Disberse

@paulcurrion eloquently summarises our thoughts on the role of #blockchain in@#aid. 4 years of learning summarised into a Twitter feed yesterday, and blog post today paulcurrion.medium.com/can-we-trust-t…

Yesterday we had an interesting @FrontierTechHub Next Steps session with @FCDOGovUK colleagues on "using blockchain to make an impact". As well as ourselves @Disberse, we had representatives from @Datarella (Germany) and BenBen (Ghana). We had some thoughts! (1/?)

OK, here we go. This learning document is quite long, and I assume you all have twitter-length attention spans now, so here are some key lessons in a THREAD (1/who knows)

The reports for Sprints 1-4 can be found within the Resources section of disberse.com and are well worth a read

Finally, in Sprint 4 we produced a learning document that captured key lessons from both the FTL pilot and our longer company history. Blog: medium.com/frontier-techn… (6/6)

In 2019/20, we partnered with @DFID_UK / @FCDOGovUK & @UNOCHA. The pilot was organised as a series of sprints, during which we conducted research and analysis of Country Based Pooled Funds in Iraq & the Occupied Palestinian Territories. (1/6)

A big thanks to our partners including @DutchRelief @StartNetwork @dorcashulp @trocaire @Tearfund @CaritasRwanda @Positive_Women @boMakeRP @tdh_ch @soskinderdorpen @RodeKruis @redeenkind @Tykn_tech (3/3)

Following these, we joined a consortium to launch the 121 Project. We were responsible for setting up channels between individual donors in the Netherlands & UK and individual recipients via banks in Ethiopia & Malawi. The pilot was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (2/3)

In 2018 we delivered our alpha pilots in partnership with the @StartNetwork + its NGO members. These pilots validated our model of distributing funds faster, cheaper and more transparently. Our learning notes can be found in the Resources section of disberse.com (1/3)

Mismanagement: These three problems increase the likelihood of waste, including potential for fraud and corruption (5/5)

Efficiency: Bank charges, poor exchange rates and currency fluctuations raise costs, reducing the amount that reaches those in need (4/5)

Our existence was based on solving a complex financial challenge for the aid industry. The global financial system is slow, expensive and opaque. Banks weren’t built to meet the needs of the aid industry. (1/5)

We explain more about this, and share some of the most important lessons, on our Medium post here @paulcurrion/on-the-right-track-6ee77f8b15bf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">medium.com/@paulcurrion/o… (4/4)

We learned a lot along the way, so we‘ve converted disberse.com into a learning hub, where you can learn about our work, and access key resources which share our lessons (3/4)

In 2016, we set out on a journey to build a new type of financial institution for #aid. We made a lot of progress - but we didn’t achieve our biggest ambition (1/4)