History of the project Hope and Fairness

www.projecthopeandfairness.org

The history of the NGO began in 2003 during a first trip to Ghana. In 2006, the NGO status was recognized by the American government. In 2012, a donation of $12,000 made possible the creation of the first shelling room in Depa, in the South West of Côte d'Ivoire. In 2019, David Logbo Zigro created the cooperative, SOCO-PLAN, an agricultural cooperative whose goal is to produce chocolate and remunerate the planters fairly. In 2020, Adama Yamba and Antoine Kipre established a chocolate school in Pezoan. In 2021, the NGO is developing a range of chocolates for sale in France and we are establishing the E&E association in France, which aims to develop the European market.

Our projects at Depa

Depa is a village of 700+ inhabitants. Between 2005 and 2012, PH&F delivered tools to help cocoa farmers. In 2013, the shelling room was built to reduce their daily meal preparation efforts, which are mainly based on rice. Since this year, David Logbo Zigro has had the first chocolate manufacturing rooms built, and PH&F has provided him with the money to buy the 5 machines essential to his production. Since then, PH&F has imported thousands of tablets into the USA and David sells his products in the Issia region.

Our projects in Pezoan

Pezoan is a village of 2,000+ inhabitants. Between 2005 and 2012, PH&F delivered tools to help cocoa farmers. In 2019, we started to build a new building, one third of which was used for husking rice and two thirds was used as a chocolate production room. This room is now used to teach chocolate production to young people in the village and to produce and package chocolate bars. The NGO also participated in the repair of the three wells in the village in 2020, and in 2021.

 

About Us

Tom Neuhaus and Damien Lamy met in 2020;  Tom wanted to establish a French chocolate non-profit that would focus on selling African village-made chocolate in France, the UK, and the EU.  Tom has a culinary and chemistry background and owned several businesses:  a restaurant, a bakery, and a chocolaterie in the US.

Damien has a culinary certification and has been running his business, “Adopt a Chef”, since 2018.  He prepares meals at peoples’ homes throughout Occitanie.  Tom and Damien started making chocolates together in late 2021;  they rent a professional kitchen  at the Foyer du Segala near LaGuépie.