We believe data, leveraged in a way that empowers both organisations and end-users, is the key to addressing these major challenges. Access to transparent and trusted data offers organisations the capability of transforming how services are delivered. Decision making becomes data-led. For end-users, they gain control over secured, personal data; the basis for greater agency in everyday transactions.

Utilising innovative technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, AID:Tech has developed and deployed proven solutions for governments, corporates and NGOs. Blockchain becomes the key to securely and transparently capturing data. And, AID:Tech’s proprietary technology enables advances in the management and dissemination of data. In time, artificial intelligence and machine learning will play key roles in making data available in ways that benefit and empower organisations and users.

AID:Tech was the first company in the world to successfully deliver international aid to Syrian Refugees in Lebanon using Blockchain technology. Our products and services help clients and partners address some of the world’s largest social issues as well as targets set by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – signed on by over 190 countries. Our solutions offer an unprecedented level of insight into performance, transparency, and efficiency – generating rich datasets with which, governments, NGOs and charities can harness to improve how funds, products and assets are distributed and tracked.

AID:Tech CEO & Co-founder, Joseph Thompson, has been recognised as one of only ten global SDG Pioneers by the UN for his work in promoting Blockchain technology and its potential in global development.

A year after its groundbreaking pilot, Oxfam in Vanuatu, together with 17 local and international partners, is scaling its blockchain-based UnBlocked Cash project to distribute cash and voucher assistance to over 35,000 beneficiaries affected by the Category 5 Cyclone Harold and COVID-19.

UnBlocked Cash is now serving as a single payment platform to unite partners in the harmonized delivery of cash assistance, enhancing coordination, collective capacity, and ensuring more value for each donor dollar by boosting the local economy. Oxfam is deploying this solution in Papua New Guinea later this year and in the Solomon Islands in 2021, with the Pacific region leading other pilot locations across Oxfam’s global confederation.

Oxfam’s UnBlocked Cash project, powered by Australian fintech Sempo, is set to tackle the growing humanitarian demands by saving costs of distributing aid by up to 75%, reducing delivery times by over 90%, and bringing more transparency and accountability in the process.

All of this is possible thanks to a blend of humanitarian assistance, digital financial inclusion, and locally-led blockchain innovation. The UnBlocked Cash solution consists of the e-voucher “tap-and-pay” cards used by beneficiaries, a smartphone app through which vendors receive the payments, and an online platform where NGOs like Oxfam can monitor transactions remotely and in real-time.

The innovative use of digital currency, in this case, a digitized version of the local currency in the form of a collateralized blockchain token, has introduced the concept of digital financial inclusion and access to Vanuatu, where the majority of the population are unable to access ‘brick and mortar’ banking services. In other iterations of the initiative, the use of stable digital currencies (stablecoins) as a “borderless” digital store of value has also introduced the potential for the institutional donors to fund, and track funds across multi-country programs, with just a single contribution and access to a central analytics dashboard. The platform also has the potential to flexibly integrate direct cash distribution and individual donations, allowing for a more transparent, direct, and participatory model for humanitarian assistance globally.

Earlier this year, Oxfam won a €1M prize from the European Commission to support the development of this humanitarian innovation beyond the Pacific region.

Vanuatu Pilot 2019

“During the UnBlocked Cash pilot, Oxfam in partnership with Sempo and ConsenSys distributed 966,443 Vanuatu Vatu (VUV) or
11,896.91 Australian Dollars (AUD) to 187 heads of households and 29 vendors, which was estimated to have directly benefited some 1,209 individuals in two urban communities in one of the world’s most at-risk countries.

Over the course of a month, Oxfam and its partners were able to successfully deliver a first-of-its-kind Distributed Ledger
Technology (DLT) based solution employing the Dai (DAI) stablecoin. Additionally, the system piloted in Vanuatu saw the successful deployment of a novel near-field communication (NFC) card, which in tandem with a ‘side-channel’ developed by Sempo, allowed the system to cope with poor internet connectivity while ensuring double-spends were impossible despite offline transactions.

Oxfam set out to determine whether DLTs can reduce the cost and transaction time of cash and voucher assistance (CVA), while improving transparency, security, and overall user experience (UX) within the urban context of Port Vila, Republic of Vanuatu.

With the support of Sempo, the UnBlocked Cash pilot has shown modest cost-savings and significant time-savings related to
operational activities. Onboarding recipients to the platform was reduced to an average of 3.6 minutes per individual compared to over an hour during the Ambae volcano response in 2018. Additionally, the tested system eliminated slow identity (ID) verifications and reduced dependency on post offices or banks to deposit cheques.

