Antwerp: Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has made an important contribution to the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), announced the AWDC and DDI. This year’s grant will be the third donation from the Centre in support of DDI’s work in bringing development to artisanal mining communities.

Ari Epstein, CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Council, 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.”

The fact that AWDC funds are not tied to a specific project is significant. “The AWDC’s gift of untied support will continue to provide fuel for innovation within the ethical supply chain and support for core functions, without which no organization can function” said Dorothée Gizenga, DDI’s Executive Director. “Grants like these make donations received from other funders go further, meaning more benefits to artisanal miners and their communities.”

AWDC funds 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.