Results from the field: Improving livelihood prospects for refugees through decentralized identity in Gaziantep, Turkey
In 2019, we were selected to participate in the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Accelerator (SDGia) program in Turkey. Led by UNDP Turkey with support from the World Food Programme, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of Turkey, the SDGia programme is aimed at enabling market-creating innovations that help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
How can decentralized identity help improve livelihood prospects for refugees?
A particular focus of the program was addressing challenges specific to the almost 4 million strong displaced population, especially Syrian refugees, in Turkey. An initial 2 month period involved field visits to gain insights from representatives from displaced communities, aid organizations and local public institutions. These discussions helped us understand how our decentralized identity solution could address some of the challenges specific to livelihood prospects faced by persons under temporary protection in Turkey. See our blog post from 2019 for a quick recap of these challenges.
Last year, we had the opportunity to implement our decentralized identity based solution to address some of these challenges on the ground in Gaziantep, Turkey. The project’s beneficiaries were persons under temporary protection of Syrian origin who have attended vocational training and Turkish language courses at the Gaziantep Chamber of Industry (GSO) and the Gaziantep Chamber of Artisans and Craftsmen (GESOB).
Field Testing in Gaziantep, Turkey
During the project, beneficiaries were able to create decentralized identity based digital wallets to request educational credentials (in the form of digital certificates) from GSO & GESOB as proof of their training experiences. They could then share these digital certificates and other relevant information with a total of 7 enterprises (in sectors ranging from hardware and mechanical manufacturing to information technology and cosmetics) with job openings. Overtime, beneficiaries can accumulate additional relevant data in their wallets to form cohesive profiles reflective of their work and educational experiences.
Employers were also able to verify the authenticity and origin of these certificates via a verification portal, allowing them to rest assured of the job applicants’ skills and competencies.
This process had previously consisted of GSO and GESOB introducing beneficiaries to employers by visiting their premises. Digitising this process was of particular relevance during a period where beneficiaries’ mobility and social interactions were reduced because of COVID 19 restrictions.
A more detailed overview of the project and product can be found in this case study.
What did we learn?
Feedback was gathered directly from the beneficiaries during and after the onboarding sessions. Additionally, Gravity and local partner staff present during the sessions also provided their input through observations made during the sessions.
The main learnings were as follows:
- Confirmation of value proposition for beneficiaries: Overall, participants found the idea of an education credentials digital wallet very useful in terms of improved agency in managing their educational and professional credentials. Many participants enquired about how they can feed their wallets with their previous diplomas and certificates as well, and what additional features could be added.
- Ease of use for beneficiaries and implementing agents: Participants were able to sign up and create decentralized-identity based digital wallets, request and share credentials with ease thanks to the informational video and assistance by Gravity & local partner staff.
- Utility and value provided for local partners: Local implementation partners, GSO and GESOB, found the product useful as a means of decentralized data sharing and upholding beneficiaries’ data privacy and protection.
- Main points of friction during sign up: The main issues encountered(by around 5% of beneficiaries) were during sign up. Requesting and sharing credentials was relatively smooth. Among those who could not finish signing up, the main reasons were due to lack of an active SIM card and difficulties regarding a cryptographic key file upload.
What next?
Keeping in line with our user centered design approach, we will be incorporating the participants’ feedback to address the issues mentioned above and improve user experience during sign up. We have made this a priority in our product development roadmap for the next 6 months and have recruited a UI/UX expert to lead our design efforts to this end.
We will be reaching out to participants from the onboarding sessions to assess the demand for additional features as well.
We will also be continuing our engagement with our local partners to further streamline the product to their needs and that of the beneficiaries’. We have appointed a staff member in Turkey to continue discussions with the 7 enterprises that are interested in using our solution to improve their recruiting processes.
We are also keen on collaborating with other organizations providing educational and vocational skills training for livelihood prospects in Turkey and elsewhere.
We are incredibly grateful to the SDG Impact Accelerator team, UNDP Turkey, GSO & GESOB for their support and assistance throughout the project, as well as to our consortium partners Sertifier and MarkLabs for their collaboration.
A more detailed overview of the project and product can be found in this case study.
*All beneficiaries were explicitly asked for their consent regarding the taking, sharing and circulation of their photos by Gravity.earth and its partners (Sertifier, MarkLabs, GSO & GESOB). All further use of the photos by other parties is subject to permission by Gravity.Earth.
