From Poverty and War to Prosperity and Peace? Sustainable Livelihoods and Innovation in Governance of Artisanal Diamond Mining in Kono District, Sierra Leone by Estelle Agnes Levin M.A. (Hons) The University of Edinburgh, 1999 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA February 2005 © Estelle Agnes Levin, 2005 i Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii. Abstract iv. 1. Introduction 1 2. Methodology and Research Methods 4 2.1 The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework 4 2.1.1 How the World Works - Vulnerability 6 2.1.2 How the World Works - Resiliency 7 2.1.3 How to Effect Change in the World 9 2.2 Designing the Research 11 2.3 The Research Team 12 2.4 Sample Population, Size and Technique 13 2.5 Methods Used 15 2.6 Procedural and Methodological Considerations 17 2.6.1 Process 17 2.6.2 Methodological Considerations 20 3. The Diamond Sector Reform Programme 25 3.1 Actors 25 3.2 Motivations 26 3.3 Objectives 27 3.4 Method 28 3.5 Programme Components and Strategic Themes 32 3.6 Conclusion 36 4. War and Diamonds 37 4.1 Chronology of the War 37 4.2 The Rationale Behind the Sierra Leonean War 40 4.2.1 The informalisation of politics and economy in Sierra Leone: the emergence of the ‘shadow state’ 40 4.2.2 The Lumpenisation and radicalisation of youth 42 4.3 Motivations for War 44 4.3.1 ‘From Mats to Mattresses’: Motivations of the Domestic Fighters 44 4.3.2 Regional and International Actors: Motivations of the facilitators 46 4.4 What did the war have to do with diamonds? 47 4.5 Conclusion 48 5. The Kono Artisanal Diamond Industry 49 5.1 Geology, Geography and History – A Short Background to Today’s Diamond Industry in Kono 49 5.2 The Artisanal Supply Chain: The Production and Marketing of Rough Diamonds 54 5.2.1 Productivity 57 5.2.2 Mining Procedure and Associated Tools and Technologies 57 5.2.3 Licensing Procedure and Access to Land 61 5.2.4 The Mining Calendar and the Implications of Seasonality 62 5.2.5 Risks and Dilemmas Facing Miners in Planning their Operations 63 5.2.6 Roles and Responsibilities in the Industry 64 5.2.7 Entitlements and Terms of Exchange 70 5.2.8 Illegal Mining 75 5.2.9 Diamond Marketing 76 5.2.10 Monitoring and Disciplining the Industry 80 5.3 Conclusion: How does this analysis inform the DSRP? 84 6. Poverty and Diamonds I: Assets and Capabilities 86 6.1 Human Capital 86 6.2 Social Capital 96 6.3 Financial Capital 103 i 6.4 Natural Capital 105 6.5 Physical Capital 106 6.6 Summary Conclusion 108 7. Poverty and Diamonds II: Strategies for Change 110 7.1 Coping with Risks 110 7.2 Mitigating Risks – Livelihood Strategies 112 7.2.1 Livelihood options in Kono society 112 7.2.2 Individual Livelihood Strategies 123 7.2.3 Household Livelihood Strategies 125 7.2.4 Other Strategies for Building Assets and Reducing Vulnerability 127 7.3 Eliminating Insecurities - Emancipatory Strategies 128 7.4 Summary – Why and how do people mine as a livelihood? 130 7.5 Conclusion 131 8. Conclusion 134 Appendix 1: Research Calendar 140 Appendix 2a: Diggers’ Questionnaire 142 Appendix 2b: Miners’ Questionnaire 152 Appendix 3a: Bank Manager, 24th July 2004 163 Appendix 3b: Assistant Director of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, 20th July 2004 165 Appendix 3c: Health Professionals, 16th July 2004 168 Appendix 3d: Mines Monitoring Officer, 12th July 2004 170 Appendix 3e: Lebanese Dealers, 6th August 2004 173 Appendix 3f: Chairwoman of Kono District Council, 23rd July 2004 177 Appendix 3g: Network Movement for Justice and Democracy, 4th August 2004 180 Appendix 3h: Spokesperson of the PDA, 6th August 2004 182 Appendix 4a: Structure of the Mining Industry Workshop I, 24th July 2004 186 Appendix 4b: Mining families’ Livelihood Strategies Workshop, 30th July 2004 189 Appendix 4c: Structure of the Mining Industry Workshop II, 7th August 2004 192 Appendix 5a: Interview Consent Form 196 Appendix 5b: Focus Group Consent Form 197 Appendix 5c: Workshop Consent Form 198 Appendix 6: PDA Members 199 Appendix 7: Mining Equipment and Labour Costs 201 Appendix 8: Examples of Parasitism 202 Bibliography 205 ii Acknowledgements The production of this thesis has been made possible by the generosity of the following people to whom I extend my warmest thanks: Ansumana Babar Turay for his dedication and competence: I could not have hoped for a more capable or amiable research assistant; Helen and Paul Temple for their assistance, hospitality, and kindness but especially Helen for her friendship throughout our work together; Mark Renzi for his enthusiasm for sharing information with me about the project and for his efforts to make it possible for me to go; Frank Karefa-Smart for opening doors and sharing his extensive experiences with me; Andrew Abdulai, Michael Conteh, Ibrahim Sebba, and Mahmoud, who tirelessly assisted in the conduct