Here’s your Daily Brief for October 19th:

Charlie and the Chocolate Co-Op (via SocialEarth) – I’ve been hearing a lot about chocolate as of late. I’ve written previously about Madecasse and their approach to keeping the entire production value chain in Madagascar where the cocoa beans are farmed. Recently I saw this excellent post on the SocialEarth website about Divine Chocolate and the Kuapa Kokoo coop in Ghana.

World Cocoa Foundation Announces Launch of Cocoa Livelihoods Program in Ghana (via CSRwire) – And then today on CSRwire, I saw this press release announcing the World Cocoa Foundation’s launch of the Cocoa Livelihoods Program in Ghana, funded by the Gates Foundations and 12 chocolate companies.

Activities in Ghana will focus on improving production and quality at the farm level, equipping farmers with business skills, promoting diversification of income, and improving access to inputs and support services. In Ghana, 21 districts in the Ashanti, Eastern, Brong-Ahafo, Western and Central Regions will benefit from the program. Accra will serve as the headquarters for the program.

Cola Life makes the GOOD 100 list! – I was happy to see that one of my favorite up-and-coming non-profits, Cola Life, made the GOOD 100 list put out by Good Magazine. Love the write-up:

There aren’t too many places in the world where you can’t buy a Coke, and that includes some of the remotest parts of developing countries. Coincidentally, that’s often where aid organizations have the hardest time delivering medicine and other supplies. That’s why ColaLife is lobbying the international beverage behemoth to open up its distribution channels for some constructive piggybacking. The nonprofit is working on a wedge-shaped package that can deliver goods in the space between the bottlenecks in a full crate of Coca-Cola, and in partnership with another NGO, it has already performed a successful test of the idea in Tanzania. In its quest for global beverage dominance, Coca-Cola may have inadvertently built the best tool for international aid. You can’t beat that.

The GOOD 100: One Block Off the Grid (via Good) – Another GOOD 100 organizations is the up-and-coming venture One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), which is a venture being backed and supported by the relatively new social enterprise incubator Virgance.

One Block Off the Grid, founded in 2008, brings together groups of people who want to buy solar and walks them through the process together. It solicits bids from different installers, negotiates group discounts, and helps consumers make informed decisions. The service is free—1BOG gets a fixed referral fee from whichever company lands the contract—and consumers get an expert advisor and advocate.