognition alone is not enough—we’ll keep pushing for this to translate into meaningful progress on the ground.

One of our continued priorities has been to ground our work on the realities of origin nations.

Through the coordination of the network, we create spaces where civil society from producing and consuming countries can exchange information and reinforce each other.

Additionally, we continuously advocate for a strong presence of our colleagues from producing countries in international meetings and in global initiatives on cocoa. It is time for rightsholders to be at the negotiating table, and we’re seeing improvements in terms of participation compared with prior years (though there’s still some way to go!).

We have driven support for regulations in cocoa after decades of deceiving voluntary initiatives. By convening the European Cocoa Coalition with industry actors, strengthening the voice of civil society within the ISCOs and more globally, we played a key role in facilitating the adoption of the EU Deforestation Regulation and the inclusion of a living income and purchasing practices in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. These landmark policies are driving accountability and environmental sustainability across the cocoa sector.