Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development: Central African Republic

General

Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) contributes to the improvement of artisanal diamond miner and community livelihoods by piloting methods to achieve secure rights to land and resources. The project works closely with the Governments of the Central African Republic to strengthen compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, a mechanism to trace conflict diamonds from the point of origin to processing. Objectives Clarify and formalize rights to land and natural resources; Improve monitoring the production and sale of diamonds; Increase the benefits accruing to mining communities; Strengthen capacity to mitigate environmental damage; and, Improve stakeholders’ access to crucial information. Outcomes Since 2009, the Government of the Central African Republic has certified over 2,849 artisanal diamond mining claims. In 2011, diamond production from PRADD project areas reached 68% of the total national production, up from 5.4% in 2010. 591 exhausted diamond mines have been rehabilitated for other productive uses; 361 have been converted into fishponds, 176 into vegetable gardens and 54 into fruit tree orchards. Household incomes in project groups are 9 times higher in 2011, compared with 2010 income figures.