Manila Ethereum Meetup: Charity, Humanitarian Aid and Social Impact
Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Time: 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Venue: Cerebro Labs (3rd Floor Universal Re Building 106 Paseo de Roxas Street Legazpi Village, Makati City)
We thought this theme would be fitting considering that it's the season of giving.
Who still remember that in June 2015, the UNICEF actually launched an innovative charity initiative called the Unicoin? Children were essentially "mining" the digital currency by submitting inspirational drawings. UNICEF then matches each Unicoin with one notebook and pencil, which UNICEF gives to less fortunate children around the world.
It has also been suggested that orphan donations could be further enhanced through blockchain technology by enabling orphanages to set up accounts for each child where donations could be sent on proportionate basis. Vulnerable children would start to accumulate "trustless" funds which they could use to start a life when they grow up. Corrupt government officials and unethical social workers would not be able to access these accounts.
It's wonderful to imagine how else blockchain could transform how charity foundations, NGOs, governments, philantrophists and even individual volunteers deliver foreign aid, disaster relief and other charity contributions.
In times of natural calamity and other humanitarian crises, the information and communication layer of the internet has been proven to be highly valuable in providing network, critical know-how, and relevant data to connect people in distress and volunteers and rescue units. Imagine further if there is a value layer, such as that enabled by blockchain. What possibilities could be realized by such technology?
On the subject of overseas development grants, "Foreign aid is the second-largest fund transfer from developed to developing nations, after remittances. Blockchain technology can enable transparency, accountability, and more efficient operations for well-meaning NGOs and better delivery of critical services in times of crisis and in normal circumstances." (Tapscott & Tapscott, 2016)
Our Guest Panelists:
Scott Yu - Chartered Accountant and Co-Founder, Qwikwire
Ann Cuisia-Lindayag - Chief Executive Officer, GavaGives
Joel Silas - Lead Founder, Charitela
Jay Jaboneta - Chief Storyteller, Yellowboat of Hope Foundation
Chris Verceles... and the Lifemesh Team
Venue Sponsor:
Qwikwire (https://qwikwire.com)
Production Sponsor:
MVP Asia (http://findyourmvp.com/)
Co-Sponsor:
GavaGives (https://www.gavagives.com/)
Charitela (https://charitela.com/)
Ethincubator (https://ethincubator.com/)
Reminders:
Our community continues to grow. That is great news but that also means we will need more people and considerable resource to arrange for our meetups. If you wish to volunteer, sponsor or contribute to this event, please contact our organizers. This is an open event. No need to seek permission if you wish to attend although we certainly appreciate the RSVP.
Our open forum welcomes discussion of other topics not necessarily relevant to the announced theme. However, please allow the organizers opportunity to moderate our discussion.
Finally, it's Christmas. Share food and drinks so we could have a fun potluck.
