The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has renewed its grant to the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) making what the DDI describes as “a significant contribution”. This year’s grant will be the third donation from AWDC to the DDI. The grant has not been tied to a specific project, the DDI said.

The organisation takes up developmental projects among artisanal mining communities.

The funds received from AWDC will complement DDI’s new Mobile Schooling project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an important new study on artisanal and small-scale miners in Tanzania and the second phase of DDI’s Ebola response in Sierra Leone.

“The AWDC’s gift of untied support will continue to provide fuel for innovation in the ethical supply chain and support for core functions, without which no organization can function”, said Dorothée Gizenga, Executive Director of DDI. “Grants like these make donations received from other funders go further, which means greater benefits to artisanal miners and their communities.”

Ari Epstein, CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, said, “AWDC supports DDI because it is working at a primary source of the diamond pipeline, among people who are an important but too often forgotten part of our industry.”