Pigs play a key role in Papua New Guinea, both culturally and economically. Rising global demand for pork presents new export opportunities, but only if farmers can prove the quality of their product. Together with the International Telecommunications Unit, FAO is creating a distributed ledger system – better known as a blockchain-based system – that can track livestock and allow consumers to buy with confidence by verifying the history of their pigs. Using the system, farmers can record important information about their pigs, including their pedigrees, what they were fed, when they fell sick and what medicine was administered. Before the system was implemented, consumers had no means of verifying this information. The implementation of the new tracking system is vital for establishing consumer trust and ensuring farmers can expand their markets and earn a fair return on their investments.

Currently, there is a lack of visibility and timely availability of shipping documents along the supply chain in Ethiopia and the Djibouti corridor, resulting in delays due to poor planning and rework. These issues make it difficult to know the status and expected delivery of shipments. Blocks for Transport utilizes blockchain technology to create a more visible humanitarian supply chain and reduce delays in transportation, starting with the Djibouti to Ethiopia corridor.

UNCDF with technical assistance from Amarante Consulting is partnering with Laxmi Bank, a Class “A” commercial bank and its subsidiary microfinance institution to develop suitable savings and credit products that cater to migrant Nepalis and their beneficiary families back in Nepal. The end goals are: -To direct the flow of remittances into short or long-term savings instruments and/or credit products that help generate income and assets. -To explore credit products to support out-migration costs and meet short-term consumption needs such as payment of school fees. For that purpose, UNCDF and Laxmi Bank will explore the potential of blockchain to facilitate cross border settlements to drive down costs and artificial intelligence-driven credit scoring technologies to originate and gauge customer creditworthiness. Marketing exercises that are adapted to the local context will be deployed to create the link between remittances and access to finance. UNCDF and Laxmi bank will run a pilot in early 2019 for four months. The goal for the pilot is to enrol 400 savings and credit customers, at least 40% of whom are new customers for Laxmi Bank. Activity level in savings/credit accounts, end-use of credit and credit delinquencies are some of the other indicators that this pilot will aim to track. The emerging evidence from this pilot could inform potential course-corrections for a full scale-up in pilot corridors (Nepal-UAE and Nepal-Malaysia) as well as other geographies. The project’s objectives and tracking mechanisms aim to address four SDGs in particular namely poverty reduction (SDG 1), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), reduced inequalities (SDG 10) and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

In November 2020, the WFP Jordan Innovation Hub launched a pilot with Decapolis; a blockchain-based platform that tracks the food product through the whole supply chain, from the farm to the retail shop. Blockchain technology builds a chain of digital records that cannot be broken or tampered with. This provides a highly trustable system for tracing food quality and safety. Decapolis trains Jordanian smallholder farmers in agricultural best practice for optimal crop quality production, including proper handling and usage of pesticides and other additives as well as techniques for avoiding bacterial contamination. Soil and water quality is ensured through laboratory testing at least twice during the crop cycle. Simultaneously, smallholder farmers use the Decapolis platform to register and prove their products' compliance with local and international food safety standards. Retailers can also access and purchase these certified premium crops through the same traceability platform.

goLandRegistry is an innovative, blockchain technology-based software solution that supports government efforts to ensure systematic, transparent, and secure online land registry management and data verification. It is part of a collaboration between OICT and UN-Habitat to provide a framework for the development of emerging technology tools and digital platforms to improve urban design and planning in South Asia. goLandRegistry leverages the public hybrid blockchain platform LTO Network for land registry deeds anchoring and verification. goLandRegitry aims at supporting Member States by: - Enabling survey, mapping and registration of land and properties in urban informal settlements - Employing emerging technology to map the property registration process and ensure that land occupancy certificates details are anchored into a decentralized public blockchain environment - Enabling property owners to demonstrate the authenticity of their land titles independently through the Open Source blockchain verification tool

The first digital platform for food donation in Serbia „Plate by Plate“ allows food donations with just a click. Through the platform, humanitarian organisations have direct access to information about food availability from the moment retail shops publish their information about food donations, after which they need to reserve the donation and collect it. The platform is based on blockchain technology, making the whole process traceable from the first to the last step, more transparent and secure.

The project is building a platform to support traceability, certification and incentives across the livestock sector through a digital system, that motivates farmers to adopt more sustainable pasture management. The project will build a traceability solution for the remaining steps of the value chain as part of Phase 2 (from slaughterhouse up to the final consumer), while integrating that with work already underway in Phase 1 on traceability (from the ranchers up to the slaughterhouse). This is to ensure full transparency and traceability across the entire supply chain while linking price benefits and incentives back to cattle ranchers.

