The primary use case for cryptocurrency in most wealthy countries is acquiring it and holding it, trading it, or using it in various other ways to mak
The primary use case for cryptocurrency in most wealthy countries is acquiring it and holding it, trading it, or using it in various other ways to make more money. In the developing world, where access to financial and banking systems is limited or nonexistent, innovative humanitarian organizations are piloting micro-blockchain ecosystems.
In the summer of 2021, Hope for Haiti was ready to launch a cryptocurrency pilot program to provide 150 mothers with cellphones, digital wallets and payment cards that use near-field communication technology. Each mom participating in its community nutrition program was set to receive $50 per month in cUSD for six months to spend on family essentials. A select group of local vendors was trained to use the system and poised to accept the cryptocurrency payments. On Aug. 14, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocked Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula, decimating the area.
Hope for Haiti had to delay the project and immediately shifted to disaster relief. The organization received thousands in cryptocurrency donations in short order. Skyler Badenoch, Hope for Haiti’s CEO, tells Magazine: “We probably brought in a hundred grand in crypto to support our earthquake relief efforts. Whether it was $50,000 in Bitcoin from Binance Charity. [..] We were getting Ethereum donated to us. We got $10,000 in Dogecoin donated to us. It came from all over.”
EMERGENCY APPEAL: Thousands lost lives, property & access to basic needs after the devastating #HaitiEarthquake. We call on our community of #crypto donors to come together & support crucial relief work being done by @HopeforHaitiFL & others on the ground https://t.co/dUZX4n7dJu pic.twitter.com/zVDk8qPXUu
— Binance Charity (@BinanceBCF) August 24, 2021
Just a year earlier, Sandra Uwantege Hart, who at the time was Oxfam International’s blockchain innovations and cash transfer lead, was preparing to launch a cryptocurrency pilot in the south Pacific Ocean country of Vanuatu. After a successful first effort in the region, Uwantege Hart was hoping to scale Oxfam’s UnBlocked Cash solution fivefold for this ambitious phase-two project.
Then, just days before launch, Cyclone Harold slammed into the island nation. The category 5 storm decimated parts of the archipelago, an island chain economically dependent on tourism that was already reeling from COVID-19 lockdowns and an active volcanic eruption.
Cyclone Harold hits Vanuatu, after killing 27 in Solomon Islands
It is a category five storm, the most severe, with 215km/h winds https://t.co/LeWqxUQowa
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 6, 2020
Almost overnight, Oxfam and its local partners brought to scale a blockchain lifeline, originally tested with 200 participants and 27 local vendors, to nearly 5,000 households and 357 vendors. They worked with the local chamber of commerce to issue cell phones to merchants and train them on the UnBlocked Cash system. On the ground, a network of about 15 charitable organizations enrolled affected citizens and managed the system. In a conversation with Magazine, Uwantege Hart says that “It’s almost like the whole idea of a decentralized, distributed model is exactly what worked in terms of how we operated and deployed the system.” She adds:
“Let’s decentralize, let’s provide a really good automated tool to deliver assistance and decentralize the way that tool is deployed across multiple organizations in multiple locations concurrently, to make sure that we can scale as quickly as possible.”
Uwantege Hart went on to co-found the global technology firm Emerging Impact. Partnering with the Celo Foundation, Kotani Pay and Polish Humanitarian Action, Emerging Impact soon facilitated efforts to integrate DeFi tools into a cash reward program in Kenya. Celo, the donor, built a dashboard to deposit funds directly into Kotani Pay wallets. In the field, Kotani Pay recruited Maasai women to participate in the pilot while Polish Humanitarian Action monitored transparency. According to Uwantege Hart, “I can’t even tell you how much time that saves.”
She clarifies further that to make it happen, multiple players from all over came together: “This is between Celo, based in California; Polish Humanitarian Action, based in Poland, with some offices in Somalia; and the implementing partner in rural Kenya, and Maasai women who are building rural infrastructure, building dams to conserve water, so that they can start to increase their agricultural output.”
Umoja
The experiences gained and lessons learned in these pilots led to the development of Emerging Impact’s Umoja solution, an all-in-one humanitarian assistance suite. One of the first projects to utilize the system was CARE’s digital cash and voucher assistance pilot in Ecuador, initiated in September 2021. CARE Ecuador’s monitoring coordinator, Ronald Pisco, tells Magazine the pilot provides electronic vouchers and NFC payment cards to 250 women who don’t have access to…
cointelegraph.com