uman.global – Universal Mutualised Aid Networks

UNIVERSAL MUTUALISED AID NETWORKS

Supporting humanitarian and development activities with new technologies

GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Climate change, inequalities and persistent large scale conflicts are the most serious issues that we are facing today.

million people with <1.90$/day

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on USD 1.90 per day.

Compared to the estimates produced in Oct. 2016, the total number of poor increased by 2.5 million (from 766.0 to 768.5 million), leaving the share of the global population that is considered extremely poor at 10.7%.

Source: World Bank

million forcibly displaced people

Nearly 69 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nations refugee agency reported.

The figure equates to “one person displaced every three seconds – less than the time it takes to read this sentence.”

This is more that displaced people during the WWII.

Source: UNHCR

disasters in 2017

Natural disasters caused more damage in 2017 than in any of the previous 5 years, with much of the damage caused by extreme weather events linked to climate change, above all severe hurricanes, flooding and fires. Poor people are invariably the most vulnerable to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Source: UNISDPR / Statista

SECTORIAL CHALLENGES

In the past year, scandals have impacted the development sector and public perception of the capability of NGOs. Though facing multiple concurrent challenges, we are currently focusing our efforts on alleviating the following 4 main challenges that, we think, are the most critical. We will start with the first one.

HEAVY PROCESSES

It can take a minimum of 6 months to give the funding to the beneficiaries due to heavy & manual processes

high transaction costs

Financial costs can increase due to cash transfer fees & unpredictable variations of local currencies, jeopardizing the achievement of budget's objectives

lack of transparency

Transparency means disclosing who is benefitting from a campaign, how much they are receiving, & precisely how and when funds are being disbursed. Lack of transparency can damage the NGO equity

Accountability deficit

NGOs have to be accountable to many different stakeholders. This creates a lot of work as many different donors have their own rules about how NGOs should report their activities

WHY NOW ?

We believe that crucial conditions are met to bring positive change. The introduction of emerging technologies such as blockchain has the potential of being a game changer for the development & humanitarian relief sector.

POLITICAL IMPETUS

The European Commission has launched a new Prize: 'Blockchains for Social Good'. Prizes will be awarded to innovators that use Blockchain technology to develop decentralized solutions bringing about positive social change. Many UN agencies (WFP, UN WOMEN, UNICEF etc.) have developed projects leveraging new technologies and have supported investment in start-ups that develop software solutions on open blockchain.

Rising connectivitY

Beginning 2018, there were 5 billion mobile users and 4 billion internet users. Innovative initiatives like ballons-powered internet or launch of 4,000 satellites aim to reduce the digital divide and make internet accessible for the whole planet.

New emerging technologies

Blockchain, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, VR, data analytics are amongst the new technologies that drive significant change in the past few years. A lot of private companies are investing in such technologies to further drive change. What if donors & NGOs could benefit from them too ?

OUR MISSION

We are creating ecosystems involving new technologies like blockchain to assist donors, NGOs and other development actors to overcome their operational challenges in order to save time, money & ressources that could be reallocated to beneficiaries instead.

We are aiming to support the current donors in their key processes by developing solutions to automate manual and time-consuming tasks. NGOs will be able to upload their key materials and track all the records of the funding processes.

Technology

We rely on key expertises and technologies to support our ecosystems.

benefits

Our blockchain-based platform features are going to be available for donors & NGOs to better manage key processes for the development programs towards beneficiaries in need.

Process simplification

By automating critical processes like the publication of the call for proposal and the NGO selection, the timing to deliver (min. 6 months) the funding will be reduced and then beneficiaries can benefit earlier from the funding

cooperation & shared learning

No more siloed approaches. Past experiences, best practices and lessons learned can be shared amongst all designated stakeholders on our platform

immutable and accessible records

All data recorded on the blockchain can not be altered or changed over time. All transactions can be audited in a transparent and efficient manner

LEADERSHIP & EXPERT TEAM

Our Team combines expertise in management consulting, Blockchain and Telecommunications Technology, social-techno entrepreneurship as well as International Development & Humanitarian Aid.

We are bridging the gap between technologists, development practitioners & humanitarians.