Gitcoin Takes Decentralised Grants To International Development In A Partnership With UNICEF
Five countries including Nepal, Kenya, Argentina, Brazil and the Philippines will benefit from a collaboration between Gitcoin and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Office of Innovation to fund impact-focused projects in a round that seeks to test the former’s new decentralised grants protocol.
The UNICEF round which will begin in December will fund 10 projects that use blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies for social good. The nominated projects in the collaboration with UNICEF address financial access, education and literacy, environment and public health.
“Gitcoin has always believed in blockchain’s potential to address global coordination problems and catalyse the development of technology that tackles pressing social issues and creates real-world regenerative impact,” Gitcoin said, adding that UNICEF’s mission to fund social impact projects aligns with its and the collaboration brings transparency and community-driven grant allocation to the non-governmental organisation world.
Arweave News had reported that Gitcoin was ending centralised grants and single point of running quadratic funding because it had reached its limits following a vote by its community to transition to decentralised grants programme which will be fully launched in the second quarter of 2023 after two test rounds.
Gitcoin said the nominated projects in the collaboration with UNICEF have a track record of success with some winning hackathons and being recipients of investments from top firms.
On financial inclusion, the nominated projects include Kotani Pay, Rumsan and Treejer and Xcapit from Kenya, Nepal and Argentina respectively. While Xcapit promotes financial inclusion and literacy using smart crypto wallets, Rumsan developed a fast and transparent cash assistance for beneficiaries in hard-to-reach locations using blockchain. Kotani Pay enables crypto to fiat exchange without internet connection or bank account, promoting financial inclusion while Treejer links those fund trees and those who plant them.
In the public health category, Cirrolytix from the Phillipines uses AI for epidemic management by using climate and health data. StaTwig, based in India, tracks the supply of products such as vaccines and food to ensure quality and safety.
Rentadrone and Bioverse Labs from Chile and Brazil respectively, use imagery and machine learning to access data that enhances the communities’ agricultural and energy practices.
Pixframe Studios from Mexico and Chatterbox from Cambodia use natural language processing and other AI use cases to build apps that increase literacy and education outcomes.
We are excited to announce our collaboration with UNICEF’s Office of Innovation, said Azeem Khan, Gitcoin Head of Partnerships.
“It’s our first foray into grants allocation beyond Web3, and we feel it signals the real-life potential and interest in bottom-up, transparent funding allocation. We intend to scale this novel tech to support communities all over the world.”
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