Women and girls in Sierra Leone partner with the Peace Diamonds Restoration Initiative to heal their lands, reduce local hunger, and create new economic opportunities.
Women and girls in Sierra Leone partner with the Peace Diamonds Restoration Initiative to heal their lands, reduce local hunger, and create new economic opportunities.
The Peace Diamonds™ Restoration Initiative endeavors to support post-mining land restoration in communities impacted by artisanal diamond mining. The initiative responds to the legacy of abandoned diamond pits in Africa, which contribute to environmental degradation, health hazards, and lost economic opportunities. At its core, Peace Diamonds seeks to reverse land degradation while rehabilitating those sites for sustainable use. This model for environmental and socioeconomic development contributes to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 5: Gender Equality.
On this International Women's Day, we're recognizing the invaluable role women fulfill in the reclamation process and their drive and determination to acquire new skills along the way – skills that they apply to the benefit of their households and communities long after the completion of each restoration.
Women's participation is vital to every stage of the project. From early consultations, to land stewardship, to eventual crop cultivation and sale, women and girls rise to the occasion at each opportunity. Through the Peace Diamonds Restoration Initiative, hundreds of women and girls in remote, rural regions of Sierra Leone have positively contributed to their communities while becoming economic agents and leaders for change.
Cultivating these farmlands has repositioned women and redefined our roles in the home. Now we are contributing to household income and improving our livelihoods.
Isata Sandi, member of the Sundondoi Farmer-Based Organization in Kono District, Sierra Leone
The Peace Diamonds Restoration Initiative is an evolution of its predecessor, the Land Reclamation Project. Peace Diamonds is a tangible, results-based, community program that sends positive signals towards a more just and sustainable diamond industry to consumers, employees, and industry peers. Further details will soon launch to the public. To learn more or become involved as an early supporter, contact Tommie-Lynne Enright (tenright@resolve.ngo).
Tommie-Lynne Enright
RESOLVE
March 8, 2022
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