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AWDC renews support of DDI, sustains innovation & core functions

Thursday, 2 April, 2015
CSR & CompliancePublic Affairs

The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) is pleased to announce that the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has once again made a significant contribution. This year’s grant will be the third donation from the Centre in support of DDI’s efforts to bring development to artisanal mining 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.”

DDI appreciates the fact that AWDC funds are not tied to a specific project. “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.”

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.