Investigating the Impact of the Blockchain on the Governance and Sustainability of NGOs in Africa

Governance and Coordination
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Paper / Discussion Title

Investigating the Impact of the Blockchain on the Governance and Sustainability of NGOs in Africa.

  • Link to source

  • Content type tag (summary, discussion)
    Discussion

  • Category
    Blockchain Application Research

  • Proposed tags
    blockchain ecosystem, NGOs, smart contracts, immutability, disruptive innovation, governance and sustainability

  • Description of why this would be an interesting post
    The objectives of the study are to establish (i) the possibility that the utilisation of blockchain technology could improve the governance and sustainability of NGOs on the African continent. How the Blockchain and its technologies impacts this sector, and what factors facilitates its speedier adoption. The study will focus on the NGOs with a mission in development aid. Smart contracts, refugee tracing, supply chain are amongst the use cases to be researched with this context. This is the beginning stages of my research for my PhD, and I will be posting updates and info on my research every 3-4 months.

  • Links to background reading (0 to 3 items)

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From the context of this, it appears this is a project you are actively working on as opposed to looking to summarize for the forum. Is that correct? That might mean a slightly different trajectory for this post idea, but I’m still interested in some of the ideas you are bringing up here.

Would you mind going into a little more depth on your methodology or your thoughts on your methodology?

I’m also interested in why you are specifically focusing on NGOs. What’s motivating that?

Thanks in advance for engaging around your own original ideas and welcome to the forum!

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Thanks @zube.paul for your interest and feedback. I am a newbie on the forum, and it should have been indicated as discussion. You are correct in that I am actively working on it, I would need to chat with some folk that I know on the forum as to correcting it.

The research idea is borne out of the technological progress that the blockchain ecosystem brings to the world. And the many ways that it could impact the world of NGOs. The idea is to connect supposed digital complexity with simplicity of humanitarian need. Decentralised functioning, DeFi, supply chain management through the blockchain ecosystem. Refugee tracing through app design, record keeping and financial management through smart ledger technology, etc. The impact of these blockchain factors is what will form part of my research.

As per my research methodology, I had originally gone for mixed research design but have since been guided to go for a quantitative design. The advice has been to make a novel contribution and utilise pure design science in my research. Which is best achieved through a quantitative methodology. With this I have had to start from over with my research strategy, but despite the restart, I put it out on the forum to share my journey. And listen to the insights.

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From a logistics perspective, I’m going to change your category from Post Idea to Governance and Coordination as long as you are not opposed to that. It seems like a better fit to me.

Thank you for laying out a little more of what you are working on. You mentioned you would do some periodic updates along the way, so I am looking forward to that. While you are working along at this, it might be valuable if you find anything that would be considered a Notable Work in the governance category here. To me, there is a lot of value in sharing bibliographies for future researchers as well.

In passing, I know that a few people at SCRF has expressed interest in how blockchain might impact/benefit refugee populations. Public tracing can have some double-edged dynamics for refugees I would imagine. Do you have any initial thoughts or research on this benefit/privacy balance that refugees might have to maintain? Or do you think that that balance is not really the precise balance to be concerned about?

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Thanks @zube.paul for your assistance in moving my post to the right category. I have no objection at all and appreciate your assistance.

The issue of privacy rights related to refugee tracing is quite an ethical dilemma. The fast progress of technology has not done so in pace with privacy rights, human rights and ethics. This is a “precise balance to be concerned about”, and the aim of my research is to focus on this “balance” and what is its positive or negative impact on NGOs. And on the recipients of their humanitarian efforts. Its a research area that cannot be omitted from my study.

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Since this is based on Africa, what are the actual gains or impact of blockchain on governance since the introduction of eNaira by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Nigerians considering the worthless state of the Naira in the international market? I feel we aren’t going anywhere with this as the naira value goes from bad to worse.

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@Kingdamieth, the scope and purpose of my research falls outside of your question and comment.

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This research is temporary on ice as I have had to apply to a new University to do my PhD. My position on the PhD programme at my present University fell through as the verification organisation in South Africa took too lengthy a period to verify my international Masters degree.

