On Tuesday 13 October 2026, the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) hosted an international trade mission led by Empower Africa in Koryadu Village, popularly known as the “Peace Diamond Village’, in Tankoro chiefdom, Kono district. The trade mission comprised philanthropists and international investors from across the world. The purpose of the visit was to expose the visitors to the realities of artisanal mining in host mining communities, as well as its impacts on the livelihoods and human security of the people. The visit was also meant to undertake a joint review of ongoing community projects in Koryadu, strengthen transparency and accountability, as well as community ownership of development projects.
Koryadu Village gained national and international prominence in March 2017 when a 709 carats diamond was found there by a group of artisanal miners supported by a local resident, Pastor Emmanuel Momoh. The giant stone was recorded as the 14th biggest diamond ever found and it was named the “Peace Diamond”. It was sold at an international auction in New York, USA, on 4th December 2017 under the auspices of the Rapaport Group.
Part of the proceeds from the sale of the diamond was used to support community development projects in the areas of education and healthcare. The Rapaport Group maintains a strong bond with the people of Koryadu and desires them to derive maximum benefits from the proceeds of the Peace Diamond.
After the initial slow progress or snail’s pace in achieving the desired objective, the Rapport Group requested NMJD to take responsibility to supervise, facilitate and monitor the implementation of all development projects in Koryadu. With NMJD’s intervention, the school in Koryadu has grown into several components, including a nursery, primary, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, as well as staff quarters and reliable internet connectivity. There is also a school feeding programme for both pupils and staff on a daily basis. The Koryadu Health Centre has significantly improved the services it is delivering to Koryadu and the surrounding communities with increased public health education through community outreach and nutrition feeding. The Community Health Centre staff have held effective public health education outreaches in seven out of the eleven catchment communities and nutrition feeding provided to pregnant women and children Under-5 on every Clinic Day.
Led by its CEO, Ezi Rapaport, the Rapaport Group regularly leads trade missions and international diamond dealers, jewellers and other investors in the diamond trade to Koryadu to see and experience first-hand the gap between the devastating and poverty conditions of local communities where diamonds are mined and the luxurious lives those using the finished products are living in. The overarching objective is to show international diamond buyers of the human reality, growing poverty and sufferings behind the jewellery industry.
During his PowerPoint presentation to the visiting team, NMJD’s District programmes Manager, Mr. Joseph Sahr Ansumana, reaffirmed NMJD’s commitment to improving the quality of life of the people of Koyardu and neighboring communities. He said NMJD believed in community animation aimed at empowering local communities to ask critical questions and take control of their own lives, stressing that NMJD had begun a series of consultations with residents so that the people of Koyardu would determine their own development priorities and participate in their implementation.
The National Programme’s Director of Empower Africa, Madam Leo, and Pastor Emmanuel Momoh also delivered statements expressing satisfaction over the significant progress towards improving the lives of people in Koryadu and NMJD for the good work that they were doing in Koryadu.
The mission concluded its visit in Koryadu community with stop-overs in the community cocoa plantation, solarized water facility, proposed 10-acre site for the construction of the junior secondary school, 20-acre site for the agriculture project, and the ‘Grow what you Eat and Eat what you Grow” project.
