Virtu Gem
Virtu Gem LLC
(
Private sector
)
#SDGAction46238
Description
Virtu Gem is a mine to market-colored gemstones project that sells gemstones directly from artisanal mining communities, in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia to jewelers and consumers internationally, creating a foundation for resilience in mining communities. Virtu Gem addresses the SDGs through development of a more equitable supply chain. Artisanal miners often struggle to feed themselves and their families, targeting economic transparency and equity through Virtu Gem helps to achieve food security and better wages for miners. Premiums charged on the sale of each gem have helped to fund food drives within mining communities. Virtu Gem has a strong focus on integrating women throughout the workforce, proactively promoting women in mines and mining work while elevating gemstones mined by women in its marketing. Virtu Gem has facilitated the development of the National Gem Cut© program in Malawi, Kenya and Zambia. Gems are cut in designs honoring the cultural heritage of each country. Mining standards in mine’s that Virtu Gem works with have completed assessment training and address safety, environment and gender equity. Virtu Gem offers beautiful gemstones that come from a place of collaboration and respect for gemstone mining communities.
The project has a mine to market component that coincides with the non profit work of improving mining practices, growing the source country gemstone trade and teaching value addition to mining communities. Virtu Gem facilitates donations of safety equipment, food drives and knowledge sharing workshops. Virtu Gem brings equity to the gemstone supply chain by connecting artisanal traders and partners in source countries to gemstone buyers and jewelers in global markets. Virtu Gem uses a shortened supply chain model to increase benefits going back to in-country partners. Technological advances and training allow ASM to sell their material virtually on the Virtu Gem platform. To do this Virtu Gem has implemented strong training programs to improve gemstone industries in source countries. Virtu Gem also runs two internal programs, CRAFT Code mine standard certification and the National Gem Cut, part of Virtu Gem’s benefit is education on the gem and jewelry industry. Virtu Gem sells ASM gemstones at a premium directly to jewelry designers. This mine to market approach allows source countries to keep more of the gemstone supply chain within their country benefiting local industries. Premiums are used to conduct give back events.
Virtu Gem has a mission of capacity building, by bringing as many miners and entrepreneurs in the source country gemstone trade as possible and to expand their markets internationally. The expansion of mining participants and gem cutters continually happens within each country in which Virtu Gem is currently working in and the program has an adaptable template which enables expansion into other gemstone sourcing countries in the future. The technology transfer works through virtual knowledge sharing, collaborating with our source country partners and engaging the private sector of the Jewelry industry. Advanced technologies, including Gem Light Boxes for equitable digital representations, block chain to facilitate transparency and market assurance, website and social media to expand communication and relationships across the gemstone value chain all work to increase impact.
Virtu Gem is an LLC and nonprofit collaboration. The LLC is led by three women co-founders, the non profit wing of Virtu Gem is supported by the Responsible Jewelry Transformative. Virtu Gem works directly with gemstone mining communities and the existing legal and business infrastructures, including mining associations.
Virtu Gem was awarded two grants through the Extractives Global Programmatic Support (EGPS), a part of the World Bank Group. These grants were evaluated by the EGPS data collection reporting process collecting the number of outputs and assessing outcomes. Outputs are the knowledge products produced and number of people trained. Outcomes were the audiences reached or accessed the outputs. The latest report shows that in 6 months, 191 people were trained, and 23 knowledge products reached over 2,900 audience members. Virtu Gem’s strengths are creating equity in the gemstone trade and connecting suppliers of gemstones and the jewelers who use them. Virtu Gem maintains transparency by clearly defining payment structures and industry practices; these together create a level playing field for the jewelry supply chain.