This research is my passion so I will pursuing opportunities to get onto a PhD programme again to continue my research.

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Ok congratulations on this ….since this is outside your research scope, My question would likely be answered in the CBDC reading group thanks

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@Kindamieth, I haven’t seen any research on the eNaira on the forum, but I haven’t checked out all the research posts on digital currencies’. Why not start a research conversation about it?

Thanks for visiting my post.

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I think this is a very interesting topic that will have a massive impact on the continent regarding NGO. I have some questions;

  1. Have you look at how funds sent to Africa as aid can be transparently used?
  2. What is the research strategy and population?
  3. What are your hypothesis.

I will like to follow your progress.

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I think you cant research blockchain in Africa without writing about the eNaira CBDC innovation and the impact it has.
But from what your research focus it seems you are concern about how blockchain can be employed in the NGO regarding tracing funds sent to refugee and other humanitarian programs.

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@Sailorman I am not aware of any NGO involvement in blockchain, but I am aware that the Cardano blockchain is doing excellent work in Africa. If you want to learn more, take a look at World Mobile Token (WMT). The Cardano blockchain is making great strides in Africa, and it has already been used to register students at an Ethiopian educational institution.

Cardano is passionate about “banking the unbanked,” which is desperately needed in Africa. Also, remittances, or sending money home while working abroad, can be greatly influenced by the Cardano blockchain due to its low transaction fees. Banks currently charge around 10% in fees for remittances, whereas sending any amount using the Cardano blockchain would literally cost a few cents. This capability is already in place, and I’m not sure why it’s not being used more frequently. It’s possible that most people don’t know how to do it.

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@Humphery Thanks for your imput. I was not aware that Cardano was busy with remittances in Africa. “Banking the unbanked” was research extensively during one of my Masters subjects, and it is quite a broad research topic. Between M-Pesa and Cardano, the blockchain offers better options. My research will be focusing on the impact that the Blockchain can make on the functioning of an NGO, for example, smart ledger tech in storing records, supply chain management of their particular resources. Furthermore, improved donor trust through the transparency and immutability of blockchain records. However, my research aims to find not only if they need it but also if they want to use it. @Humphery as you said, the tech is there and it would simplify peoples live but they don’t know how to use it.

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Wow, thanks for extending this conversion by this reach commentary.

To me i think the root cause of the unbanked is hinged on literacy. So, the combination of technological, infrastructural and educational strategy would produce the desired outcome. How do you banked people without electricity? Who do you bank people without network connection. How do you bank people they can neither read no write?

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I am very much interested in your research. I want to know your methodology and research strategy too. However, going through the discourse here, i discovered there is a gap in discussion that needs to be filled. The gap is knowing what people think about CBDC and stable coins. Here is a thread i created for that. I think it will interest you.

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@Progrezz, one of the gaps of the progress of Blockchain technology is the knowledge gap. People don’t know how to use the technology or the tech teaching is only done for profit. Crypto trading has become big in Africa but beyond that folk are not taught about the further use cases of the blockchain.

Please do visit this thread next year, when I get into my research. My research strategy has been worked out but once I start polishing it, it is going to change. Thanks for the link to your thread, I will take a look at it.

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You’re welcome.

The speedy growth of blockchain or crypto usage in Nigeria is due to the money making opportunity in trading. However, i think blockchain as a technology has many other use cases that cut across agriculture, legal and other industries.

How do we use the tool of research and education to Unlock the value of blockchain in other areas?

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@Progrezz Could you elaborate more on how CBDC and stable coin comparisons are a gap in the research design here or the research discussion? While those certainly are generally important, I could use some help seeing the connection to the project and approach that @Sailorman wrote about.

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In this discussion thread or post, a reference was made to eNaira. It was stated by one of the commentators that there is no information about that. That’s one of the gaps.

Secondly, this research is about blockcahain adoption and usage in Africa. Nigeria is the country in Africa with the highest crypto users. And Nigeria is the first country in Africa to pursue a blockcahain related project and program.

So, i think no research about blockchain in Africa will be complete without making reference to the eNaira and to Nigeria.

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