Blockchain for Transparent Aid Distribution by World Food Programme

📖 The Story

Who, When, and Where — Context

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), started in Pakistan in 2017 and later expanded its use to Jordan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, and Ukraine.

Why — Challenge

When multiple organizations are responding to a crisis or emergency, inefficiency arises as they use different databases and processes internally. It leads to suboptimal, if not wasteful, assistance allocation, such as delivering cash, food, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), and medicine to needy people.

What and How — Tech Solution

The WFP has developed a blockchain infrastructure for humanitarian organizations to participate in and co-own up-to-date records of the services provided to people. The blockchain network increases the visibility of aid allocation and allows organizations not to duplicate their efforts, waste valuable resources, or exclude individuals from receiving assistance.

💡 Key Insights

• It could be uneconomical if resources are not coordinated and distributed properly, despite the huge resources invested by governments, international organizations, or NPOs/NGOs.

• Blockchain technology can act as a “coordinator” that enables multiple parties with different objectives to cooperate without hierarchy while providing a transparent incentive mechanism. WFP’s Houman Haddad calls it coopetition (cooperation-competition).

• Privacy implications are particularly crucial in the humanitarian context when using emerging technology. With the unique challenges in change management and stakeholder buy-ins, the “Blockchain for Good” movement still needs to design the systems deliberately and better understand the use cases.

✅ Try This

Think of a coordination problem you are facing, where (1) multiple parties are working on a similar task, (2) motivations and approaches often conflict, (3) transparency is always the point in question, or (4) things are just too political. It could be an area where blockchain can help.

To assess the potential, answer the following questions.

• What are the incentives each of the entities receives through their own work?

• What kind of problems will we see if everyone continues the scattered efforts?

• What would a potential coopetition path look like? It should continue to incentivize the multiple players while ensuring their common problem is addressed effectively.

📊 Did You Know?

In a 2023 report from the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) “Deduplication of people, families or households,“ estimates of duplicate cases in cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programs range from 1% to 15%, with around 5% being the most commonly cited figure. This includes cases resulting from participant error, official error, or fraud.

Although the reality depends heavily on context, it is evident that the conventional way of allocating resources has a duplication issue, and the valuable resources are not distributed as equally as they should be.