The government of Belgium has made a contribution of €2 million in order to promote a blockchain project developed by the World Food Programme (WFP) – named The World Food Programme Blockchain. In an announcement this April 19th, the contribution from Belgium is seen as a manner that will allow the United Nations (UN) to use blockchain fighting against hunger in poor areas.
The “Building Blocks” project is also piloted with other agencies in the UN and has been implemented in order to make WFP cash transfers to refugees more efficient and transparent. Currently, over 100,000 Syrian refugees in camps in Jordan have benefited from it, getting food and other crucial resources provided by donors.
First presented at the Leveraging Innovation for Humanitarian Action in New York, the project aims at using blockchain for donations and helping the ones who need it most. According to Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation:
“Innovation saves lives. This year, more than 128 mln people across the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection. This is triple the number of three years ago. Only by finding better ways to deliver aid more efficiently will we close the gap between requirements and aid delivery on the ground. Belgium lauds the efforts of WFP to come up with innovative solutions to save more lives and help more people in need.”
The WPF chief of staff Rehan Asad also added that it is necessary to meet mounting global crises with innovative solutions. According to him:
“Humanitarians must relentlessly look for ways to harness the most promising digital technologies in the service of the world’s most vulnerable people. We are grateful to committed partners such as Belgium for helping us do just that.”
In May 2017, the UN announced its plans to use the Ethereum blockchain technology in order to ensure that the refugees in Jordan have proper access to food – by distributing coupons that will be used in the local currency.
DC Forecasts is a leader in many crypto news categories, striving for the highest journalistic standards and abiding by a strict set of editorial policies. If you are interested to offer your expertise or contribute to our news website, feel free to contact us at [email protected]
Discussion about this post