DEF Invests in Education on Three Continents

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) has grantedits largest-ever award, to be shared among nine beneficiaries across three continents.The $470,000 training and education grant,released early last week, is designed to support girls' education,entrepreneurship and youth empowerment across India, Africa and Canada. Projects include funding for a new science,technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program - the DEF's first scholarshipof this kind - which will be extended to pupils from the Ambaba Girls School inSurat, where 90% of natural diamonds are cut and polished. Other grants include support for girls' educationin Tanzania, via the Flaviana Matata Foundation, and funding for higher-educationscholarships in the Botswana Top Achievers Program. The award also features additional backing fortechnical-training scholarships and entrepreneurship studies for youth fromindigenous communities in Canada's Northwest Territories (NWT). DEF debuted its first educational grants foryoung people in NWT in April this year. Image: NancyOrem Lyman, executive director of the Diamond Empowerment Fund, with principal Krupaliben Shah and other teachers at Ambaba Girls School in Surat, India. (Diamond Empowerment Fund)