In an effort to help enhance the lives of artisanal miners in Sierra Leone, Brilliant Earth has provided the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) with a grant to help fund a scholarship program giving valuation training to miners in the Maendeleo Diamond Standards program and alternative skill vocational training.
“We will create a body of knowledge relating to diamond values that will be available to assist miners with the sale of their diamonds,” says DDI executive director, Dorothée Gizenga. In addition to gaining knowledge of the value of diamonds, 10 miners from two mining communities will attend courses in metalwork, carpentry, agricultural technology, tailoring, and hairdressing at local facility.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that the people who produce diamonds have the opportunity to improve their own social and economic conditions,” says Brilliant Earth co-founder and CEO, Beth Gerstein. “We are proud to support the work of DDI.”
