Colouring the country's gems

NDAMA NAKASHOLE



Namibia is moving towards the stimulation of the demand for Namibian naturally coloured gemstone products in targeted local and foreign market segments.

This will be done through quality and sustainability management combined with product differentiation and promotion efforts.

In pursuit for that, the tender that seeks an expert's consultancy services for the design and preparation of a jewellery project with Namibian stakeholders of the coloured gemstones value chain (Namibia FairGems) has been advertised in public media last week.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Namibia and the ministry of industrialisation, trade and SME development, who are jointly carrying out the project told Market Watch in a joint response that the tendered consultancy will be a short term consultancy (30 days) to find ways to formalise a sustainable business model for the country's coloured gemstone industry.

The project is expected to benefit all the stakeholders in the coloured gemstone industry, especially the small-scale miners.

“The pilot project will be based in the Erongo region because most of the small-scale miners are working here,” – GIZ said.



Intervention

The ministry of industrialisation, trade and SME development said that this project is based on its Industry Growth Strategy.

Within the strategy there is the intervention area named “Product Distribution and Trade” which seeks to develop a marketing and promotion strategy for Namibian gemstone products.

This government intervention further wants to support the implementation of quality and sustainability certifications in the natural coloured gemstones value chain.

The steering committee prioritised an intervention within the annual operational plan of 2018, which will see the promotion and establishment of a Namibian FairGems value chain.

“Industry Growth Strategy' steering committees as industry-specific public-private implementing structures, steer the implementation until successful conclusion by the end of 2020,” said the ministry.

These committees will safeguard prolific and steady information-exchange, coordination, co-operation and commitment of public and private stakeholders, through the recurring gatherings of key industry-specific stakeholder comprising public and private sector representatives.

“The implementation of each strategy by the relevant steering committees is supported by the dedicated industry growth facilitator, who is sourced, coordinated and monitored by the GIZ.”



Proposals

GIZ said the consulting service also serves to create a corresponding budget, without disclosing its budget for the services of project designation.

The objective of the assignment is to support the coloured gemstone steering committee and GIZ in the design of the sustainability project for Namibia´s coloured gemstones value chain (project working title: Namibia FairGems), based on his/her knowledge and experience in the design and implementation of sustainability projects with gemstones / jewellery products and first-hand knowledge of the (social, economic, technological, environmental) conditions under which the coloured gemstones value chain is currently operating in Namibia, GIZ said.

The expert that is sought for is expected to provide advice on some aspects including brief market and distribution analysis by determining which market(s) (end-client groups) should be targeted by the project in its first phase.

“What are their perceived needs and preferences and how / to which extent can these be satisfied, by which type of products, marketing and distribution arrangements,” GIZ said.

The expert will also be expected to find out which are basic social, environmental and quality standards that should be established within the sustainability project.

This includes finding out whether the pilot project should be based on voluntary compliance of stake-holders with jointly agreed standards or rather be based on an external assurance mechanism, a locally defined and managed sustainability certification scheme.

“Should the standard-setting process comprise both branding (and certification?) of origin and ethical quality? Which components of origin and/or ethical quality must, should and could be incorporated/highlighted (social, economic, environmental, labour, trading and/or governance issues)? Should the project operate rather on pre-defined “minimum standards” by which all project members are expected to comply or on previously identified “good” or “best practices” in each of the prioritized intervention areas.”



Industry players

Stakeholder identification, selection and definition of roles is also one of those tasks that the expert that the GIZ seeks for, will be doing.

Finding out which the perceived critical success factors for achieving the proposed overall project objectives are as well as the relevant stakeholders in the pilot phase and what the key roles to be performed in terms of project implementation/management and follow-up are, are some of the questions that the two institutions wish to answer through the tendered contract.

Others include finding out who could/should take a leadership role in this initiative and why; how or by which criteria should the stakeholders/operators be selected; which roles and activities should be performed by private sector stakeholders (without external support); which roles and activities require engagement (and co-funding) by public or other external agencies, at least during the pilot phase.

They also seek to determine whether the pilot phase can be conceived and implemented as a PPP (with joint participation and contributions from both private and public-sector entities).

The expert is also expected to determine what the medium and long-term sustainability challenges involved are.

Formalisation of cooperation agreements as to how can the different roles and responsibilities of the project stakeholders be formalised is also expected to be done during the 30 days of consultancy period.