Diamond Development Initiative – launched in response to conflict diamonds – is now part of RESOLVE, strengthening our capacity to support responsible sourcing of diamonds and other minerals from communities, companies, and consumers.
Program Merger Strengthens Capacity on Responsible Sourcing of Diamonds and Minerals for Communities, Companies, and Consumers
RESOLVE and the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) have joined forces in a program merger to bolster civil society capacity to support and scale responsible sourcing of artisanally mined diamonds, gold, cobalt, "the three Ts" (tin, tantalum, and tungsten), and other minerals.
In a world defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, collaboration is the only means to tackle sustainability and health challenges. Together our priorities are reconciliation for communities affected by conflict diamonds and conflict minerals, restoration to heal the land and support new livelihoods, and responsible sourcing to ensure long term benefits for artisanal diamond miners and their families.
We will work with industry to realize the promise of diamonds and other minerals: that sourcing and trade will be free from conflict and human rights violations; catalyze economic development and support a path out of poverty, and meet social and environmental standards.
We will work with governments and NGOs to harmonize the fractured landscape of projects, standards and regulations, and market initiatives. We want to scale the availability of responsibly-sourced minerals from artisanal sources.
We will work with consumers as they pledge to buy diamonds and other minerals that match their values.
We will integrate our programs on responsible mining practices and standards, post-mining land use, support for livelihoods, and reclamation and restoration. The program merger is designed as an impact multiplier, bringing together more than fifty years of combined experience in conflict prevention and resolution, poverty reduction, biodiversity protection, supply chain due diligence, and ethical products.
RESOLVE has appointed Ian Rowe, DDI's current executive director, as the director of the DDI program at RESOLVE. We are pleased to be joined by DDI teams in Sierra Leone and DRC.
Find out more about DDI's transformational work on diamonds, including the first-ever set of standards for ethical artisanal diamond production and supply chain security—the Maendeleo Diamond Standards. The DDI land reclamation work in Sierra Leone is setting new standards for environmental remediation, creating new livelihoods in communities long subject to poverty and resource-based conflict.
RESOLVE is a co-creator of the CRAFT Code for artisanal mining, a voluntary open source standard that is gaining traction in the artisanal mining sector. RESOLVE launched Salmon Gold™ in 2019 to put biodiversity-positive gold in supply chains for jewellery and technology companies.
This new partnership is designed to advance many of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, scale up application of Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) due diligence principles and guidance for diamond and other mineral supply chains, strengthen Kimberley Process compliance, and help advance important climate and biodiversity commitments.
The full press release is available here. Please contact Stephen D'Esposito at RESOLVE with any questions.
Stephen D'EspositoPresident and CEO of RESOLVE
July 22, 2020
At RESOLVE, we’re here to tackle the toughest global challenges. The ones nobody else wants to touch. Where people are in conflict and planet problems are stuck. We’re here to unstick them. It’s not easy. It takes grit and ingenuity. And finding and working with the right partners. But we’re not called RESOLVE for nothing.
