We remain, committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular SDG 5 – the empowerment of women and girls.

For our 2023 research project, we partnered with the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland, to investigate the outcome of the 2019 Code of Practices, and our additional activities on gender equality, on improving gender equity across our membership.

SAI were commissioned to conduct remote interviews with RJC members in India to investigate how they have adapted their operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. SAI explored how RJC members in India have leveraged their existing management systems (required by the RJC Code of Practices) to deal with changes required to manage labour and working conditions during this time. The survey explored how the RJC standards could be adapted to better equip members to deal with emergency events and business continuity, in addition to collecting member feedback on special measures introduced by RJC during the pandemic (such as the certification and audit extension policy, additional member guidance on managing key labour risks during the pandemic and the remote audit derogation). SAI also identified examples of noteworthy achievement and good practices implemented by the members during the COVID-19 pandemic related to labour rights and working conditions. RJC’s management response to the findings and the recommendations of the research is available at the end of the report.

SAI were commissioned to conduct an evaluation of RJC’s member companies in and around India’s gem and jewellery hubs, Mumbai and Surat. SAI examined the outcomes of a company’s involvement in the RJC certification process on labour rights and working conditions in their business. The evaluation consisted of three phases. Phase one was the distribution of a digital survey to members assessing the outcome of RJC certification on each company’s policies and procedures, worker comprehension of these, and level of compliance. Phase 2 consisted of observations at 23 member sites to validate and contextualise the information gathered through the survey, through interviews with management and workers, facility walkthroughs, and review of factory documents. For the third phase, SAI conducted telephone interviews with a sample of 10 members to gain additional context and a deeper understanding of the answers provided in the survey.

Building on a collaborative project with ISEAL in 2017, to develop a robust research methodology to evaluate the business benefits of certification, RJC commissioned AidEnvironment to apply the methodology for this year’s research project. Specifically, the study explored the business benefits which RJC member companies in the jewellery supply chain derive from implementing management systems in accordance with RJC’s Code of Practices (COP). The study focused on manufacturing and wholesale companies. RJC’s management response to the findings and the recommendations of the research are contained in section 4.3 of the report.

• RJC’s requirements to implement programs to improve practices and reduce social and environmental risks on ASM are important to improve the work conditions and human rights of local artisanal miners and to minimise the environmental impacts of these artisanal miners.
• RJC’s requirements to participate in initiatives that enable the professionalism and formalisation of ASM have a positive impact not only on the formalisation of these artisanal miners but on their livelihoods, practices and productivity.
• RJC’s requirements to support the development of the local community through backing community initiatives such as local procurement had a positive impact delivering economic and social improvements.
• Women empowerment is a positive side effect of the livelihood improvements obtained through the company’s approach to engage and work with women artisanal miners and the initiatives to foster local development.

The diamond cutting and polishing sector in India is key to the jewellery supply chain, as 9 out of 10 of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished there. In recognition of this important sector, RJC commissioned Dalberg Global Development Advisors to conduct an independent impact evaluation in 2014 to look at the uptake and impact of the RJC Certification scheme in the diamond cutting and polishing sector in India. The assessment highlights that RJC’s standards are strongly aligned to key risks, and is helping to instil and highlight best practices.

A follow up study in India was commissioned by RJC in 2015.

An in-house RJC member survey was conducted by the RJC management in 2015 to better understand the level of interest and demand for RJC certification in the industry and what members are doing to stimulate further uptake in the industry. The results were reported in the 2015 Impacts Report.

RJC has been developing a member toolkit of marketing and promotional collateral, to support members in communicating with the industry and their business partners about their RJC certification, to stimulate further demand for RJC certification. This will be launched at the 2018 AGM in Moscow.

The first outcome evaluation RJC underwent focused on small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), with annual turnover of US$50 million or less, which make up around 60% of RJC’s membership. In December 2014, a team of 3 postgraduate students from the Graduate Institute of Geneva have completed a study on small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the uptake, access and impact of Certification in the jewellery supply chain. The study was sponsored by Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, and co-supervised by RJC. The research provided valuable input into the 2015 Impacts Report, as well as for RJC’s internal planning for guidance development and the Topic Expert program.