Author(s): Steven Van Bockstael, Estelle Levin-Nally, Ruby Stocklin-Weinberg
Client(s): USAID
Date: Jun 2011
The purpose of this research was to ascertain the feasibility and desirability of establishing more direct trading relations between artisanal miners in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Liberia and international buyers - with special attention to the US diamond industry - on the premise that increasing the price achieved by artisanal miners may make them more able and thus likely to formalize their activities.
As a result of our research, the US Government hosted two workshops in Washington, D.C. and New York at the end of 2011, and is taking a trade delegation to CAR in March 2012 in order to try to build beneficial commercial relationships between artisanal diamond miners and US buyers.
