Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch chocolate company with goals of transforming the chocolate production industry against illegal child labor, has begun its collaboration with UC Berkeley through its Collegiate Changemaker program.
To raise awareness of the widespread use of child slave labor in chocolate production, Tony’s Chocolonely creates 100% slave-free chocolate. The chocolate is produced in Ghana and the Ivory Coast but is disassociated from the labor cooperatives that function as camps and provide living wages to workers, according to campus student and Tony’s Chocolonely Collegiate Changemaker Hector Murillo.
Tony’s Chocolonely’s spring 2021 Collegiate Changemaker program began planning virtual and in-person events for its pilot program this semester to establish its presence on campuses across the country. According to Stephanie Iller Drachman, senior U.S. experiential marketing producer at Tony’s Chocolonely, UC Berkeley was chosen to participate because of its legacy of activism and social justice.