Trump administration officials have drawn up a proposal to revise American foreign utility programs, in which a section is investigated how it could use blockchain technology to follow auxiliary distributions and to increase the duty of accountability.
The plan would rename the American Agency for International Development (USAID) as the American Agency for International Humanitarian Aid and immediately bring it under the authority of the State Secretary, according to a first report from Politico that shows an internal document Allegedly circulating at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Under a section for “modernized, performance-based purchasing”, the document refers to an initiative to protect distributions and trace “via blockchain technology” to “radically enhance security and traceability”.
The proposal comes when USAID is confronted with an uncertain future. In January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs placed the staff of the Agency on Administrative Leave and stopped payments to partner organizations, which encouraged legal challenges.
Since then has a federal judge issued a provisional order against dismantling the agency, after efforts of Doge, the Department of Efficiency of the GovernmentFounded by Elon Musk who tried to do this.
It remains unclear who wrote the document because it seems to be scanned from a physical copy. Decrypt has contacted the desk to learn more.
Innovation, Efficiency, Impact
The proposal further argues that the approach would encourage “innovation and efficiency” and concentrate on “tangible impact” instead of “simply completing activities and input”.
The blockchain implementation seems to be part of broader reforms that are intended to create stricter controls on aid distribution, which means that measurable results are required by “third-party statistics, not self-reporting.”
Congress authorization would probably be necessary for important structural changes, although the document indicates that some reforms can be implemented through executive action.
More generally, the proposed revision limits the focus of USAID on global health, food security and disaster response, making our foreign auxiliary initiatives slimmer in terms of scope.
The document also outlines a restructured framework based on three organizational pillars – “safer, more prosperous and stronger” – led by three agencies under the direction of the State Secretary.
The ideas resonate with existing literature on how blockchain technology can be used well for public.
An article from 2018 published In the Journal for Humanitarian Action, the core characteristics of the technology and the potential mentions to “remove corruption by offering both transparency and accountability.”
Published by Sebastian Sinclair