“The Kimberley Process and the DDII are important initiatives. They affect our trade with Africa and are linked to development aspects within trade, security and the environment, in line with Swedish policy for global development.”
Ewa Björling, Minister for Foreign Trade, Sweden
Activities & Projects
DDI’s ongoing project activities include:
Registration of artisanal miners and diamond production tracking
In the DRC’s Mbuji-Mayi and Tshikapa (including Kananga) mining regions, DDI is piloting a system to register artisanal diamond miners and track their production up until the point of export. The system meets KPCS standards. It is funded by DFAIT Canada. Visit the project website at: http://www.ddidrc.org/eng/index.php
Education Programs for Artisanal Miners
DDI is currently working on a curriculum for an education program for state agents and miners, which pays particular attention to human rights. This project requires funding. It is one of the core education programs that DDI is developing in order to help reduce gaps in knowledge within the artisanal diamond mining sector.
Kimberley Process Development Agenda
At the level of the Kimberley Process, DDI guidance on international development policies to the Working Group on Artisanal and Alluvial Production. In collaboration with WGAAP member countries and other KP member countries and Participants, DDI works to design and implement development solutions that complement the regulatory instruments of the KP and help strengthen KP internal controls.
Development Diamond Standards
Starting in Sierra Leone, DDI is field testing an ethical certification system for diamonds that originate from artisanal mining areas. The overarching objective is to develop a system that actually works in the vastly informal context of artisanal diamond mining; can be independently verified; and results in meaningful benefits for artisanal miners as well as consumers. Find out how we’re creatively adapting an enterprise approach to the development priorities of the artisanal diamond mining sector.
DDI has planned a number of project activities which aim to advance change in the artisanal alluvial diamond mining sector in Africa and South America. These include:
Mechanisation of Artisanal Diamond Mining
During consultations organized by DDI, member countries of the Kimberley Process Working Group on Artisanal and Alluvial Production identified Mechanisation as an option through which their governments could initiate concerted action to advance formalisation in the artisanal diamond mining sector. After commissioning a research study to analyse the issue in depth, DDI is now looking into options for piloting the mechanisation program.
Southern Relations and Partnering Fund
To date DDI has supported 5 organizations with an overall amount of $89,000 US. The projects are small and experimental, but all have replicability and learning as a requirement. This Fund allows DDI to leverage funds of other international and national organizations for projects that correspond to DDI’s objectives and goals.
Past Projects
DDI partnered with other organisations on the projects below:
ONE SKY: Institute for Sustainable Living
Life After Diamonds: Land Reclamation for Agriculture and Advocacy
Two land reclamation projects in Sierra Leone at the Bandefayie and Kainsey sites. The land reclamations were a component of ONE SKY’s Life After Diamonds project. For more information about this project please click here.
Street Kids International
Youth-driven study in Sierra Leone
A youth driven study that sought to find out the opportunities available to youth who worked in the mining sector in Sierra Leone as well as their ambitions, in order to determine the gaps that prevented them from reaching their goals. For more information about this project please click here.
Foundation for Environmental Security and Sustainability
Economic Diversification and Community Development in Artisanal Diamond Mining Communities in Sierra Leone. For more information about this project please click here.
ARD
Documentary Film
The production of a teaching film on the USAID-funded project entitled Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) in Central Africa Republic and Guinea. For more information about this project please click here.
Tukudimuna Project
DDI’s Tukudimuna Project sought to prevent and remove children from working in the diamond mines in the Mbuji-Mayi region of DRC; to understand the dynamics and the political economy of child labour in artisanal diamond mining; and to find sustainable and replicable methodologies to end this practice. For more information about this project please click here.
Our work on the Tukudimuna project underscored the fact that due to socio-political realities on the ground, a project that aims to eliminate child labour would not be sustainable without a framework that enhances the enabling environment for addressing child labour. So in order to achieve lasting results, it is critical to complement other efforts including legislative requirements (that are not being enforced despite being enacted), by establishing a framework that effectively integrates the dynamics and political economy of child labour.
Thus, we’re currently addressing child labour in the Development Diamond Standards (DDS) project. In addition, specific components of our Registration and Diamond Production tracking project are intended to tackle pertinent factors relating to child labour.