17 January 2022
Gemfields Foundation celebrates its first year
Since launching last January, the charitable arm of Gemfields has made a tangible difference to families living in Africa.
Thanks to brand partners, private donors and nominated donations from our amazing partners in the media and jewellery industries, the Foundation was able to hit the ground running after its launch. In its first year, we re-built a primary school in Madagascar and provided 4,000 solar lamps to displaced families in the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique.
With over a decade of experience in community and conservation projects in Africa, Gemfields felt it was time to scale up its activities with a dedicated charitable arm. The Gemfields Foundation is unusual in that all of its overheads, administrative, travel and management costs are borne by Gemfields Limited and its subsidiaries, so all funds received by the Foundation from donors go directly towards projects on the ground in Africa. This means that those contributing know that their generosity will have a real impact, changing people’s lives.
The construction of a smart new primary school in rural Madagascar stands out as a crowning achievement of the Foundation’s first year. Educating 195 children, as well as providing them with a hot meal and clean water (pumped from brand-new boreholes), the new school has transformed the local community, and the prospects of the children who will be educated there. Other projects have included providing 4,000 solar lamps to displaced families in Mozambique, who were forced from their homes by the recent violence in the area. The Foundation will now turn its attention towards constructing a computer lab in Mozambique; a fish farming initiative to provide work and income for youth in Zambia; and fundraising for on-going conservation efforts.
It has certainly been a productive first year, and we look forward to the year ahead with excitement and energy to continue to contribute positively to the lives of people in sub-Saharan Africa.