Sustainable and Fair Trade Cocoa
A Sustainable Future
Making an impact and driving change
Leonidas is proud to contribute to the Cocoa Horizons Foundation. This organization was founded by Barry Callebaut to shape a sustainable future for cocoa and chocolate.
Leonidas currently only uses Cocoa from 100% Sustainable and Fair Trade crops!
The mission: to improve the lives of cocoa farmers and their communities by promoting sustainable agriculture, improved productivity and community development.
The Cocoa Horizons Foundation serves as a new platform for chocolate companies and other partners to invest in sustainable chocolate.
Community challenges
Cocoa communities are often located in remote areas, usually lacking any form of infrastructure and basic services (schools, literacy, access to clean water and necessary health care).
Gender inequality also influences the sustainable future of cocoa communities: women have few opportunities to develop their skills and generate income.
One of the strongest motivations for Leonidas to participate in the Cocoa Horizons Project was the fact that education and child protection are an important part of the program.
As a family business, Leonidas places a lot of importance on the concept of family. All staff members are considered to be part of one big family. Preserving and putting this vision into practice is essential to the daily running of the company.
Education
Education is the cornerstone of all development.
In addition to promoting the importance of going to school every day, the Cocoa Horizons Foundation helps to provide the necessary infrastructure where it is (virtually) non-existent in a community.
This commitment involves building and furnishing classrooms, providing school lunches, building separate latrines for girls and boys, providing solar panels for lighting, and creating teachers' rooms to attract and retain qualified staff.
In response to needs expressed by communities and producer groups, we aim to provide a more accessible, safe, and well-equipped learning environment for children and youth in cocoa-producing regions.
Child Protection
The project's goal of empowering cocoa-growing communities means that every child must be able to attend school and be protected from hazardous labor. With the support of partners, the Cocoa Horizons Project promotes the importance of training for each producer, and each works closely with local communities to raise awareness of child labor and foster a better understanding of its causes and constructive solutions.