The Church in Venezuela actively promotes the Laboratorio Escuela de Cacao, which offers training and "alternatives for integral development, fostering hope and encouraging individuals to stay in their cities and contribute to the country's progress."
This is the "Kharis Cocoa Laboratory School" in the Diocese of Carúpano, which in the first phase, trained 24 women and seven men for one hundred academic hours with the objective of "training young adults of the city of Carúpano as entrepreneurs in chocolate manufacturing."
The comprehensive training covers "three basic axes: human, management, and technical, with the corresponding advice to ensure that each participant, individually or collectively, can create their own business in a sustainable way, leading to a better quality of life."
In the project's second phase, training was also provided to sixteen cocoa producers of Jurupú so that "they can properly manage the post-harvest and ensure an excellent quality of cocoa beans for processing in the Laboratory and other companies in the area."
The Bishop of Carúpano, Monsignor Jaime José Villarroel Rodriguez, indicated that this project has been possible due to the support of different actors, such as the donation of the IILA for the machinery, the fruit of the alliance with the Italo-Latin American Institute since 2020. In addition, students have participated for two years in the SIGEP International Fair in Rimini (Italy), where they have been able to make Kharis chocolate known outside Venezuela.
