For most of us, a chocolate bar starts with choosing which one we’d like to eat. For Whittaker’s, it starts much further away – in the cocoa-growing communities of Ghana, where the farmers who grow its cocoa beans are at the beginning of the journey from bean to bar.
Now, the New Zealand family-owned chocolate maker is expanding its investment in those communities with a series of new initiatives focused on healthcare, women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability and long-term community resilience.
The new projects include a healthcare programme supporting up to 1,000 cocoa farmers and their families – potentially reaching 5,000 people – a partnership with Ghana’s first Rainforest Alliance-certified women’s-only cocoa cooperative, further development of Whittaker’s supply chain policies, and an expansion of its shade-tree planting programme.
For Whittaker’s co-Chief Operating Officers and siblings Holly and Matt Whittaker, the initiatives are about doing more than simply meeting the requirements of cocoa certification.
“We want to understand what is actually happening in the communities where our cocoa comes from and, importantly, listen to the people who live and work there,” says Holly.
“That means building long-term relationships, visiting the cooperatives ourselves and asking farmers what would make the biggest difference to their lives.”
When healthcare is hard to reach
One of the most significant new projects came directly from Holly’s visit to Ghana with Whittaker’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, Michael Tannenbaum, in November last year.
Whittaker’s has partnered with global NGO Elucid to improve access to healthcare for farmers and their families at one of the Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa cooperatives it sources from.
While Ghana has a public healthcare system through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), farmers living in remote cocoa-growing areas can face significant barriers to accessing it. Enrolment among farming communities remains low, while gaps in access to emergency services, essential medication and vision care can leave families particularly vulnerable.
The new programme will help farmers and their families enrol in the NHIS and support them to access the healthcare available through the scheme. It will also work with local healthcare providers to improve the delivery of care.
Additional support will include emergency and essential care, medications, pre- and post-natal care, as well as mobile vision screening clinics.
For Whittaker’s, the project is about recognising that healthy communities are more resilient communities.
Supporting women who grow the cocoa
Another new partnership is focused specifically on women.
Whittaker’s has partnered with Assinman Women’s Cooperative, which has 1,118 female cocoa farmers. The cooperative is the first women’s-only cocoa cooperative in Ghana to achieve Rainforest Alliance certification.
For Whittaker’s, the partnership is an opportunity to support women who are playing a vital role in Ghana’s cocoa industry while helping create stronger and more inclusive farming communities.
“While we are continuing to develop our supply chain policies in areas including gender, we’re pleased to be able to take immediate action by partnering with Assinman Women’s Cooperative,” says Holly.
“Empowering women with the right tools, training and opportunities can have benefits that extend well beyond the individual farmer and into the wider community.”
Planting trees for the future of cocoa
The new initiatives build on work Whittaker’s is already undertaking in Ghana, including investment in local schools and new water bores at the cocoa cooperatives it sources from.
The company has also been investing heavily in shade trees – an important tool for helping cocoa farms adapt to a changing climate.
Since 2024, Whittaker’s has supported the planting of 170,000 shade trees across 2,200 hectares of land at its cocoa cooperatives in Ghana, alongside training for farmers on how to care for them.
Shade trees create a protective canopy for cocoa plants, helping to buffer them against extreme heat and drought. They can also improve soil fertility, reduce erosion and extend the productive life of cocoa trees.
And the planting won’t stop there.
Looking beyond the chocolate bar
For Whittaker’s, the latest projects form part of a longer-term approach to supporting the people and places behind its chocolate.
Rather than relying solely on certification programmes, the company says its direct relationships with cocoa cooperatives help it identify specific needs and invest in projects designed to address them.
“Of course, our scale and influence within the global cocoa industry is relatively small,” says Matt Whittaker. “But we believe we can still make a meaningful difference by listening to our cocoa farmers and investing in projects that respond to the needs of their communities.”
It is an approach that starts long before the chocolate reaches the supermarket shelf – and one that Whittaker’s says will continue to evolve as it works alongside its cocoa-growing partners in Ghana.
Whittaker’s has been voted New Zealand’s Most Trusted Brand for 15 consecutive years. All Whittaker’s chocolate is made from bean to bar at its factory in Porirua, using 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified and fully traceable cocoa beans. The company does not use palm oil.