Opportunities and challenges: for improving transparency in aid
Working in the humanitarian aid sector
The Frontier Technologies Hub has tested various technologies and use cases within the humanitarian aid sector, from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to Internet-of-Things-enabled tracking sensors, to less tangible financial technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency. These technologies have the potential to address and mitigate many of the unique challenges and complexities associated with working in the humanitarian aid sector.
Background
A cross-cutting focus for Frontier Technologies pilots working in the Humanitarian sector, has been in using technology to improve visibility and transparency within humanitarian funding and supply chains. Pilots have aimed to deliver benefits such as improved accountability, greater visibility of aid’s impact and improved data for decision making. Pilots have also sought to tackle issues relating to leakage and duplication of aid. Ultimately, pilots have also sought to adapt the way humanitarian actors operate, providing new tools for collaboration, enhanced accountability mechanisms and new foundations to develop more transparent operations.
Learning from humanitarian innovations: insights from FT pilots on improving transparency in aid using blockchain and other technologies
Through in-field testing with FCDO, NGOs and technologists, we’ve developed learning on the potential for impact, challenges and key routes to scale for humanitarian innovations, as well as evidence gaps and opportunities for future pilots or research. This review surfaces lessons learned from across the FT portfolio of humanitarian pilots and specifically delves into insights from pilots seeking improving transparency in aid:
Can blockchain enhance governance and transparency of humanitarian funding and supply chains to improve efficiency, interoperability, and security towards better accountability and trust?
Can blockchain and cryptocurrency support the localisation and decentralisation of humanitarian aid funding?
Can frontier technologies support faster, cheaper generation of more reliable and accurate tracking data along humanitarian supply chains?
Can blockchain and other technologies be used to identify and reach the right aid beneficiaries—and de-duplicate beneficiaries to enhance impact?
Can frontier technologies improve the ability to track outcomes and returns on investment in humanitarian aid contexts?
Summary findings have been outlined below.
Frontier technologies in humanitarian settings
What we’ve learned about the employing frontier technologies in humanitarian settings and specifically for improving transparency in aid - by which we mean increased visibility of supply chains and distribution of products, and improving tracking and visibility of aid payments:
The humanitarian sector is made up of many complex and fragmented systems, and there are many actors. This can make implementing solutions challenging and taking a decentralised approach may be the simplest route to testing and scaling a solution.
There is a limited ecosystem for adopting new tech/innovation in the humanitarian aid sector. There is limited demand, expertise and widespread use of technology within the humanitarian sector as well as a lacking tech evidence base. This creates challenges for pilots looking to scale solutions within the sector.
The nature of the humanitarian environments makes field testing of new solutions difficult. The cost and time to adapt new technology solutions for a specific use case can seem at odds with the limited ecosystem and rapidly evolving humanitarian contexts. There is often limited access to real-world scenarios for testing which requires alternative approaches of implementers e.g. simulations and a willingness to mobilise quickly if opportunities for testing arise.
Knowledge of the context and the needs and incentives of those involved is essential. Implementing teams will need deep collaboration with and support from humanitarian actors. Familiarity with humanitarian contexts and actors is particularly useful to teams when it’s not feasible to access sites or engage end users directly. It’s equally important to invest in engaging stakeholders to build the foundations for scale through sustained engagement and feedback mechanisms. Implementing teams should avoid detailing the underlying technologies and instead focus on the value add it offers when engaging with stakeholders.
The technology must be appropriate to the task and the context. Datarella recognised the need “to create technology which does not obstruct but enables [our] users” especially when that user is time poor and responding to critical emergencies. Designing a solution that is fit for purpose in terms of users’ needs and capacities, the technology itself (where, how and with what will it be manufactured and repaired) and cost.
There were contradicting experiences amongst teams on how to approach a lack of understanding of the technology itself. In some cases a focus on the technology was felt to divert attention from the potential of the solution to questions about the underlying technologies and governance. For others, ensuring a good understanding enabled them to communicate the benefits; how the system is going to function on scaling up and how it adds value.
Additional barriers experienced by pilots looking to increase visibility of supply chains included:
Tracking of goods raising security concerns in some settings.
Humanitarian funding flows don’t favour localisation of response.
Additional barriers experienced by pilots that sought to track aid payments and increase visibility:
Different stakeholders hold different perceptions of transparency and the utility of transparency to them.
Interoperability and organisations’ ability to integrate the tools needed to share data proved difficult.
Outstanding research and evidence gaps and priorities for future pilots to explore
Based on a landscape review of FCDO investments into the humanitarian space, and a consultation with humanitarian champions within FCDO and implementing partners, the FT Hub has identified the following research questions, which we think it would be valuable for future FT pilots (or FCDO projects more generally) to explore:
One of the challenges of innovating in the emergency response and humanitarian sector is the lower tolerance for risk associated with time pressured and critical implementation in unknown or unstable settings. However, there is a need for further field testing of these technologies to build evidence on their usability, effectiveness, and benefits. It is important therefore to understand what the right incentives are for motivating humanitarian actors to experiment with and adopt new technologies. Further exploration is also needed of what it would take to deploy these solutions at scale in local/ humanitarian contexts.
In regards to solutions for enhancing humanitarian supply chains in particular, there is a lack of research around the opportunity costs for aid beneficiaries in receiving aid and how supply chain technology can help address these. More evidence is needed on the impact of these technologies on improving aid delivery systems, both in terms of improved governance (transparency and accountability) in aid systems and ultimate beneficiary impact. Evidence is needed on the return on investment from technologies to track deliveries in terms of efficiencies.
Technologies such as blockchain may have potential for supporting improved governance and power dynamics within humanitarian aid, particularly around accountability, decentralisation, and localisation. As above, building evidence around the potential to improve governance as well as the ultimate beneficiary impact is needed. Further, as solutions in this area are targeting systemic change within aid organisations, further exploration of whether donors and implementers are ready to change internal processes or what it would take to reach that point is needed, specifically tools and processes to enable interoperability and sharing of data. While there are opportunities to improve efficiencies in the funding chain some of the technology in the financial sector may incur transaction costs that outweigh their benefit/value add and there is a need for more robust cost-benefit analyses. There is also an opportunity for greater understanding of the balancing of transparency with privacy and the implications this raises for the governance of humanitarian aid.
Frontier Technologies Hub pilots:
3D Printing Nepal
A blockchain-enhanced platform to support the humanitarian crisis
Beyond relief - using digital remittances technology for informal enterprises
Applying data aggregator platform and distributed manufacturing technologies to meet
De-duplicating aid to enhance the impact of humanitarian assistance
Harnessing geo-data technologies to support peace positive investment
Humanitarian Supplies on Blockchain
IoT for a Data Revolution - Water Quality
Precision drop UAV for Humanitarian Aid (UAV Impact)
Smart Learning for Conflict Displaced Children
Smart geo-seals to track delivery of humanitarian aid
Tracking UKAid Payments on the Blockchain
Other relevant FCDO Programmes:
Further information: