Announcement – PositiveBlockchain.io

Welcome to new PB contributors and a new 2022 board

Lucas — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 14:50:14 +0000

PositiveBlockchain: by the people, for the people!

At the heart of our association, a group of volunteer contributors “Positivists” -as we call ourselves-. We are happy to keep welcoming new members recently, many new faces in 2022 already! You can join them too, see how here.

Jessica Salama working with Gooddollar. From Bolivia and based in Tel-Aviv!
Jessica Nono working in tech & embedded systems, and also developping her own NFT x Music project. From Cameroon and based in Berlin.
Gy Lacrois working with Ethichub. From France and based in Madrid
Razali Samsudin behind many Sustainable Development Goals initiatives within the Cardano ecosystem like Sustainable ADA. From London and based in Paris.
Stacey Tsui who worked in journalism & video production in Hong Kong in the past few years.
Cole Bartlett also very active with Razali in the Cardano eco-system, and SustainableADA. Based in the US

We are also happy to announce the new board 2022 of Positiveblockchain, with Carmen Ng, Analia Ramos, Lucas Zaehringer, Maciej Bulanda, Flavio Santalucia.

PositiveBlockchain endorsed the Principles for Digital Development

Lucas — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 18:50:23 +0000

What are the Principles for Digital Development?

9 living guidelines that are designed to help integrate best practices into technology-enabled programs and are intended to be updated and refined over time. They include guidance for every phase of the project life cycle, and they are part of an ongoing effort among development practitioners to share knowledge and support continuous learning. The Digital Principles were created in a community-driven effort, the result of many lessons learned through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in development projects. All are encouraged to use them.

Why did PositiveBlockchain sign the Principles?

Because we believe technology is neutral by design, it is not “good” nor “bad” as such. Especially humans designing, implementing, using technologies have the responsibility to integrate social and ethical principles in their practices to make sure technology innovation benefits the people and communities involved and leads to effective progress. This also holds true in the blockchain field.

What about ethical principal for Blockchain?

Whereas the Principles for Digital Development also apply here, there are specific considerations to have regarding blockchain technologies. We encourage you to read the excellent Blockchain Ethical Design Framework for Social Impact to learn more.

How can you take action?

By endorsing the Principles as well, communicating about them, and making sure they are applied and respected in your organization! There are available resources and toolkits about the Principles.

#digitalprinciples #sustainability #tehcnology #blockchain #tech4good #ethics

Celo Camp batch 3 accelerator!

Lucas — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 18:36:59 +0000

Our partners at Celo have just launched the 3rd batch of Celo Camp blockchain accelerator!

They have designed an 8-weeks online camp which includes mentors from top-tier organizations, prizes of over $30,000 cUSD, a fast track for Celo grants, and custom guidance and support to help founders scale their ventures.

As Celo mission is to build a financial system that creates the conditions for prosperity for everyone, they’re aiming to help diverse teams to grow their business on top of Celo’s platform. In 2020, 36 teams from Kenya, Brazil, China and many other countries have participated in the program!

Accelerator: April 5, 2021 – May 27, 2021

Applications are open until March 23, 2021 – Apply Now

How would you build a global database of positive blockchain projects ?

Lucas — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 00:13:38 +0000

PositiveBlockchain is an open database listing 1000 blockchain projects for positive impact. But not only, we are also a community of volunteers exploring the potential of blockchain technologies for the embetterment of the world. We support the ecosystem in their quest of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals.

The near future

In 2021 we are aiming to take PositiveBlockchain’s database one step further with a little help of our friends, to facilitate collaboration and usability, within our association and with our partners.

Our main design objectives are to:

Adopt Open Data Standards’ best practices
Simplify the data exchange process
Increase data relevancy & quality

We are looking for experienced people interested in our project, to give us their view on how to optimize our database so we can offer more value to the community. If that’s you -or someone you know- we would love to get in touch!

Please contact us by email or say hi to Ani on linkedin -we promise to be brief-

Mainly, but not only: researchers, data scientists, governmental agents, technical experts, entrepreneurs, venture capitals; in areas like Sustainability, Innovation, or Blockchain.

The beginnings

Blockchain was -and is (?)- seen as the technology that will ‘save society’. Thus we wanted to learn more about the ways it was being used with this aim. Foster these initiatives, give them visibility and create a community to support them.

Back in January 2018 we formalised PositiveBlockchain as a non-profit organisation -legally based in France-, which was at the time the first open-database gathering projects from startups, corporates, governments and non-profit organizations, using blockchain to create a positive impact in the quest to reach SDGs.

Our community rapidly grew into a global network of volunteers. With the intention to remain neutral and with a world wide coverage, data submission was first crowd-sourced and later open to project owners to submit -or claim- their own project data input. The database keeps growing. On the side we have developed other activities to serve the community: training, start-up contests, newsletters, events, partnerships, to name a few.

Governmental institutions, universities, organisations, journalists, within others, use our dataset as a valuable source of information. Either by simply exploring projects on our webpage, or by using the whole database.

