The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), the Ottawa, Canada–based group that works on the issues surrounding artisanal diamond diggers, is looking for a new executive director to replace longtime head Dorothée Gizenga (pictured).
Gizenga tells JCK that she is shifting her role as serve as DDI’s regional director for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where she is from.
“It was my request to move to DRC and assume a new important function for DDI,” she says.
The ad for the DDI executive director position can be seen here.
Gizenga was the DDI’s first-ever executive director. She first took over the organization in 2008, shortly after its founding in 2006. Prior to that, she was a program manager for Partnership Africa Canada, the nongovernmental organization now known as IMPACT that first brought the conflict-diamond issue to worldwide attention.
The news comes shortly after the Diamond Development Initiative launched its Maendeleo Diamond Standards, a certification system that enables ethical production of diamonds by artisanal and small-scale mining operations through the adoption of standards and best practices. (Maendeleo is a Swahili word meaning “development.”) More information on the Maendeleo Diamond Standards, which De Beers is using in its Gemfair program in Sierra Leone, can be seen here.
