DDI Receives $30,000 Grant From DEF



The funds will support programming at a mobile school in a mining village in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Diamond Develop Initiative (DDI) has announced that it has received a grant from the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF).

The $30,000 grant will be used to support the second year of programming at a mobile school (pictured) in the village of Kankala, a mining village in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The goal of the school, one of the first two in DDI’s Sending Schools to Kids program, is to give children the opportunity to leave the mines and go back to school. The schools offer remedial education with the aim of reintegration into the regular education system.

The DEF grant provides salaries for teachers and caretakers and meals, uniforms, and school supplies for the students. In its first year, 20 students attended the school.

“We recognize that we are barely scratching the surface,” said Dorothée Gizenga, executive director of DDI, in a statement. “All children, from elementary and secondary levels, should be in school, and we believe this will require a strengthened commitment from international and local partners and various levels of government. But today, thanks to the Diamond Empowerment Fund, there are 20 children in Kankala who are receiving a good education. Twenty children with the chance to succeed are bringing hope to their village. And this is only the beginning.”

DEF executive director and CEO Nancy Lyman also issued a statement about her organization’s involvement.

“DEF’s mission is to support sustainable approaches to development and education in diamond communities around the world,” she said. “We are proud to be a part of DDI’s mobile schooling project, and we look forward to hearing good things about these 20 students in the future.”

(Photo courtesy of DEF) 

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