We have collaborated and partner with institutions or associations, such as:

EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum
GIZ blockchain center (the only federal agency engaged in the German Government’s Development Service)
Blockchain4Humanity
Frankfurt School — Blockchain Center
Blockchain for Good
New America

Our DB today lists 950+ projects, with more than 30 attributes for each initiative. Including basic information of the project, media, references, technology used and use case, SDGs multi-tags, etc.

Blockchain is used in a wide range of use cases for positive impact. In order to provide a comprehensive classification of these by sector we have defined 16 core categories. Each of these with a number of subcategories. With this design choice we established an industry related path towards the information. Allowing to attribute other information to projects such as sub-categories or SDGs. We have a broad scope of projects aiming for positives changes, however we aim to highlight projects which are impact focussed.

Here below, as an example, the subcategories defined for Finance & Insurance and Living Conditions, (taken from our data visualisation dashboard).

We warmly invite you to take a tour at PositiveBlockchain.io and to go play a little on our dashboard and discover much more of the blockchain ecosystem for a better world

Ani Ramos & Lucas Zaehringer

Notes:

1- In order to define categories & subcategories, we consulted blockchain and industry experts, considered renown publications, such as those published by the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goals and related KPIs, papers such as Blockchain for Social Impact 2019- Center for Social Innovation — Stanford University.

2- PositiveBlockchain raw database is available for consultation and downloading, with a cc_by license.

3- Special thanks to Paul Peschel , Tri Nhan Vu and to all the positivists for their priceless work.

4- Images are taken from the PB data visualisation dashboard, which is still under development.

More about us here.

New report release: Community Currencies

Maike Gericke — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 10:36:34 +0000

Our latest publication co-created by PositiveBlockchain.io and Scrypt focuses on Community Currencies in the era of blockchain and DLT. It explores the history of Community Currencies, gives an overview and an analysis of current projects in this area, and identifies best practices and limitations for the use of blockchain and DLT for trade facilitation and community development.

Community currencies are forms of money that complement the national currency used within communities to serve a shared purpose. Ideally, community currencies play a catalytic role in a transformation process to improve livelihood of the community respectively its members.

These forms of currencies have been around for a while, from city-based and regional initiatives to those that are complementing the healthcare system of an entire country – Japan.

The goals for implementing community currencies are usually one of a few of the following:

Economic development / trade facilitation
Financial Inclusion & Last Mile access
Community development / incentives for social cohesion
Funding and aid distribution

Why do projects use blockchain or DLT?

Overall, we see that community currencies have a longstanding history. Especially when it comes to Financial Inclusion, community currency projects have to navigate a challenging environment with lacking infrastructure and limited network access. So, what role can (and should) blockchain play in such projects?

To answer that question, we took a close look at the PositiveBlockchain.io database, and identified a total number of projects in the larger area of community currencies. We then followed up with a closer selection of the most relevant projects and selected some of them for additional interviews to get a full picture of their work.

Can blockchain and DLT play a role in Community Currencies?

Yes, if the technology is used in the right way, blockchain and DLT can not only play a major role in overall community currency implementations, but can even offer great advantages in a Last Mile context.

Overall, we see the technology used for various aspects:

Traceability of transactions in order to build a financial record
Access & Identity Management
Exchangeability & volatility control
Usability & ease of implementation

However, we also clearly see that the successful use of blockchain and DLT depends on tackling (at least) the following issues:

Lowering digital barriers & barriers of adoption
Building on existing community networks and interactions
Making the solution work within existing infrastructure, network and access constraints

Regulatory challenges

Introducing a complementary currency is never an easy endeavour. The projects we interviewed did share a few insights on their learnings on this end, and the use of stablecoins played a major role in many of those learnings.

Community Currencies as a social project

As community currency projects can only ever be as good as the community interactions they facilitate. So next to a focus on technology, a focus on co-creation and human-centred design, community building, network facilitation and usability are key ingredients for a successful project in this area.

Read the full scope of our insights in our report:

GIZ Blockchain Lab tender on Supply Chain transparency in Rwanda

Lucas — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:37:47 +0000

Tender from GIZ Blockchain Lab to develop a blockchain-based decentralized coffee supply chain track & trace system

Our Partner GIZ Blockchain Lab would like to share this call for proposals with the PositiveBlockchain network:

“GIZ is looking for a tech provider to develop a blockchain-based application for supply chain traceability in Rwanda.

Agricultural supply chains are inherently complex with often opaque product and financial flows. Profit shares along the value chain can be extremely uneven, but this information remains disguised. Especially small, local producers, who hardly earn a minimum wage, cannot gain leverage against large distributors at the other end if there is no transparency.

Our project aims to develop a blockchain-based decentralised supply chain track and trace system in order to increase the transparency of a coffee value chain in Rwanda. It will enable all actors along the supply chain to submit their data via a user interface to track production, processes, quality parameters, product and financial flows – overall reducing information asymmetries. With the help of e.g. location tags and purchase receipts, the coffee and profit shares should be traced back to the producing organisation.

