Humanitarian Blockchain Summit

The Humanitarian Blockchain Summit will bring together technology experts, scholars, and humanitarian practitioners for dynamic discussions about the future of blockchain technology in humanitarian operations and in pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Blockchain technology holds great potential for improving these operations—whether it’s used to transfer cash to disaster victims, coordinate the delivery of supplies, streamline humanitarian financing, or make humanitarian projects more gender-inclusive.

The summit is designed for those interested in using blockchain for tangible humanitarian impact. Breakout sessions will focus on overcoming challenges to using blockchain, as well as identifying the best ways to develop humanitarian-friendly blockchain platforms, among other topics. The sessions will also include collaborative exercises and presentations about how some organizations use blockchain.

OBJECTIVES
The goal of the event is for participants to recommend policies for using blockchain in specific humanitarian interventions through

• Sharing lessons learned and experiences emerging from the early days of implementation of blockchain initiatives for humanitarian action;
• Increasing awareness about the variety of platforms and protocols currently being implemented, and their unique specificities;
• Exploring the ethical adoption of humanitarian blockchain solutions in response to technical, legal, and governance challenges facing the humanitarian sector;
• Bringing together experts from across sectors to foster new partnerships, encourage technical collaboration, and explore non-traditional funding sources;
• Curating existing open-source tools used in humanitarian blockchain services; and
• Building a digital community of developers interested in impacting humanitarian action.

CORE PARTNERS

• Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs
• IBM
• Fordham University
• Norwegian Refugee Council
• UNOPS
• Center for International Humanitarian Cooperation

A comprehensive agenda will be available soon. Please visit the IIHA blog for more information.