I'll just leave this here.
Posted Mar 23, 2017, 7:43 PM UTC
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Hi All,
I'm Houman and I'm one of the people behind Building Blocks. Thanks for all the encouraging comments!
For what we did in Pakistan, we uploaded beneficiary entitlements onto the Ethereum Testnet and authenticated and recorded their transactions there. We then used the records from the chain to settle up with the merchants.
We are now building towards a scaled up and more robust version which will include linkages to various direct payment options, including ETH.
Based on the the comments in this page, I've asked our people to look into accepting cryptocurrencies as donations. If we can manage to do that, then we can link it to payments out from Building Blocks and offer end to end tracking to our donors. That'd be pretty cool.
We understand blockchain well enough to have a number of ideas about humanitarian applications, but none of us are from a technical background. So other than ETH, we could always use people to bounce ideas off of for sanity checks and technical feasibility. If you have deep knowledge of Ethereum and Smart Contracts and you want to help us out (pro bono), please get in touch: [email protected].
If you want to see some more photos from what we did in Pakistan, you can find them here: https://insight.wfp.org/what-is-blockchain-and-how-is-it-connected-to-fighting-hunger-7f1b42da9fe.
Cheers, Houman
P.S. Building Blocks and Share the Meal are both supported by WFP's innovation center, but they are separate projects. Having said this, there is a great opportunity to link the two. For example you pay ETH, a meal is shared ,and it is paid for through Building Blocks, allowing you to track the whole thing. We will try to achieve this more actively once we've moved Building Blocks a little further along.
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Thanks very much for commenting! Your account is new and it was the weekend so I apologise it was stuck in the moderation queue. I worked in Kabul (2005-2010) and development work is close to my heart. I would love to hear more about your ideas for humanitarian applications.
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Great work Houman,
I was in Peshawar and some of the tribal region a while back and visited some of the camps so memories of Afghan hospitality of Really Really Sweet tea, Kabuli rice are flooding back. I have got to admit that when I first heard about the application of blockchain in this space I was a bit sceptical - technology can be something of a hammer looking for a nail. However it looks like this application is a sensible use of the technology that takes into account in the field experiance.
This may have conflict of interest implications (because they have a crowdsale and thus are kind of for profit and because the WFP probably has to be careful to not be seen as endorcing any third party) but might be worth you getting in contact with the wetrust ROSCA people.
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You're doing great work. Thanks for your effort and definitely do an update if you can accept crypto donations
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I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
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[/r/ethereum] WFP/Building Blocks follow-up regarding their project.
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[/r/ethtrader] WFP/Building Blocks follow-up regarding their project.
^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^(Info ^/ ^Contact)
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If you'd like to send me some slides and video over Google Drive I'd be happy to assemble a short slide show with the voice over amd music if you want that. Also, send me related graphics. I'll make something nice to help out.
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Great work!
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Context: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/610eu1/un_world_food_programme_is_going_to_use_ethereum/
I wasn't able to understand whether it is on public or private chain.
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Hi! I'm one of the PM's on the Building Blocks project @WFP. For the POC we used the public chain. However as we scale up we will be using a private permissioned chain. Mainly due to privacy issues with beneficiary data.
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I would not mind if all of the unclaimed ETH in the DAO fund could be donated to WFP to feed the hungry. Perhaps put it into a contract that drips the funds out. eg. release a portion every month.
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Basically you are saying that you would not mind if we give them money that do not belong to us. DAO funds belong to people so they are the ones that will decide what to do with it. For instance I got my share from the DAO not long ago. Having said that, great initiative! I will see how I can contribute but it won't be through PayPal.
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I think we could only justify doing this like 5 or 10 years down the line, and even then we could only give away a portion of it.
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Now that's a good idea! :-D
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That picture was really fantastic to see.
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I actually ended up signing myself up for $15 dollars a month of recurring donations. Feels good to help those in need! :)
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I wanted to give them ETH directly. PayPal or credit card only.
How do I help them set this up? Anyone have a contact I can reach out to?
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Good for you.. thx! Minor effort often big reward
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No doubt ... simple to set up .. I guess they need to move to fiat but would just need walk through for that as well
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Damn. I need some color in my wardrobe. Me and my boring ass earth-tones.
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Yeah but your moonboots are rad.
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Yay! That looks like my native place! Rajasthan getting in on the Ethereum action! दी होडलर जीवन !!
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Hi! I'm one of the Project Managers on this project at WFP. Great to see you all so excited about it. In the Proof of Concept we used the public ethereum blockchain but now we are planning a scaled up pilot and will use a private permissioned blockchain to start. What we are seeking to build is an interoperable system where multiple agencies / NGOs / governments can act as nodes.
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The SWITCHENING of WFP
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It's beautiful
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Do they take ether donations?
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Really admirable!
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[deleted]
Yes shareameal is amazing. Anytime you go out to eat, send a kid a meal. Have an extra drink? Thats right, more food for families!
I emailed the app developers to ask if they'll integrate cryptocurrency donations: [email protected]