Private sustainability standards and child schooling in the African coffee sector

Abstract

We acknowledge funding from the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (grant number 2018X044.KUL); NUFFIC Niche program, Strongbow Project; the KU Leuven research fund under C2 programs (grant number C24M/19/031). We thank two anonymous reviewers and seminar participants in Leuven and Goettingen for critical and useful comments on earlier versions of the paper. We thank all enumerators for their hard work in collecting data and all respondents who readily shared their time, knowledge and experience, in support of these studies.

Questioning Impact: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of Certification Standards for Sustainability

“…Overall, these studies reveal a mixed picture in terms of the impact of certification standards. Scholars have, for instance, found evidence for positive economic and social outcomes in terms of enhanced farmer income, local community building, and access to education and healthcare (Akoyi et al, 2020; Chiputwa & Qaim, 2016; Krumbiegel et al, 2018; Mook & Overdevest, 2018) as well as for positive environmental outcomes through reduced chemical inputs and the adoption of environmentally friendly management practices in local contexts (Blackman & Naranjo, 2012; Dwivedi et al, 2018). However, such scholarship has also identified factors that can hinder a net-positive impact from certification standards.…”

A Proposal for Improving Organic Group Certification Quantification of Internal Control Systems' Performance and Sample Size Determination

“…Research in relation to group certification so far has addressed its impact on market access and smallholder incomes [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], implementation of improved agricultural practices by the certified farmers [10,12], schooling [13], scalability [14], internal organisational problems of the groups and certification costs [7,15], environment and nature conservation [4,9], and adaptation to climate change [16], but not on the functioning of the ICS as such, their ability to ensure compliance with the standards, nor the way that certification bodies (CBs) deal with the ICS.…”

Do Certification Schemes Enhance Coffee Yields and Household Income? Lessons Learned Across Continents

“…They also observe that worker empowerment is higher in certified enterprises. Akoyi et al (2020) while investigating the impacts of adoption of private sustainability standards on school enrolment in Ethiopia and Uganda, find that participation in Fairtrade certification schemes increases the likelihood of children to be enrolled in secondary school and improves their schooling efficiency. They attribute this effect to social capital and awareness-raising campaigns among the Fairtrade certified households.…”

“…Most studies examining the socioeconomic and ecological impacts have been done within a single country framework. However, Akoyi et al (2020) examine the effect of private sustainability standards on school enrolment in the framework of an integrative study in two countries such as Ethiopia and Uganda. Arnould et al (2009) undertake a crosscountry analysis of three countries, namely Nicaragua, Peru, and Guatemala, to measure the impact of Fairtrade certification on income, education, and health using logistic regression and path analysis methods.…”

“…They find convincing positive impacts on income and uneven mixed results for education and health indicators. We also follow a mixed approach in which firstly, we individually examined each case study and explained the results within their respective country backgrounds, and secondly, we undertake an integrative impact evaluation study similar to Akoyi et al (2020) by combining the empirical data for all three country cases. Several adjustments have been done to bring the data from three country cases to a comparable format.…”