About Afai Consulting

We work across the globe with clients in need of reliable data and knowledge for decision making on their mineral supply chains or specific topics within the mining sector, such as artisanal and small-scale mining. We bring clarity to mineral supply chains both in and out of the limelight and have experience working with a diversity of minerals across the spectrum from construction, battery, and industrial minerals to precious metals and (semi)precious stones.

We also develop projects to assure and/or enhance responsibility at any step of the mineral supply chains our clients already work with or want to. To do so we operationalise international best practices and standards to tailor their implementation to complex environments.

Our clients include both upstream and downstream stakeholders, as well as public and private sector actors such as: jewellers and watchmakers, banks, industrial metal users, miners, traders, policy makers and development agencies, as well as local and global civil society.

Always bespoke and tailored to the needs of our clients our work can be broadly characterised as falling under four general categories:

Risk and impact mapping of mineral supply chains from mine to export to evaluate and assess the potential for mitigation interventions and positive impact generation.

Design and support the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of projects to ensure and enhance the positive impacts of mineral supply chains. In particular with vulnerable groups such as artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) stakeholders.

Assessment and advisory on engagement and gap closure for mining operations or specific supply chains from artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operators to industrial mines.

Facilitation and coordination of thematic working groups on responsible mining and supply chains. Generating knowledge, and, when needed, facilitating collective action.

As support for our work under the categories mentioned above, we have developed assessment criteria, tools, and analysis framework based on relevant standards and certifications (OECD, IFC, CRAFT, etc…) as well as expertise in the development and onshoring of ASM standards.

Our field-based mineral experience

To complement our in-house expertise, we count on a network of around a hundred subject-matter experts and local experts in different territories. Together we respond to the needs of each project, by bringing to the fore key contextual information that can only be produced with such a combination of know-how.

Team

Nicolas Andres Eslava

Biography

Luciana Foresti Lanzoni

Biography

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Afai Consulting BV Keurenplein 4, unit A2829 te, 1069CD Amsterdam KvK 67815332

Nicolas Andres Eslava

Nicolas Andres Eslava is the founder and Director of Afai Consulting BV, a company founded in 2017 based on his years of experience in the sector. An experience focused on Human Rights, mineral supply chains, and the management of the upstream natural resources sector across Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as the integration of these concerns in the decision-making of downstream stakeholders across the world.

He has worked intensively across the globe covering the different and interconnected aspects of the natural resources sector.

Nicolas has worked for a variety of international donors as well as mining and trading companies, jewelers and watchmakers, banks, and insurers. This work has included mineral supply chain mappings and characterisations, in particular for
artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) production; OECD Guidance and IFC Performance Standards value chains and mine sites evaluations; evaluations of mineral sourcing strategies for downstream companies; design of ASM
formalisation and integration strategies; Mining Code and Policy evaluations and revisions; training of stakeholders in human rights due diligence.

Nicolas holds an MSc in Security Studies from University College London and brings with him his knowledge of quantitative, qualitative and GIS-based approaches to data collection and analysis. He speaks fluent English, French and Spanish.

Luciana Foresti Lanzoni

Luciana Foresti Lanzoni is the Head of Institutional Development at Afai Consulting BV. She has 20+ years of experience with strategy, organizational/group learning, collective action, research, monitoring and evaluation for positive socialenvironmental impact, including in the mining sector.

Her institutional and group development work is based on organisational learning theory: building shared vision, systems thinking, mental models, collective (team) learning, and personal mastery. And she believes in the importance of prioritizing infrastructure design for quality of results, scale and innovation.

She has lived in different countries and has worked in various cultural contexts. Before working with Afai Consulting Luciana was the Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning of the Alliance for Responsible Mining, a global organization focused on artisanal and small-scale mining. As part of this work, she was co-responsible for a multi-stakeholder process to adapt the assessment tool of the CRAFT Code to the Brazilian small-scale gold mining context.

Luciana holds an MBA in Human Resources and Sustainable Organization from FUNDACE – University of São Paulo, Brazil and a BA in Administration with a focus on public management and policy from EAESP-FGV University, Brazil. An education complemented by specialization courses in business intelligence and in hosting participatory dialogue and network learning and action. She speaks fluent English, Portuguese, and Spanish.