The Tiffany and Co. Foundation and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs have contributed two important grants to the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), which will enable the organization to grow and to expand its work in support of artisanal diamond producers in developing countries.

The Tiffany and Co. Foundation has given the DDI a two-year grant totaling $325,000, which will significantly contribute to the development of a sustainable foundation for the DDI by providing core operating support for its work. The grant will also provide funds for a standards and guidelines project on artisanal diamond mining.

"The Tiffany and Co. Foundation is proud to support the Diamond Development Initiative in its efforts to build the organization and to strengthen its program work to make diamonds a source of economic development and to improve the lives of Africa`s artisanal mining communities," Fernanda Kellogg, the president of the foundation, said in a statement.

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has contributed a two-year grant totaling $436,000, which will also help lay the foundation for DDI`s sustainability as an organization. The grant will also provide the DDI with funding for projects in support of artisanal diamond producers.

The DDI, a charitable organization inaugurated in 2005 and registered in the United States, is a unique effort to address the problems of more than a million African artisanal diamond diggers and their families who live and work in absolute poverty, outside the formal economy, in countries struggling to recover from the ravages of war.

"These two grants are extremely important to the DDI," DDI Board Chair Ian Smillie said. "The government of Sweden and The Tiffany and Co. Foundation have demonstrated understanding and great confidence in providing the core support that is essential to any new initiative, and their additional support for project work in Africa will allow us to build on some of the exciting work we have already started."

For more information on the DDI, visit the Partnership Africa Canada Web site, Pacweb.org .