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PRADD Diamonds, Development and Property Rights Video Wins Award of Excellence!

Posted on by Amrit Bhandari

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for Communications Professionals. Founded by communication professionals over a decade ago, the Communicator Awards receives over 9,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world.

PRADD Diamonds, Development and Property Rights Video Wins Award of Excellence!

The Award of Excellence, the highest honor, is given to those entries whose ability to communicate puts them among the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement.

PRADD’s Diamonds, Development and Property Rights video was submitted under the category Film/Video – Education (for academic use) and it received the Award of Excellence.

Learn more about the award.

PRADD Project Expansion into Liberia

Posted on by Amrit Bhandari

PRRGP chief of party Mark Freudenberger and land tenure specialist Kent Elbow carried out a scoping mission to Liberia from March 27-April 10, 2010 which led to the decision to open up a new PRADD program in Liberia. The new chief of party, Bocar Thiam, and administration and finance director, Robert Merritt, are setting up the new project headquartered in Monrovia. Work plans are being developed in close collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy in preparation for the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding. The project is intended to support the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme through the strengthening of the internal chain of custody of the artisanal diamond mining sector with a focus on identifying and formalizing the claims of diamond miners in up to four pilot sites.

Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development Project (PRADD) COP Attends Kimberley Process Certification Scheme

Posted on by Amrit Bhandari

The PRRGP chief of party, Mark Freudenberger, attended the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in Tel Aviv, Israel from June 21-24, 2010.

Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development Project (PRADD) COP Attends Kimberley Process Certification Scheme

The PRRGP chief of party, Mark Freudenberger, attended the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in Tel Aviv, Israel from June 21-24, 2010. The PRADD project actively participated in plenary and inter-sessional meetings and contributed financially through a contract with Partnership Africa Canada to provide field based information to the Enforcement Seminar held on June 24th. Over 50 participants from the KP family participated inthis innovative workshop attended by international law enforcement agencies and the KPCS representatives of government, civil society, and the diamond mining industry. Informational presentations spelled out the nature of international smuggling in diamonds and enforcement issues confronting the Kimberley Process. Participants from West Africa held a two hour session on enforcement issues specific to the Mono River Union countries of Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. PRADD financed in addition the participation of 3 delegates from customs and enforcement from Vietnam, Burkina Faso, and Liberia.

In advance of the meetings in Tel Aviv, and with financial support from Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), PRADD held a series of preparatory national level stakeholder meetings in Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The KPCS tripartite representatives from government, civil society, and the diamond industry in each country held in-depth discussions on the causes and consequences of smuggling and other illicit activities around artisanal diamond production. PRADD Liberia contributed to the costs of site visits to three mining areas led by the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy. Over 500 diamond miners and other stakeholders contributed very actively to these informational meetings.