Over the past couple of years, blockchain technology has emerged as a powerful tool to deal with several current humanitarian challenges faced by our world today, be it refugee assistance, humanitarian aid distribution, or identification verification to marginalized populations.
Blockchain is revolutionizing the way we approach social impact initiatives and humanitarian efforts in every respect. Intrinsic qualities of blockchain-being transparent, unaltered, and decentralized-allow for better efficiency, accountability, and more confidence in humanitarian operations, thus effectively producing output for the needy.
The most important application of blockchain for social good exists in refugee assistance and displacement crises. For millions of refugees at large globally, there is always a lack of access to identity documents and financial services. Due to a lack of proper identification, they are denied basic services such as healthcare, education, and even financial services.
Blockchain-based identity management solutions securely and tamper-proof store identity information, verification of which will be possible in due time for the refugees with legitimate proof, and which will have implications for their access to basic services and contribution to the global economy.
Similarly, a blockchain-based digital identity given to them might allow refugees to have control over their personal data and safely share that information with the humanitarian organization in question, government agencies, and service providers.
These could include biometric data, education credentials, and other relevant information that would grant refugees a mobile, verifiable form of identification transcending borders and administrative boundaries. Blockchain-based identity solutions can allow refugees access to a range of financial services, including banking, remittances, and microfinance, which will help them take responsibility for their life and achieve financial independence.
Another very relevant area of contribution in which the use of blockchain is being made pertains to humanitarian aid distribution. Traditional systems of delivery of aid are usually highly inefficient, expensive, and vulnerable to corruption and fraud.
Blockchain technology allows tracking from donor to beneficiary in a transparent, auditable manner, hence allowing for an efficient apportioning of their often-scarce resources and delivery. This means that putting aid transactions onto a blockchain will greatly empower donors, aid agencies, and beneficiaries in tracking where the money and goods are moving in real time. This fact will certainly reduce the risk of mismanagement, diversion, and theft.
Other instances include blockchain-based smart contracts that, through pre-set determinants of set criteria, would facilitate automated disbursements.
This automated and openly visible process reduces administrative overhead and ensures that the aid actually reaches beneficiaries in a timely and accountable way.
Blockchain might also make it possible to create peer-to-peer aid networks where people and communities are capable of supporting one another during crisis situations. Therefore, such systems-typically known as traditional intermediaries-along with administrative obstacles, are removed in these various transactions.
There has also been the application of blockchain technology in trying to respond to the challenge of verification of identity among refugees, migrants, and stateless persons. Blockchain provides the avenue to make such claims of rights, access needed services, and societal participation through a secure and tamper-proof recording and verification means for personal identity information.
For instance, blockchain-based identity solutions may legally empower statelessness with status, access to healthcare and education, and political participation.
Even considering the aforementioned fact, scalability, interoperability, and the uncertainty of regulations continue to be a headache for the applications of blockchain. The latter in turn requires scalability solutions that would be practical in addressing the increase in the number of added transactions and participants on any blockchain network, since most often there is limited Internet connectivity and infrastructure in any given region.
It also calls for interoperability standards able to communicate with other blockchain platforms and systems, while sharing data without obstacles to high-level collaboration and coordination among different types of stakeholders. Moreover, regulatory clarity ensures there won’t be a violation of existing legal jurisdictions and avoids regulation backlash.
Conclusion:
Blockchain technology promises much in humanitarian challenges and furthering social impact initiatives on every continent. It provides a secure, transparent, decentralized platform for identity management, aid distribution, and social services, hence enabling people and communities to access basic resources, claim their rights, and be contributors in the global economy.
It is now time to further venture into the great potentials for blockchain in doing social good, opening our arms toward collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity as we run towards a more equitable and sustainable future where nobody lags.
