Diamond Development Initiative, an International non-governmental organization based in Ottawa, Canada, is in the process of rehabilitating ninety mined-out areas in the Kono District over a three-year period, in a pilot project funded by the Anglo-American Group Foundation.

On the 17th and 18th of May 2019, DDI handed over four rehabilitated mined-out sites in ceremonial events at Wordu in the Tankoro Chiefdom, Shengay in the Nimikoro Chiefdom,Kolia in the Nimikoro Chiefdom and Motema Parlour in the Gbense Chiefdom. Government officials in the Ministries of Mines and Mineral Resources (NMA), Agriculture and Forestry, Lands, Housing and the Environment and Local Government and Rural Development (District and City Councillors) graced the events in the various chiefdoms.

Giving an overview of DDI’s operations in Sierra Leone, the Program Manager, Mr. Joseph Mboka, told beneficiaries and government officials that the land rehabilitation project was just a fraction of DDI’s operations in Sierra Leone. He said DDI was occupied with the formalization of the artisanal mining sector, which had been in shambles for several decades. To achieve this goal DDI is working closely with the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources, especially the National Minerals Agency and artisanal diamond miners.

According to Mr. Mboka, DDI currently works with 54 artisanal diamond mining sites, teaching them to observe development diamond standards which include Legality of Operations, Health and Safety in Operational Areas, Environmental Protection, Workers’ and Human Rights, Community Approval and Community Development (from Diamond Proceeds), Prevention of Conflict in Operational Areas and Peaceful Co-Existence with Big Mining Operations. After artisanal miners have fully learnt to implement these standards, DDI hires a Third Party Auditor to assess the compliance efforts of the miners. Successful miners are certified as producers of development diamonds.

DDI is a member of the Technical Team of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and has often participated in the strategic efforts of the Mano River Union to ensure that member countries are fully KP-compliant. DDI has also been working with the Government of Sierra Leone for policy promulgation in an advisory capacity.DDI also sensitizes border communities to the negative effects of diamond smuggling, and has done such sensitization work at Zimmi along the Liberian Border, Manjama along the Guinean Border, Jojoima along the Guinean and Liberian borders and Gbalamuya along the Guinean border. Mr. Mboka said DDI was extremely happy to work with the present government because of their commitment to transparency, accountability, human capital development and balanced national development

DDI knows that diamonds are exhaustible assets therefore DDI has been funding alternative skills training in Carpentry, Tailoring, Metalwork, Hairdressing, Electrical Installation and Entrepreneurship at the Institute of Advanced Management and Technology and the Government Technical and Vocational Institute in the Kono District.DDI has also hired a consultant to train artisanal miners and NMA officials in diamond sorting and valuation. DDI is planning to extend its operations beyond Kono District and also formalize the artisanal Gold mining sector in Sierra Leone.

The Regional Manager of the National Minerals Agency in the Kono District, Mr. Mohamed Gaima, commended DDI for its good work in Sierra Leone and encouraged them to continue to help the people as their activities were complementary to those of the Government of Sierra Leone.

The Deputy Regional Agricultural Officer in the Kono District, Mr. Brima S. Bangura lauded the efforts of DDI in Sierra Leone and encouraged the villagers in which the mining pits had been closed, to organize themselves into agricultural groups, so that they could receive assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture to cultivate the rehabilitated land handed over to them by DDI.

The Senior Regional Environmental Officer in the Kono District, Mr. Mohamed Turay, thanked DDI for its serious work in the Kono District. Mr. Turay said EPA had the mandate to protect the environment in Sierra Leone, so it was pleasing to the Agency to learn that DDI was helping them to do the job. Mr. Turay noted that there had been a lot of reckless mining in Sierra Leone, therefore DDI’s land rehabilitation project was a step in the right direction.

Councillors and Chiefs continually praised DDI for this laudable initiative, which they said would prevent the annual drowning cases in abandoned pits and minimize Malaria. The Chief of Shengay said that one of the pits that had been closed by DDI was once used by criminals to dump the body of a man they had secretly killed elsewhere. The police consequently harassed local authorities and other innocent villagers. One of the pits closed by DDI at Wordu Village was the place a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl got drowned in 2018.