The quality of the tested solution, which encompassed transparency, security, and user experience indicators, was found to be
extremely high. Recipient and vendor feedback alike indicates an overwhelming preference for assistance of this type.

Ended – after pivoting, Valhalla is now working to grow pumped-storage hydroelectricity as a complementary technology to solar.

Humanity Road now accepts bitcoin donations. Use your Bitcoins to make a tax-deductible donation and help people and animals impacted by disasters.

Humanity Road, the world’s first female-led digital nonprofit, which leverages the power of social media to save thousands of lives in disaster zones.

When disaster strikes, the organization’s volunteers work remotely using social media and other means to find people and animals who need help and connect them with rescue agencies. It also provides clear, helpful and accurate information to those impacted. For example, volunteers might sift through Twitter to find an individual’s call for help, or help private and government groups test new technologies for disaster assistance. Humanity Road has partnered with FEMA, UNOCHA, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Pacific Command to respond to disasters in the U.S., Haiti, Pakistan, Japan and Nepal, among others.

“Statistics show that if we can reduce the rescue period by one day, we can improve the recovery period by 1,000 days,” says Thompson. “Since the organization was founded in 2010, it has been responsible for the direct rescue of thousands of individuals.”

UN Women and Innovation Norway, the Norwegian Government’s instrument for innovation and development of enterprises, are partnering to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment through innovative technology solutions. UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director, Yannick Glemarec, and Innovation Norway’s CEO, Anita Krohn Traaset, signed the first Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations on March 7, 2017 at a high-level event in Trondheim, Norway, where the guests of honour included the Crown princess Mette Marit and Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende.

By the current rate of progress, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 will not be possible, and women and girls in humanitarian crises impacted contexts are at most risk of being left behind. For example, maternal mortality in humanitarian crises and in fragile settings is 1.9 times the world average, and the number of maternal deaths in these countries represent 61 per cent of the total number of maternal deaths worldwide.

Innovation and technology provide unprecedented opportunities to reach those who are the farthest and hardest to reach by breaking isolation and creating economies of scale to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

By working together, UN Women and Innovation Norway will enhance innovative approaches and solutions in response to addressing gender inequality issues, particularly in humanitarian contexts. The collaboration will also help to identify future public-private partnerships and strengthen the private sector’s engagement in generating innovations.

“During our stay here in Norway we have visited incubators and met with Norwegian entrepreneurs that develop innovative humanitarian solutions that can strengthen women’s empowerment. UN Women believes that this agreement is the beginning of a close partnership that will enable us to build stronger ties between the needs that we identify in our work and the innovative products that are being developed,” said Mr. Glemarec.

The partnership between UN Women and Innovation Norway will create platforms and projects, which will include exploring making blockchain technology work for women and girls. Blockchain technology offers users the ability to build and maintain immutable and secure personal records and to directly transfer digital assets without the need for intermediaries and associated costs. Thus, women and girls in crises will be able to have safe records of documents that are essential to rebuilding their lives and for economic activities. UN Women will participate in a hackathon at the Katapult Future Fest taking place in Norway in May to explore the potential of blockchain as a solution to some of the problems that women face in humanitarian contexts.

“This agreement makes the Norwegian private sector and innovation a bigger part of the solution”, said Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende.

Broadly, the collaboration between UN Women and Innovation Norway will focus on:

• Enhancing innovative approaches and solutions to address gender inequality issues;
• Promoting women, especially marginalized groups, as both producers and consumers of innovations;
• Promoting public-private partnerships and strengthening the private sector’s engagement in innovations to accelerate gender equality and women’s empowerment, notably through competency building and knowledge sharing;
• Sharing best practices, methodologies, and lessons learned around innovations to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.

UN Women believes that strong partnerships such as this, can help women and girls to design, shape and benefit from the technological transformations and innovations changing our world.  (Source: unwomen.org)

Pilot 

UN Women, in partnership with the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (UN OICT) and with the support of Innovation Norway, hosted a four-day simulation lab to explore cutting-edge solutions based on blockchain technologies that address challenges faced by women and girls in humanitarian settings.

“Being the only UN agency created in the 21^st century, UN Women has prioritized innovation technology as one of the drivers for change, strategically leveraging innovation and partnership to accelerate progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment,” said Yannick Glemarec, UN Women Deputy Executive Director, during the opening session.

