DDI Launches Certification for Artisanal Sector

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) has unveiled theMaendeleo Diamond Standards (MDS), a program that helps artisanal miners receive certification showing their diamonds are conflict-free. The system, named after the Swahili word for development,was created together with various stakeholders. Those include government entities,local civil-society organizations, and artisanal and small-scale miners in fourcountries in Africa and South America, DDI said last week. MDS is based on eight principles, which cover legality,consent and community engagement, human and workers' rights, health and safety,violence-free operations, environmental management, interactions withlarge-scale mining, and site closure. "Standards provide credible assurances to consumers, and theyare long overdue for the artisanal and small-scale diamond mining (ASDM)sector," said DDI executive director Dorothee Gizenga. "MDS enables commercialentities to ethically source diamonds from artisanal and small-scaleoperations, while also supporting miners and their communities to ensure theirinclusion in a broader system of responsible supply chains." The DDI conducted a pilot project for MDS in Sierra Leone in 2012and 2013, expanding it into a full program in 2014. It is now ready to beimplemented across the ASDM sector, DDI noted, explaining that diamonds minedby these operations represent nearly 20% of the global industry's annual outputby volume. "Artisanally mined diamonds are major sources of livelihoodsfor more than 1.5 million miners working in 18 countries in Africa and SouthAmerica, supporting as many as 10 million family members," Gizenga added. Image: Rough diamonds. (De Beers)