BIJC and USAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project collaborate to empower Black lives all along the jewelry value chain. On June 21st, 2023 we’ll introduce a new dimension to our focus on artisanal miners and their communities: co-manufacturing opportunities with Congolese jewelers.  

This is another way to achieve maximum benefit to the country’s citizens and in this case, Congolese women. This webinar features Panzi Foundation and the Foundation’s jewelry project. Guests will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout this webinar. We’ll extend the 1-hour webinar for an additional 30 minutes for anyone interested in asking questions or speaking further with Panzi Foundation jewelers.

Speakers

Aubert Mwilambwe: Agreement Officer Responsible for USAID Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project

Victor Idumba: Chief of Party, USAID Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project

Rachel Brass: Director Market Linkages and Investment at Levin Sources, USAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project

Elyssa Jenkins: Vice President of the Black in Jewelry Coalition and Director of Membership & marketing for the Jewelers Vigilance Committee 

Julienne Zihalirwa: Jeweler and Trainer, Panzi Foundation Jewelry Project 

Julienne is a dedicated jewelry and lapidary instructor at the Panzi workshop in DRC. In 2008, after experiencing rape, Julienne became a beneficiary at Panzi, where she received medical and psychosocial care. In 2015, Julienne was welcomed back into the Panzi family when she was selected as a participant of the City of Joy program. Following her time there, she returned home and became a leader in her community. Julienne was selected as one of the first beneficiaries of the jewelry project in 2019, and later started teaching other survivors at Maison Dorcas. Julienne has helped to certify more than 50 other women jewelers since 2020.

Rachel Aombaye: Jeweler and Trainer, Panzi Foundation Jewelry Project 

Rachel was born in DRC and is 34 years old. In 2015, Rachel became a single mother following challenging circumstances. Particularly resourceful, Rachel always found ways to make it work for her son and herself. It is only in 2021 that Rachel joined the Panzi Foundation. Rachel started as a beneficiary of Panzi’s juice factory socio-economic reinsertion program. During the day, she would find time to visit the jewelry workshop and learn from the instructors, Julienne and Yvette. She later enrolled as a formal participant. Her motivation and her multi-talents in jewelry-making, lapidary and wrapping sparked the attention of the two trainers and staff at Panzi. Rachel quickly was selected for the training of trainers in Dar es Salam and came back to become an instructor herself in August 2022.

Nicole Batumike: Gender and Responsible Sourcing specialist at the Congolese non-profit Panzi Foundation. 

Nicole has been developing Panzi’s ethical jewelry brand through the establishment of a traceable and inclusive mine-to-market model. Her current role also seeks to address the relationship between structural inequalities, Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and mining by collaborating with international stakeholders, including US-based companies and policymakers. Nicole did her Masters in African Studies at Oxford University and received a BSc in International Business Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Geneva. 

Moderator: Christina T. Miller: Technical Advisor to the USAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project, and Founder, Consultant at Christina T Miller Consulting