Network Movement for Justice and Development

NMJD’s Executive Director, Abu Brima, joined civil society voices calling on participants to refocus on the KP’s core mission: protecting communities from diamond fuelled violence.

The Kimberley Process 2025 Plenary: True reform or irrelevance | Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition Opening remarks by the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition in Dubai on November 17th. As we open the Kimberley Process plenary today, this is the moment for the Civil Society Coalition to recall…

NMJD is excited to announce that DMCC has committed a $100,000 donation to support development in the Peace Diamond Village.

The cheque was presented by DMCC Executive Chairman & CEO Ahmed Bin Sulayem to NMJD Executive Director Abu Brima during a special side event with Martin Rapaport.

At the conclusion of our special side event with Martin Rapaport tonight, DMCC was proud to announce a $100,000 donation to the Peace Diamond Village in Sierra Leone, delivered through the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD). This donation, presented by DMCC - Dubai Multi Commodities Centre's Executive Chairman and CEO, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, to NMJD's Executive Director, Abu Brima, will be directed entirely towards the development needs of the Peace Diamond Village, reinforcing DMCC's ongoing commitment to supporting sustainable community development in diamond-producing regions.
Rapaport

NMJD Supports Women Farmers in Fiama Chiefdom

NMJD yesterday 18th November 2025 provided NLe 15,000) to three women’s agricultural groups in Fiama Chiefdom, Kono district, under the Climate Smart Agriculture Project.

The funds are intended to be used as a revolving loan scheme for project participants. This initiative aims to expand access to credit facilities to women farmers so as to strengthen group cohesion and cooperation, as well as to increase agricultural productivity, economic and social empowerment of woment, poverty reduction and sustainable development.

The three project communities that received the support include Bandasuma, Maakor and Kpakiyor villages in the Kooma Section, Fiama Chiefdom, Kono District.

Mining Stakeholders Review Mining Laws at Moriba Town

40 stakeholders in the mining sector in Sierra Leone drawn from Bonthe and Moyamba districts today, Monday 17th November 2025, converged at Moriba Town to review the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2023, as well as other legal and regulatory framework of the country’s mineral sector governance. The purpose of this activity was to provide the platform where affected mining communities and other key stakeholders could sit together and dialogue, identify gaps and misalignment within the family of mining governance laws in Sierra Leone.

With funds from the European Union Delegation to Sierra Leone, NMJD facilitated this dialogue, whose objectives are specifically three-fold: first, to increase knowledge of communities of mining laws in the country; second, to identify legal gaps and misalignment within the family of mining laws; and third, to propose recommendations and build advocacy follow-up actions around those recommendations.

The stakeholders discussed several critical issues in the mineral sector governance in Sierra Leone, including the Regulations which operationalize the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2023, especially those provisions that directly affect them and their communities, together with their implications and proffered recommendations for prospective review. Among the issues discussed are: surface rent and how it is being distributed; the National Mineral’s Board, its composition and the contentious provision which exempt the Board and any of its members from being held liable for any decision they take in “good faith”; the CDCs and their composition as provided for in law vs what’s operating in practice; minerals ownership; and the Mining District Development Fund.

After a lengthy and engaging discussion with practical experience sharing, the stakeholders proffered several recommendations, among which are the following:

• The present land ownership right, which limits landowners to the ownership of land only and exclude them from owning the minerals, should be reviewed to extend the ownership to the minerals on or in the land as well.

• The surface rent should be reviewed and shared as follows: 80% should go to the landowners and 20% to the Chiefdom Development Fund and scrap the 10% each that is paid to both the Paramount Chief and Constituency Development Allowance. The reasons advanced for these recommendations are: under the District Proportional Representation System, there are no constituencies in the country, a fact the House of Parliament clearly acknowledged by stopping the payments of Constituency Development Allowances to MPs. It could be unfair and morally wrong for Parliament to make a law, which takes away land owners’ monies and gives them to an outfit, who by law, does not exist and thereby making it difficult for such monies to be accounted for. This is contrary to the SLEITI, which makes it mandatory that all subnational mining revenues must be properly accounted for. Additionally, the stakeholders agreed this recommendation is intended to prevent duplication and enhance accountability, as the PCs are heads of the Chiefdom Development Councils, which manage all resources provided to the chiefdoms for development.

• The National Minerals Board should be reviewed to include on its membership a representative of the landowners and the clause, which excludes them from being held liable for making a bad decision or a decision that turns out to be bad should be amended to ensure the Board or their members take responsibility for any bad decision they make or when the decision turns out to be bad. The stakeholders believed the mandate of the NAB is very important and critical and should therefore be held accountable for their actions or inactions.

Key highlights of the meeting were the introduction of the Regulations to operationalize the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2023, which all the stakeholders said they had never been informed of these regulations by the government and its agencies such the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources and the National Minerals Agency. As a result of the lack of knowledge of these Regulations, the membership of the Community Development Committees, which according to the Regulations, should not be more than nine people, has now been bloated to not less than 32 people in complete contradiction of the law. Also, Steering Committees have been created within the CDCs tasked with the responsibility to approve all proposals before they are funded by the CDC, though the Regulations do not make provision for Steering Committees.

Medico International Ends Kono Visit on Sound Note of Satisfaction

Medico International yesterday concluded their visit to Kono with words of satisfaction on NMJD’s work in empowering local communities in Kono district and addressing their livelihoods challenges. The Medico International team, which comprises the Finance Manager, Philipp Henze, and the Project Manager, Hannah Kentouche, made very assuring statements after the visit.

“I am always in the office (in Germany) putting financial documents together throughout the year. So, I really appreciate coming to the field and personally interacted with the people we are working with,” Philipp Henze said”. On her part, Hannah Kentouche said: “I am very pleased with the warm welcome, love and appreciation shown to us since our arrival. The gratitude and happiness expressed by the participants mean a lot to us at Medico International. It demonstrates the impact NMJD is making in these communities. We feel satisfied after coming to the field, interacting with the people we work with and seeing the positive impacts of our partnership with NMJD, especially on local communities in Kono district. Medico International are happy to be a part of this success story.”

The Medico International’s visit to Kono kicked off at NMJD’s 2 Suku Tamba Street office in Koidu with PowerPoint presentations by the different project staff and a gallery tour specifically designed to showcase NMJD’s work in the district. This was followed by courtesy calls on key stakeholders in the district and conducted field visits to NMJD’s project sites across the district. The field visits covered the three chiefdoms of Gbense, Nimiyama and Gorama and the team reached out to several communities, including Sewafeh, Walehun, Peya, Kamadu, Boroma, Bunabu and Tekonkoh/Sawola and interacted with the different project partners there.

NMJD’s support to promoting sustainable livelihoods in Kono district includes organizing women engaged in stone crushing to undertake savings initiatives, organizing farmers into groups and supporting these groups to undertake agro-business through large-scale vegetable gardening, economic tree planting, and revolving loan schemes.