and organisation of the research; all the community members who gave up their time to improve my understanding either as research subjects or helpful bystanders; the local staff members of the PDA who facilitated the research and made my field experience so enjoyable; Katie Blacklock for her encouragement and friendship whilst conducting the research; Jennifer Hinton for her assistance prior to my departure; Juanita Sundberg for her methodological guidance prior to the research; Macartan Humphreys for sharing his questionnaire on demobilised soldiers; Detlef Holberg for his technical assistance; Eric Leinberger for his patience and skill in producing the maps; Lyda Salatian for transcribing an interview and wanting nothing in return (a generous act, indeed!); Ahmed Khan and Fay Warrilow for reading and commenting on my final draft and for their reassurance and encouragement; SSHRC and USAID for financing this research; and, not in the hope of gaining extra points, but Philippe Le Billon and John Robinson for their commitment and wisdom throughout. Most especially, however, I would like to thank David Nally for his unfaltering support through this entire challenge; his guidance, friendship, love and, above all, patience have nurtured me and made the disturbing bearable and the beautiful all the more vivid. Lastly, I dedicate the thesis to my parents, David and Rita Levin, who taught me that love has only a little to do with diamonds and a lot more to do with passion, consideration, endurance and good humour. It is in this spirit that this work has been attempted. iii Abstract In 2002 Sierra Leone emerged from a brutal war which had lasted for eleven years. The war was made both possible and desirable by the existence of diamonds. In 1999 an American development consultancy firm, Management Systems International (MSI), was invited by USAID to manage its efforts to assist peacebuilding in the country. Since then, MSI has guided 3 projects (the Diamond Policy and Management project, the Peace Diamond Alliance, and the Integrated Diamond Management Model of Resource Governance) which cumulatively are attempting to restructure the political economy of the diamond industry through innovation in resource governance in order to achieve its principal objective, which is to make diamonds work for peace and prosperity for the people of Sierra Leone. This thesis evaluates the Diamond Sector Reform Programme (DSRP) by examining the programme and its object of intervention (the political economy of the industry), and by evaluating its objectives and techniques through an exploration and analysis of the causes of war and poverty in Kono district. The sustainable livelihoods framework was used to guide the research design as well to conduct the poverty analysis. The research’s overarching conclusion is that the DSRP is altogether very well conceived and designed in order to meet its objectives and that it is attending to many of the issues which perpetuate poverty and might once again motivate war. The research has also suggested possible obstacles to the success of the DSRP may lie in the inadequate consideration of certain issues, such as the links between the diamond industry’s political economy with Kono’s wider socio-political landscape, issues surrounding gender, mining and poverty, the infeasibility of desirable livelihood options in diamond mining communities, the homogenisation of the local economy around the diamond industry, and the re-emergence of patronage and patrimonialism as the key systems of social securitisation in an environment of post-conflict recovery. iv Estelle Levin Chapter 1: Introduction 1. Introduction In January 2002 Sierra Leone officially emerged from a brutal civil war which had lasted for 11 years. At that time Sierra Leone was the poorest country in the world (UNDP 2003). When the war began in March 1991 the country was already on its knees. The formal economy had effectively stalled to a stop with political sovereignty and economic accumulation situated firmly outside the state in what Will Reno calls the ‘shadow state’ (Reno 1995). The networks of patronage, which had previously provided political predictability and security to citizens in the absence of a functioning state, had all but disintegrated in the face of excessive demand and limited resources (Richards 1996b, Reno 1995, Silberfein 2004). Excluded from economic and political opportunity and relief, tired of years of kleptocracy, corruption and predation by officials and elders, and supported by Liberian interest and Mummar Qadaffi’s ideology of pan- Africanism, Sierra Leonean youths resorted to war to challenge the system and exploit the opportunities a gun and a uniform could bring (Abdullah 1998, Alao 1999, Archibald and Richards 2002, Bangura 2002, Opala 1998, Richards 1996a, b, 1999).