What CHF 0.50 can achieve

A lunch in the school canteen in Allakro costs CHF 0.36. The village is situated in the middle of the cocoa plantations in the south-west of Ivory Coast, where 1,400 families have come together to form the Necaayo cooperative.

Many of them supply Migros with the raw material that is used to make some of the popular Frey chocolate products, including the "Côte d'Ivoire" (French for Ivory Coast) range of bars. For every bar sold, CHF 0.50 goes back to the cooperative – enough to pay for at least one lunch in the school canteen.

A focus on education

Migros transfers these additional revenues to the cocoa producers once a year. In 2025, around CHF 137,000 was generated. Half of this money is paid out to the families in cash, while the other half is channelled into charitable projects within the cooperative.

Migros has been focussing on education here for a long time. In addition to the annual funding for school materials for the children – including books, exercise books and pens – the school canteen in Allakro was renovated in 2025. Thanks to the investments, it is now open every day, whereas it previously operated on an irregular basis.

The opportunity to be fed at lunchtime motivates many parents to send their children to school in the first place. Unfortunately, the alternative in Ivory Coast is something that still happens all too often. Instead of going to school, children have to help out on the plantation. Migros wants to counteract this problem.

Fewer school dropouts thanks to the canteen

Félix Koffi, the head of the Necaayo cooperative, also plays a key role in the management of the canteen. He monitors procurement and ensures communication between all of the parties involved. In addition to the trained cook, the team supporting the canteen also includes 15 women who grow vegetables on a plot of land not far from the school, which is possible all year round thanks to a well.

Félix Koffi also buys rice, meat, oil and firewood, and stores the supplies on the cooperative's premises. He is also confident of the benefits it provides: "As long as the canteen remains open and in operation, the school will have fewer absences, fewer school dropouts and the children will perform better overall," he says.

So far, the canteen has been a success story, but numerous challenges remain. Ivory Coast has also experienced inflation in recent years, which has caused food prices to rise.

"As space is limited, there is not enough room to accommodate all of the children in the dining hall," says Félix Koffi. He is planning to make the dining hall bigger to hold even more tables and benches. He hopes to use the funds from Switzerland to realise the next expansion steps.