ASM Diamond Mining

My initial research focused on mapping the journey of diamonds from extraction to retail, identifying that the greatest value capture happens after stones leave the country. We learned that traditional mining arrangements typically give landowners only 10-20% of the value of the diamonds they discover, with various middlemen capturing the remainder. Additionally, in our secondary research, we found that 87% of American consumers would pay more for ethically sourced diamonds, indicating a market opportunity aligned with addressing exploitation. This baseline understanding helped us formulate our core research question: How might we develop and improve equitable earning power for landowners of minerals in Sierra Leone?

Our research methodology was grounded in Design Justice principles, centering on the needs and experiences of those most marginalized within systems. The approach intentionally seeks to shift power dynamics. I gathered firsthand accounts from landowners, miners, and community leaders as co-designers with essential expertise. This shifted the dynamic from designing “for” communities to designing “with” them. We conducted 80 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders throughout the Kono District, led by a collaborative team including local community members who helped design questions, conduct interviews, and interpret findings. This ensured the research was shaped by those with lived experience of the issues. We prioritized voices of those most exploited within the current system—landowners and miners who perform labor yet receive minimal benefit. We created ecosystem maps with community members to visualize relationships between stakeholders and identify leverage points for intervention. All research materials and findings were shared openly with community participants, honoring their ownership of the knowledge generated. Throughout the research, we worked to redistribute power in our methodologies. We compensated local participants for their time and expertise, conducted sessions in local languages with trusted translators, and ensured findings would benefit the community regardless of our project’s outcomes. This approach recognized that ethical design research must not extract value from communities without clear reciprocal benefits.

The research identified critical insights about the diamond mining ecosystem in Sierra Leone. We found that the current system lacks accountability, with standards and practices going unenforced and corruption rampant throughout the supply chain. Most landowners lack agency due to insufficient capital, forcing them to accept exploitative partnerships that leave them with minimal profits. Many children work in mines to help their families survive, as one income is insufficient under unfair payment structures. Environmental degradation, particularly through unsustainable mining practices, creates cascading problems for communities, including lack of clean water. Despite these challenges, we observed a strong entrepreneurial spirit, with many miners and landowners viewing self-owned businesses as their pathway out of poverty—often hoping to find a large enough diamond to fund such ventures. Labor remains largely un-mechanized and physically demanding, causing significant wear on workers’ bodies and minds, with productivity severely affected by seasonal rains. Income is inconsistent despite constant work, creating financial instability. Illegal and informal mining is widespread, operating outside regulatory frameworks. These insights revealed three primary intervention opportunities: providing fair prices and access to international markets, protecting the environment and transforming working conditions, and creating entrepreneurship and business development pathways for community members.

Rather than imposing external solutions, we established a co-design framework where the Kono miners I worked with directed the development of business models that would work within their context. We designed the 4-4-2 profit-sharing model through collaborative sessions before finalizing the structure that allocates 40% to the platform, 40% to stakeholders, and 20% to community development. We created financial models that balanced commercial viability with just returns to mining communities. For the consumer experience, we planned to prototype three transparent pricing tiers that would communicate different levels of community impact, making the value flow visible to all participants in the system. Our process acknowledged that sustainable solutions must address both the ecological impacts of mining and the social sustainability of fair labor practices. The implementation planning will begin with establishing the Kono Cooperative—a structure that dismantles traditional power hierarchies by giving miners and landowners collective governance power. This cooperative approach transforms the relationship from extraction to collaboration, recognizing that marginalized communities must control their own resources. Further research will be done in incorporating blockchain technology not simply as a technical solution but as a means of creating accountability and transparency that shifts power toward those previously exploited. The escrow system we designed provides consistent income to stakeholders, directly addressing the financial instability revealed in our research. This mechanism creates mutual accountability between consumers, the platform, and local communities.

Some key takeaways in discussing implementation were how

1. How can tangible benefits to mining communities be demonstrated from the earliest stages of implementation?
2. In what ways can we incorporate protective mechanisms against market volatility, ensuring stable income for stakeholders even during fluctuations in diamond prices or discovery rates? By following design justice principles throughout our process,
3. We also discuss building systems of research practices from our team that can maintain non-extractive, reciprocal relationships with community partners, ensuring that the knowledge, resources, and benefits generated through our work are shared equitably with those who contributed to their creation.