The project will follow the Principles for Digital Development, in particular applying an open-source approach. We plan to make available all of the source code that will be generated as part of this assignment under an open-source license.

Manuals will also be prepared to describe the methodology, along with proposals for incorporation into the supply chains’ standard processes and mechanisms for participation.

If you or your company is interested in participating in a shortlist tender for our project please get in touch with the GIZ Blockchain Lab ([email protected]) and send a short company profile by 1/11/2019.

#sustainabledevelopment #coffee

Become a contributor at PositiveBlockchain.io!

Lucas — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 12:30:52 +0000

Become a PositiveBlockchain.io contributor!

You want to make an impact at your level, and join a contributor-based network of Blockchain Positivists? This may be for you, and needs people like you to grow further! We are now 30+ contributors and still expecting more to join.

You want to join and learn more about how to apply and contribute? Check out this Medium post

Looking forward to receiving your applications

PositiveBlockchain and the Coalitions4GOOD solve your technical challenges at Web3 Summit

Lucas — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 22:08:38 +0000

Do you have a technical blockchain challenge to solve in your impact project?

Submit your challenge before the 17/08 and get hackers to work on a solution at the Web3 Summit in Berlin on the 19–21/08!

What is the Web3Summit ?

Web3 Summit is a three-days event organized around a single rallying call: to facilitate a fully functional and user-friendly decentralized web. Every year the devs and researchers working on lower level protocols and others interested in the latest developments in the decentralized web come together for an immersive and collaborative gathering focusing on the Web3 technology stack. It includes: P2P protocols, platform neutral computation language, data distribution protocols, blockchains, transient data/messaging; encrypted storage, protocol-extensible developer APIs.

It is an open and collaborative space where the community can create their own programming. Web3 Summit will have space available for workshops, presentations, AMA sessions — both intimate and large-scale, chill-out rooms, and most importantly, a large hackerspace, where you can host a hackathon, whiteboard some ideas, present to other teams, and get real work done.

What is the Coalitions4GOOD?

The Coalitions4GOOD Node is one of the hackerspace sessions at the Web3Summit in Berlin, co-organized by Blockchain4Humanity, PositiveBlockchain, The Bounties Network, Alice, Redeemeum, Iden3 and BC4G Crypto Valley. It will focus on solutions that can help solve critical problems for humanity that result from the lack of transparency, inclusion and empowerment for many in the developing countries.

Time to submit YOUR challenge

We invite all impact project entrepreneurs, individuals or organizations to submit their technical challenges. We’ll display them during the event so that the hackers can connect with you and help you during and/or after the event!

Some challenges we are accepting:

You have a technical need related to blockchain, web, tokens, cybersecurity, development, decentralized governance
Your organization has identified a social challenge which you are trying to solve through creative ideas involving emerging technologies
You are looking for developers, designer and other technical staffs to work on your projects during or after the event
You are in early-stage development of your product/service and need to review your work

Be creative, be pragmatic! The hackers may form groups to work collaboratively on your challenges at the Coalitions4GOOD node, or can also connect with you after the event!

SUBMIT YOUR CHALLENGE (before the 17/09)

Feel free to contact us at hello -at- positiveblockchain.io if you have any request

PositiveBlockchain exploring Blockchain for PPPs in Sustainable Health

Paul — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 12:59:17 +0000

PositiveBlockchain is now supporting the initiative of establishment of UNECE PPP Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Health in Frankfurt am Main (the Initiative) to explore ways of using blockchain for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the Health Sector.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 17 has given a high priority to partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society, as a means of achieving the UN 2030 Development Agenda.

Achieving the goals, such as access to safe water and sanitation, universal healthcare comes with a huge price tag and commitment. Not surprisingly therefore, that special attention has been given to PPPs because of their ability to generate associated financial resources, introduce innovation, and optimize the delivery of essential public services.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda emphasizes the role that innovation plays in support of sustainable development. Blockchain is one of the emerging innovations and can be used to advance the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs. This technology can be a powerful lever to bring together all the stakeholders involved in value chains and those regulating them: producers, intermediaries, the final consumer – and governments.

PositiveBlockchain, as active supporter of the Initiative, will help identify such solutions and assess how they can answer current challenges in the health sector. Within the Initiative, the working group on Blockchain for PPPs in Sustainable Health is established in order to engage with various stakeholders from the blockchain, healthcare and PPP ecosystems to find common ground of understanding for impact projects contributing to Sustainable Health.

The speakers will be Ing. Natalia Korchakova-Heeb, Managing Director, SDG.17 Consulting GmbH, Lucas Zaehringer, Country Manager at Avertim and Founder of PositiveBlockchain.io, Tri Nhan Vu, Founder of Chainist.de.

If you are interested to join the first meeting of the working group on Blockchain for PPPs in Sustainable Health that will take place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on the 17th of October, please contact us at [email protected].

Stay in touch with the Initiative on establishment of UNECE PPP Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Health and receive next updates of this working group on