Responsible Jewelry Transformative, World Bank EGPS
SDGS & Targets
Goal 1
End poverty in all its forms everywhere
1.1
By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
1.1.1
Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographical location (urban/rural)
1.2
By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
1.2.1
Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
1.2.2
Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
1.3
Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
1.3.1
Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable
1.4
By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
1.4.1
Proportion of population living in households with access to basic services
1.4.2
Proportion of total adult population with secure tenure rights to land, (a) with legally recognized documentation, and (b) who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and by type of tenure
1.5
By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
1.5.1
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
1.5.2
Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP)
1.5.3
Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
1.5.4
Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies
1.a
Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions
1.a.1
Total official development assistance grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country's gross national income
1.a.2
Proportion of total government spending on essential services (education, health and social protection)
1.b
Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions
1.b.1
Pro-poor public social spending
Goal 2
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
2.1
By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
2.1.1
Prevalence of undernourishment
2.1.2
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
2.2
By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
2.2.1
Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
2.2.2
Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
2.2.3
Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage)
2.3
2.3.1
Volume of production per labour unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size
2.3.2
Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status
2.4
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
2.4.1
Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
2.5
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed
2.5.1
Number of (a) plant and (b) animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities
2.5.2
Proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk of extinction
2.a
2.a.1
The agriculture orientation index for government expenditures
2.a.2
Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector
2.b
Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round
2.b.1
Agricultural export subsidies
2.c
Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility
2.c.1
Indicator of food price anomalies
Goal 5
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.1.1
Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non‑discrimination on the basis of sex
5.2
5.2.1
Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age
5.2.2
Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence
5.3
5.3.1
Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18
5.3.2
Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age
5.4
Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate
5.4.1
Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location
5.5
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
5.5.1
Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments
5.5.2
Proportion of women in managerial positions
5.6
Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
5.6.1
Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care
5.6.2
Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education
5.a
Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
5.a.1
(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure
5.a.2
Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control
5.b
5.b.1
Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex
5.c
Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels
5.c.1
Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment
Goal 8
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
8.1
8.1.1
Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita
8.2
Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors
8.2.1
Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person
8.3
Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
8.3.1
Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex
8.4
Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead
8.4.1
Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP
8.4.2
Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP
8.5
8.5.1
Average hourly earnings of female and male employees, by occupation, age and persons with disabilities
8.5.2
Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
8.6
8.6.1
Proportion of youth (aged 15-24 years) not in education, employment or training
8.7
Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms
8.7.1
Proportion and number of children aged 5‑17 years engaged in child labour, by sex and age
8.8
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
8.8.1
Fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, by sex and migrant status
8.8.2
Level of national compliance with labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status
8.9
By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products
8.9.1
Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate
8.10
Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all
8.10.1
(a) Number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults and (b) number of automated teller machines (ATMs) per 100,000 adults
8.10.2
Proportion of adults (15 years and older) with an account at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider
8.a
8.a.1
Aid for Trade commitments and disbursements
8.b
By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization
8.b.1
Existence of a developed and operationalized national strategy for youth employment, as a distinct strategy or as part of a national employment strategy
Goal 9
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
9.1
9.1.1
Proportion of the rural population who live within 2 km of an all-season road
9.1.2
Passenger and freight volumes, by mode of transport
9.2
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries
9.2.1
Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita
9.2.2
Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment
9.3
9.3.1
Proportion of small-scale industries in total industry value added
9.3.2
Proportion of small-scale industries with a loan or line of credit
9.4
By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
9.4.1
CO2 emission per unit of value added
9.5
9.5.1
Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP
9.5.2
Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants
9.a
9.a.1
Total official international support (official development assistance plus other official flows) to infrastructure
9.b
9.b.1
Proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total value added
9.c
Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020
9.c.1
Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology
Goal 10
Reduce inequality within and among countries
10.1
By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average
10.1.1
Growth rates of household expenditure or income per capita among the bottom 40 per cent of the population and the total population
10.2
By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
10.2.1
Proportion of people living below 50 per cent of median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
10.3
Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard
10.3.1
Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed within the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law
10.4
Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality
10.4.1
Labour share of GDP
10.4.2
Redistributive impact of fiscal policy
10.5
Improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the implementation of such regulations
10.5.1
Financial Soundness Indicators
10.6
10.6.1
Proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in international organizations
10.7
Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies
10.7.1
Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of montlhy income earned in country of destination
10.7.2
Number of countries with migration policies that facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people
10.7.3
Number of people who died or disappeared in the process of migration towards an international destination
10.7.4
Proportion of the population who are refugees, by country of origin
10.a
10.a.1
Proportion of tariff lines applied to imports from least developed countries and developing countries with zero-tariff
10.b
10.b.1
Total resource flows for development, by recipient and donor countries and type of flow (e.g. official development assistance, foreign direct investment and other flows)
10.c
By 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent
10.c.1
Remittance costs as a proportion of the amount remitted
SDG 14 targets covered
Deliverables & Timeline
Address poverty through ASM gemstone sales
Implement a charitable event organized by mining associations using premium’s from sales
Sell gemstones mined or traded by a women
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
Feedback
Action Network
Share
Timeline
Entity
Region
- Africa
- Global
Geographical coverage
Other beneficiaries
Mining communities are some of the most vulnerable of rural communities globally, often subsistence mining. Artisanal and small-scale miners often work hand in hand with subsistence agriculture. There are 44,674,993 ASM miners globally. Most colored gemstones are ASM mined. Miners and traders in the program - 191 people participated or were exposed to the Virtu Gem program in the first half of the second grant round, we can extrapolate to say the program can reach at least 300+ people in a year. Virtu Gem beneficiaries are the traders and miners in source counties in which Virtu Gem works, Zambia, Malawi and Kenya. With further funding Virtu Gem is ready to expand to other countries. Beneficiaries are also the Virtu Gem buyers who benefit from the Virtu Gem supply chain model, able to buy products that align with their need for traceable, responsibly mined products.
More information
Countries
Contact Information
Susan Wheeler, CEO and Founder