YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, unveiled a nearly $10 million village in Ghana as part of an initiative to help families affected by child labour in the cocoa industry.
Called Abna Dakwa Village, the project provides housing, education, healthcare, clean drinking water and livelihood opportunities. MrBeast documented the initiative in a new video and described it as his largest humanitarian project to date.
The village was built on previously undeveloped land following about a year of planning and eight months of construction. It includes 10 free homes for teachers, a medical clinic, a community marketplace and a school equipped to educate more than 300 children.
MrBeast builds village in Ghana
To encourage children to attend school, students at the village school will receive free daily meals for the next five years. The Rockefeller Foundation has supported the programme.
The development also includes an off-grid solar power system, installed with support from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. Two large water towers have been built to provide clean drinking water, while agricultural facilities and fish tanks are intended to help the community become more self-sufficient.
The project is also linked to MrBeast’s chocolate company, Feastables, which has promoted ethically sourced cocoa and raised concerns over child labour in the cocoa supply chain.
In the video, MrBeast highlighted the broader problem of children working in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in West Africa and called on consumers and chocolate companies to take greater responsibility.
“Big chocolate will not care about rampant child labour until you guys watching this video do something about it,” he said, urging viewers to demand greater accountability from chocolate manufacturers.
“Big chocolate will not care about rampant child labour until you guys watching this video do something about it,” he said, urging viewers to demand greater accountability from chocolate manufacturers.
