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How blockchain could help developing countries
There has been much conversation around the idea of blockchain technology being the future for developing nations.
Developing nations, now, have more access to technological resources, which is expanding over the years. Access to this technology can reshape and benefit these countries' way of living.
There are a few ways that blockchain technology can help these developing nations including managing property rights, limiting corruption, and helping disadvantaged groups of people.
There was a UN report done in 2011 that stated, "Weak land governance occurs as a result of low levels of transparency, accountability and the rule of law, the report says, which strains 'the rules, processes and institutions that determine which land resources are used, by whom, for how long, and under what conditions'" (UN News, 2011).
This, they claim, is in regard to the lack of transparency in land occupancy, land and agricultural use, etc. They even explained that this corruption was found in the form of bribes, fraud, and influential abuses of government power.
So many people in these countries lack land ownership where they live and work. In more developed countries, there are titles for their place of residence and other documentation claiming that the property is theirs.
The use of blockchain technology can help mitigate this issue.
There is a company called Bitland, which is a US-based real estate registration platform that uses blockchain technology. This registry system is already being used in Ghana. What they do is record transactions with GPS coordinates and satellite photos. This guarantees property rights to specific people, which also reduces corrupt practices.
A few more developing countries have already decided to follow Ghana's lead and use the registry system for themselves.
Blockchain would also aid in helping disadvantaged groups of people such as refugees. Problems within the sphere of helping refugees and other displaced persons include fraud, misallocation of resources, inefficiency, mismanagement, and theft, among other issues.
According to Nir Kshetri of IEEE Xplore, there are a couple of blockchain-based solutions that could help with these problems such as:
Empowering donors to purchase equipment in Bitcoin to ensure it reaches the correct recipients
Using a "blockchain-based smart meter" to send money into, to eliminate the need for middlemen such as organizations to distribute the funds
Already, the UN's World Food Program has used blockchain to help these people. They send money directly to merchants to be distributed to eliminate the need for banks. They track the money and supplies to make sure that the beneficiaries receive what they need.
In 2017, they launched a platform called Building Blocks which gave food and cash to families in need in Pakistan. They used their Building Blocks' ledger to record the payments made to the vendors to ensure that the recipients got their needs met and the merchants were paid as well. Source
Researchers are now noticing what blockchain can do in regard to our global problems. There have been many efforts in creating a reality where it's possible to eradicate the issues facing the world. Yes, there is a lot of work to do in developing these systems, but they are just getting started and already changing the world.
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