UNDP Lebanon has explored blockchain-based solutions for the renewable energy sector in Lebanon. This study has first identified these real-world applications and development of commercial-size blockchain-based energy business models through desk researches, interviews and the collection of working use-cases from the fast-evolving blockchain space. Taking into consideration the specific context of Lebanon, the study has identified suitable blockchain-enable solutions for the uptake of renewable energy in relatively short-term as well as the set of recommendations for deployment. Furthermore, in collaboration with FlexiDAO, one of the leading blockchain players in the energy space, tracking more than 3TWh of renewable energy per year, CEDRO Project has initiated the pilot project to examine the first unbundled and voluntary market for renewable energy certificates (REC) for Lebanon by leveraging blockchain technology. FlexiDAO have showcased its software RESpring for four implemented solar PV pilot plants in Lebanon. The objective of this partnership is to showcase the technical feasibility and market interest of establishing this certificate marketplace in order to support the energy transition in Lebanon.

Backed by blockchain technology, CedarCoin will promote the reforestation and protection of Lebanon’s ancient cedar forests, the symbol of the country. One CedarCoin will be assigned to a specific tree. For each tree planted, a CedarCoin will be distributed to its investor and to the communities hosting the trees; encouraging reforestation and rewarding environmentally-conscious behaviour. CedarCoin will raise money to buy more trees and finance replanting programmes. In future, CedarCoin owners will be able to ‘adopt’ a specific tree, and see its location and GPS coordinates. CedarCoin will also be used to promote solar photovoltaic technology—allowing supporters to invest in solar panels to replace carbon-generated power. Investors will be paid in CedarCoins equal to the electricity and the income the panels generate. Live Lebanon’s mobile app, Lebanon Connect, will be expanded to enable direct contributions to crowd investing campaigns. Participants will be able to buy CedarCoins through digital wallets such as Lykke, a Swiss-based free exchange global marketplace. For as little as US$20, Lebanese expatriates will be able to digitally connect to their home country as well as to a community of investors and public and private sector organizations, and ensure that the trees that have stood as the symbol of their country for thousands of years have a healthy future.

The objective of this pilot is to enhance the traceability and due diligence in the cotton value chain through the implementation of blockchain technology, to support a circular economy approach. Working with a range of key industry players, UNECE will develop a blockchain solution for sourcing sustainable cotton. ---- Improving transparency and traceability has become a priority for the garment and footwear industry to increase its ability to manage its value chains more effectively; identify, mitigate and address labour and human rights and sustainability impacts; combat counterfeits; and manage reputational risks. Today, many companies have a limited view of the network of business partners within their value chain. Most can identify and track their immediate (Tier 1) suppliers, but information is often lost about the suppliers of their suppliers – a UNECE study demonstrates that only around 30% of fashion companies implement tracking and tracing in their supply chain – and most of these reach Tier 1 only. Nonetheless, the implementation of traceability in supply chains is a complex issue because it requires the collaboration of all stakeholders and the deployment of shared, reliable technical solutions. The global fragmentation of production is a key feature of the fashion industry which is further complicated by the prevalence of subcontracting and informal work, especially in lower supplier tiers. As a result, it has been difficult to provide consumers with information about product provenance Advanced technologies (distributed ledgers such as blockchains, AI, machine learning, Internet of Things) can enable fashion industry actors to improve supply chain transparency across a variety of ecosystems by making available all information about product origin in a transparent and trustworthy manner by assigning a digital identity to the product. Cotton is a key sector for the textile and garment industry because it is the world’s most widely-used natural fiber, with an approximate yearly global production of 20 million metric tonnes. It is a vital industry and a critical source of economic growth which contributes to the livelihoods of more than 350 million people, mainly smallholder farmers in developing countries. Nonetheless, cotton production has substantial environmental and social impacts which are increasingly interconnected and trickle down to negatively impact cotton producers. Many companies have already engaged with global cotton sustainability programmes and have started to shift from the use of conventionally-grown to organically-farmed cotton. In this context, and in connection with the UNECE project for advancing transparency and traceability of sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear sector, a first pilot will focus on a blockchain solution in cotton value chains. The pilot will be implemented in collaboration with experts from brands, manufacturers, raw material providers, standard-setting bodies and technology providers. It will cover all the production steps of the value chain along with relevant business data and sustainability data elements identified in a mapping conducted by UNECE and UN/CEFACT experts, and a selection of certificates linked to specific hotspots of the cotton value chain (i.e. certificate of origin, certificate of organic cotton, and certificate of zero discharge and hazardous chemicals substances), to ensure the traceability of a product type (i.e: a shirt/a suit, TBC) and assess the pilot’s scalability to other textile fibers.