Natural disasters and conflicts exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities and discriminations experienced by women and girls, heightening their vulnerability, and exposing them to disproportionately high levels of risk. At the same time, women also play a critical role in enabling effective, efficient and sustainable humanitarian response.

UN Women, together with partners, such as Innovation Norway, is committed to ensuring that humanitarian action responds to the needs and challenges of women and girls and leverages their active participation and leadership. While there has been some progress in this area, there remain significant gaps. Calling for “radical innovation,” Elisabeth Fosseli Olsen, Head of Humanitarian Innovation Initiatives, Programmes and Grants at Innovation Norway reminded participants, “there are too many people left behind in today’s humanitarian efforts.” Harnessing technologies such as blockchain is one of many ways that UN Women is working to strengthen humanitarian action.

Blockchain is a distributed database of immutable digital records that can be accessed from anywhere. It offers users the ability to build and maintain immutable and secure records and to directly transfer digital assets without the need for intermediaries and associated costs.

These attributes enable blockchain to be used to create and store verifiable digital identity for refugees as well as enable trackable and inexpensive cash transfers. As humanitarian crisis continues to be protracted over decades, with millions of people on the move, technology like blockchain can provide solutions to immediate and long-term challenges.

During the four-day event at the UN Women Headquarters in New York, seven blockchain technology solution-providers demonstrated their solutions to over 200 UN officials, representatives from Permanent Missions to the UN, blockchain technologists, humanitarian actors and academics.

Among the various areas of potential innovation and investment, UN Women has identified cash transfer and identity as areas to leverage blockchain technology to assist women and girls. UN Women will invite selected vendors to submit a ‘request for proposal’, after which the most suitable solutions will be piloted in humanitarian crisis settings. Supported by Innovation Norway, UN Women is committed to ensuring that this process continues to progress in close collaboration with UN and private sector partners.

“History shows that trends can be broken with innovation in policy, institutions, management models, finance, science and technology. Making innovation work for women is a key objective of UN Women,” said Mr. Glemarec. “Digital technologies can provide unprecedented solutions to address the fundamental needs of marginalized groups and those at the bottom of the pyramid.”

(Source: unwomen.org)

RightMesh, incubated by multi-award winning parent company Left, is on a mission to bring connectivity to the next billion users and lift 100 million people out of poverty. Using the combined power of blockchain, mesh networking and our own MESH tokens, our team of 100+ PhDs, Scientists, Developers, Entrepreneurs, Business Strategists, and other experts in Canada and Bangladesh, are building a solution that will change the way the world connects. We are putting the power of connectivity right into the hands of the people with self-forming, self-healing, and self-regulating, mobile mesh networks that use various technologies in existing smartphones and IoT devices rather than relying on traditional infrastructure and Internet Service Providers. RightMesh’s platform and protocol enable decentralized communications, allowing true peer-to-peer connectivity, extending connectivity to previously unconnected remote locations and developing nations, providing a viable solution to support net neutrality, and enabling offline connectivity when natural disasters or regimes take down traditional communications infrastructure.

It even reverses the traditional insurance model for natural disasters, thanks to a service powered by blockchain that offers a fast, fair and transparent refund and empowers users to customize their premium, allowing also microinsurance.

Helperbit has been selected for the BlockChainSpace accelerator program, and has been featured on Nasdaq, Techcrunch, il Sole 24 Ore, Wired Italia and many more.Helperbit won the startup competition at the D10e conference in Amsterdam, the community prize at the GTEC competition in Berlin, the second prize at the Blockchain Startup Contest in Graz, the second prize at the ABI competition in Milan and was selected in the top 100 innovation projects at the World Humanitarian Summit, which was sponsored by the United Nations.

4 BILLION PEOPLE LIVE WITHOUT EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICES

Guardium and Guardian Circle together open the emergency response grid to vetted citizens, private response and compatible devices for the very first time.

Providing an economic framework on our global distributed emergency response network; Guardium brings first responders to the 4 billion people on the planet without government sponsored emergency response.

Beyond providing crucial emergency response the platform creates employment opportunities for responders and innovators that integrate with the Guardium ecosystem.

An Application Ecosystem That Already Works
Unlike many other blockchain projects Guardian Circle is an established platform that has been operational for over two years and is in use in over 30 countries.

Guardian Circle’s first release was in March 2016 on iOS and Android. In the subsequent two years the application has amassed tens-of-thousands of users.

As of today Guardian Circle is currently available on iOS, Android and Amazon’s Alexa ecoystem. Apple Carplay and Android Auto implementations are currently in development with a targeted release date of Q4 2018