Blockchains are for Humanitarians, too!

The first thing that sparked my interest in blockchain technology was its potential to help people. The very nature of the technology is such that it aligns perfectly with the goals of many social impact organizations. It’s ability to empower individuals and distribute wealth equitably meshes incredibly well with the general ethos of the humanitarian world. At ConsenSys we have a global team of entrepreneurs, computer scientists, designers, engineers, philosophers and business leaders laying the foundations for a decentralized world. That is, a world in which human action is carried out through self organizing systems that respect and leverage the agency of every individual human being as opposed to current systems that sacrifice individual freedoms for collective action. It is our mission to build and scale the emerging economic, social, and political operating system for the planet. We believe that everything we do and everything we build will, in the long run, help move humanity forward into a more equitable system.

My goal is to bring this technology directly to the organizations and people with the capacity to help others, today. One of the key attributes of blockchain technology is its ability to return agency to the individual, and create self organizing social systems. By ensuring that we, as individuals, control our own data, blockchain technology enables greater control over our own lives. In a blockchain based system, you won’t have to give up your personal information in order to interact globally in meaningful ways.

Many of you must be asking the same question: What exactly is a blockchain? Imagine everyone has a magic piece of paper in their hand, and all of us can see the content that is on that piece of paper,. Nothing can be deleted from that paper, but every single one of us can add to it. Any time that something is added to one paper, it’s added to every other paper. However, everyone must agree to the rules that govern additions to the paper. Now, imagine that instead of a magic piece of paper, you had a decentralized ledger spread across thousands and thousands of “nodes” (computers) worldwide. That is a blockchain. Broadly speaking, this allows systems of shared trust and accountability to be built and scaled globally, in a way that has never existed before.

In the context of humanitarian work, these systems enable us to build new solutions for old problems. Refugee crises have historically stripped people of their identity, and forced them into poverty. We can use blockchains to give refugees, internally displaced peoples, and oppressed minorities, identities that are secure against manipulation. These in turn allow the affected individuals to interact with the global economy, receive basic humanitarian aid, and access education. Together, creating a path out of poverty. We can use blockchain systems to mitigate the damage of corruption and track the flow of resources through the supply chain. We can create peer-to-peer markets that allow goods to be traded between people, and keep intermediaries from draining value and driving up prices. We can also help increase efficiency within humanitarian organizations. By speeding up the rate at which information and funds can flow between different stakeholders, and by reducing the amount of administrative work required to run an organization, we can drastically increase their ability to aid people on the ground.

These are very top down explanations, what about the people using the solutions? How does a blockchain improve their lives? The identities I mentioned before aren’t just about information security, but also self-sovereignty. Individuals are in control of their own actions, and the systems they are using are transparent to them. They can use these systems to self organize on a scale that was previously difficult to imagine. That is to say that people can interact in social, financial, and legal ways, without the previously necessary structure provided by a strong central authority. What this means for individuals is that disaster will not cause them to lose the ability to leverage the education and skills they built throughout their lives. Not only would a fleeing doctor retain their identity, but they would also potentially have access to the financial and legal tools necessary for them to continue their practice no matter where in the world they are situated. This agency extends beyond just the people using the solutions. One of the most beautiful things about a blockchain system is its accessibility by way of open source communities, creating agency for the individuals interested in building these solutions. People all over the world are brought together by a shared belief the potential of blockchain technology, and work together on mutually interesting projects and initiatives.

By now I hope you can all see the same possibilities that I see. We have an opportunity to utilize an exciting new technology to the benefit of millions of people. However as we began to explore potential relationships between blockchain and the humanitarian sphere it became clear that there was a serious lack of discourse between the two. On the blockchain side of things we have all of these exciting concepts, tools, and ideas that we believe are capable of changing the world. We do not necessarily have an understanding of humanitarian problems. On the other hand, humanitarian organizations have knowledge of all of these pain points and problems, yet they often have no clue what a blockchain is or how it may be of use to them. By opening up lines of communication between technologists and the impact space, we can take the first step towards addressing major humanitarian crises using blockchain technology. During our initial conversations with organizations in the humanitarian sphere, we realized that we were missing an important piece of the puzzle: Capital. Development can’t happen without resources, and humanitarian organizations often can’t risk spending funds on emerging technologies. In order to help solve problems, and create truly sustainable solutions we must be able to fund them. Impact Investors have the resources, and often the interest, necessary to help us deploy blockchain based humanitarian solutions..

So we began talking to humanitarians and impact investors across the globe, while simultaneously reaching out to technologists inside and outside of ConsenSys. Together we laid the foundation for a coalition united by a single goal: To research, fund, create, and deploy sustainable (and adaptable) blockchain solutions to address humanitarian crises across the globe. To explicitly state it, we now have all three parties necessary to achieve this. On Tuesday, May 16th, more than 30 people representing 22 organizations, came together to launch the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC) was officially launched. (The website is still a work in progress!) The coalition is targeting four humanitarian sectors; Refugees & Identity, Energy & Environment, Financial Inclusion, and Supply Chain. Through a series of hackathons and conferences based on these four sectors, BSIC will be able to support the creation and eventual implementation of these blockchain based humanitarian solutions.

While the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition can be seen as a top down approach aimed at delivering blockchain based humanitarian solution, it also aims to create a decentralized global network of socially conscious and impact focused collaborators working together to help others. The blockchain space is filled with women and men of all ages dedicated to leveraging the technology for social impact. They want their code to be open-source. They want to share their ideas, and continually work together to create sustainable, long-lasting, and adaptable solutions. It might sound idealistic, but I know these people. I speak with them, work alongside them, and everyday I am more and more convinced that this community will change the world. By connecting them with individuals working on, or simply interested in social impact, we can create grassroots communities with the capability to ideate, research, and create an even broader range of solutions. It is the responsibility of the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition to make sure that these small meetup groups, grassroots organizations, and impact startups have the support necessary to survive and implement change. The image below outlines our vision for the BSIC community.

I am incredibly excited for this journey, and can’t wait to see what we accomplish. If you are interested in getting involved, or simply learning more about what we are doing please reach out!

Ben Siegel is the Impact Policy Manager at ConsenSys. Talk to him about sports/politics/food/anything really. He just likes talking. You can reach him at ben.siegel@consensys.net