The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) has taken the leap into emerging technologies to help them to streamline service delivery to their clients, the retired UN staff around the globe. The Pension Fund’s Certificate of Entitlement (CE) certifies that retiree beneficiaries are who they say they are, are still living, and still reside at their registered locations. This has always been a cumbersome and manual processes that has been prone to error if not fraud. ICC together with the Fund and the effective partnership of Hyperledger, an open source blockchain technology firm, has created a solution to automate and make immutable the CE process with blockchain, biometrics and a mobile app. The project team created and completed a Proof of Concept prototype that demonstrated that technology could be applied to overcome existing issues with the CE without introducing any major risks that hamper the flow of entitlements.

UNDP is creating a chocolate bar made with Ecuador’s most exclusive cocoa beans and sourced from sustainable farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Thanks to blockchain, European customers will be able to trace every single ingredient. The price of the chocolate bar will reflect its impact on the ecosystem and the real costs of production and export. The profits will be shared fairly, with farmers receiving a significantly greater share than through any other method. UNDP believes that traceability will positively influence European consumers’ purchasing behaviour and hopes to prove that consumers will pay the true price for the chocolate’s socio-economic and environmental impact. If this is true, the model can be replicated in other countries and with other commodities.

As part of its Building Blocks pilot, WFP is trialling blockchain as a means of making cash transfers more efficient, transparent and secure. Cash transfers, through vouchers or pre-paid debit cards, allow people to purchase their own food locally and are an effective way to empower them to make their own purchasing decisions to relieve hunger. Cash transfers are an increasingly important means of providing assistance, with the number of people receiving WFP cash transfers growing steadily in recent years, from 3 million people in 2010 to 9.3 million in 2015. Blockchain is a digital ledger technology used as a trusted way to track the ownership of assets without the need for a central authority, which could speed up transactions while lowering the chance of fraud or data mismanagement. Crucially, its peer-to-peer nature removes the need for verification from costly intermediaries such as banks or other institutions. By harnessing the power of the blockchain, WFP aims to reduce payment costs associated with cash transfers, better protect beneficiary data, control financial risks, and set up assistance operations more rapidly in the wake of emergencies.

Currently the average cost of remitting money to Serbia is around 8% and there is no transparency on how and where the money is spent. In Serbia, UNDP and AID:Tech are using blockchain technologies to issue a Digital Identity to beneficiaries and thereby enable them to receive remittances directly. This is expected to reduce the cost of individual transfers by more than 2%. Instead of sending cash, the diaspora will be able to purchase vouchers for items such as food, electricity and more. These vouchers will be sent directly to the beneficiaries Digital Identity, which they can use at the point of sale or on a mobile app to pay for their electricity, gas, groceries etc.

Traditionally, cash transfers have been made available to refugees via third-party financial service providers such as banks. Through the partnership, Syrian refugee women who participate in the UN Women cash for work programme will be able to access their funds directly and the accounts will be kept securely on a blockchain network. Previously women received a monthly entitlement in the form of cash on a set date. Through blockchain, UN Women and WFP are exploring the possibility of providing female refugees with cash back at WFP-contracted supermarkets or pay for their purchases directly. The partnership stems from WFP’s Building Blocks project, which already provides cash transfers to 106,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan through a blockchain based system.

This project is a collaboration between the Sierra Leone government, UNDP, UNCDF and KIVA and aims to help about seven million citizens in the country (making a total of 80% of the citizens of Sierra Leone) who do not have any credit history or formal identity, gain access to financial services. To date, there is only one credit bureau in Sierra Leone that covers 2,000 people - which is less than 1 percent of the population. Kiva will use the system to record the identities of citizens, and keep these identities on the distributed ledger while using the information to generate credit history for customers. Customers will own and control the data. The fact that they do not bank makes it worse since they cannot have future credit histories. The histories for digital identification will be generated from formal and informal financial institutions. The system works via a mobile application or through a local agent. It operates by sending a signed verifiable claim about a loan to a borrower when a lender makes a loan on the platform. The borrower will accept the claim and post it to their private credit ledger in their digital Kiva wallet. The lender will also send a verifiable claim about a repayment that the borrower approves and then posts to their ledger. This way, all credit events can be captured in a single ledger and the digital wallet will be controlled by the individual.

In 2016, UNOPS launched a project to explore how blockchain can be used to increase the efficiency of aid transfers, specifically of 1) entry to the international aid community, 2) intra-agency transfers, and 3) transfer to the end beneficiaries. Especially the second area offers tremendous opportunities for partnerships among UN Agencies. To identify possible technology partners, UNOPS launched an RFI for blockchain-based international assistance, which received over 70 responses that have been made available to all UN Agencies. UNOPS is looking to establish a proof of concept in five priority areas, i.e. payments, identity, data storage, supply chain, funding platform.