Document Type: Progress Reports

In March 2012, two representatives of the US government (Timothy Fella from USAID and JJ Harder from State Department) and four representatives of the North American diamond industry (manufacturers Ronnie VanderLinden and Jeffrey Fischer, and jewelers Kevin and Genevieve Hume) undertook an exploratory mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) to determine under which conditions, and with what caveats a direct supply chain linking Central African artisanal diamond miners with North American buyers could be established. The mission was also to inform all national stakeholders including the Ministry of Mines (MM) of this prospective initiative in the most transparent way. The US Embassy and USAID-funded Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) project, operating in CAR since 2007, organized the mission with a supply chain model in view of sourcing artisanal diamonds in a sustainable and ethical manner that is fair to all parties involved.

The two lawsuits between PRADD and its former Boda Administrator Mozane Demokoy went through many new developments. After the hearing of the Labor Court in early January, the third postponement of the verdict by the vice-judge and the summoning of PRADD’s Administrative Coordinator to “informal” meetings to solicit bribes – proved irregularities were at work behind the scene. PRADD was found guilty of abusive contract termination and sentenced to a fine of $6,300. PRADD appealed the decision, and the hearing of the Appeal Court is scheduled for the next quarter. Meanwhile, PRADD called on the Minister of Mines to demand more transparency and justice. A couple of weeks later, when the Criminal Court subpoenaed the parties for the other lawsuit (PRADD pressing charges against Mr. Demokoy for retaining his work computer one month after his contract termination), the Prosecutor declared the Ministry co-plaintiff, postponed the hearing, arrested and jailed Mr. Demokoy until further notice. Mr. Demokoy, who has been behind bars for the past two months, is reportedly in good health.

On May 31 the 2009-2011 work plan for PRADD/CAR expired. PRADD had been in discussion with USAID for several months to build on its successes and refine its approach for the next period from June 2011 to May 2012. During a working week in late May in Burlington, Vermont, PRADD and USAID agreed on a specific set of activities and timelines and subsequently submitted the June 2011 to May 2012 work plan as well as a revised PMP for approval.

Anticipating the end of the current 2009-2011 work plan and the need to produce a new one, the COP, the PRADD Administrator, and the Tetra Tech ARD Home Office drafted a new organizational chart detailing changes in positions and responsibilities. PRADD completed performance reviews for all national staff and planned the contractual termination of poor performing incumbents. PRADD advertised the terms of reference for new positions externally and internally, and interviews have started.

The Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) project is a joint initiative of USAID and the Department of State to assist fragile artisanal diamond producing states to fulfill their commitment to comply with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The project’s objectives are to increase the amount of alluvial diamonds entering the formal chain of custody while improving the benefits accruing to mining communities through an approach of strengthening property rights. Launched in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2007 as a pilot initiative, the project has achieved some noteworthy successes both in national policy reform and in positive impact
on local communities’ livelihoods.

This quarter was marked by the introduction of administrative policies and procedures that effectively strengthened internal control systems. These included setting up a weekly financial and logistic field reporting system, a field mission reporting system, the strengthening of fuel and inventory controls, and the completion of a PRADD CAR Code of Conduct based on the Tetra Tech ARD policies, USAID regulations, and the CAR Labor Law, which was signed by all employees. PRADD CAR now has sufficient internal controls in place.

This quarter was marked by several important events that impacted project administration and management. The termination and/or resignation of six local employees during Quarter 2 hampered the implementation of project activities briefly. Nevertheless, PRADD has now recruited and replaced all but one of the positions. The office manager position was filled by an experienced senior-level administrator with strong project management and previous international donor experience; the project identified a new rural animateur for Nola who will begin work in August contingent upon reference verifications and salary negotiations. This candidate was deemed to have the relevant skills and experience as his educational background is in rural development, he has previous PRADD experience working on the PRA, socioeconomic survey, and mapping in Nola; and he scored the highest in the practical test simulating a rural awareness-building exercise, as evaluated by the PRADD technical team.

Quarter 3 activities for the SECURE Project focused mainly on better understanding the challenges of securing land and resource tenure in the pilot communities and commencing the development and plan for the subsequent land rights formalization process to be piloted by the MoL. Tenure assessments have now been completed for all four project pilot communities, and individual reports are being finalized. The SECURE team and the staff from the participating agencies and partner organizations have learned a tremendous amount about the land and resource tenure arrangements and situations in each community, and have drafted specific recommendations for moving forward. The following quarter will see the commencement of significant implementation activities.

During this reporting period, PRADD made several notable advancements in the project work plan. Most significantly, a multidisciplinary team comprised of PRADD team leaders, technicians from the Ministry of Mines, and students from the University of Bangui conducted a two-month analysis of customary property rights in Nola, the second project pilot site. As a result of this participatory analysis, the project identified and mapped an additional 1,122 diamond mines, customarily held by 665 small-scale miners. In the next quarter, the project will map the remaining mines identified in Nola and will seek to incorporate approximately 200 new entrants from Boda (the original pilot site) into the Geographic Information System (GIS) property rights database. Furthermore, through lessons learned in the Boda and Nola participatory rural appraisal (PRA) activities, the project will finalize tools, such as the PRADD property rights manual (in progress), for wide-scale replication of the PRADD property rights model.

During the current quarter, PRADD successfully recruited and hired nine additional technical positions including field office managers, rural “animateurs”, and three technical coordinators. The project also opened two permanent field offices in the towns of Nola and Boda.