Gondwanna Sustainable Sourcing (GSS) was founded in 2019 by Domoina, a Canadian-Malagasy female gemologist (FGA), lapidarist (GIA) and diamond grader (HRD) who won an award for her original concept in 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya, during the “Inspire! Marketing Coloured Gemstones Pitch competition” organized by a panel of global mining stakeholders. With climate change and socioeconomic pressures, modern consumers increasingly demand accountability and transparency in the products they are buying from stakeholders. Over the past decade, challenges around the traceability of coloured gemstones and other mining products has been prioritized in Western markets, but also real benefits of the mining activities in countries of origin, usually located in third-world countries. GSS aims to create an innovative, educational and collaborative platform on which artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities, mostly located in Africa, can share their talents, products and daily realities to final markets. Various projects have been identified, with a pilot project in Madagascar that started in 2019, but had to be put on hold due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
GSS platform tackles environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges that the mining sector has been facing by offering sustainable solutions through a more diverse, equitable, inclusive (DEI) and transparent approach (involving private, public and civil society). The name of the concept was changed from “African Gems Portal” to “Gondwanna Sustainable Sourcing” reflect and advocate for these DEI and collaborative principles, “Gondwanna” referring to our world at its origin, way before races, borders, countries, religions and nationalities existed.
Areas of action encompass (but are not limited to): education, women empowerment, formalization of the mining activities, bridging gender gaps from sources to markets, accessibility and safety in remote ASM communities (making them vulnerable), environmental rehabilitation of mining sites, fair and responsible trade, overcoming child labour, and more. GSS is covers in its mission, vision and objectives 14 out of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations for 2030.