Trump administration officials have designed a proposal for revising American foreign aid programs, a section exploring how it could use blockchain technology to follow aid distributions and increase responsibility.
The plan would rename the American Agency for International Development (USAID) as an American agency of international humanitarian aid and would carry it directly under the authority of the Secretary of State, according to a first political report showing a document Circulating allegedly in the State Department.
In a section for “modernized and performance -based purchases”, the document refers to an initiative to secure and trace distributions “via blockchain technology” to “radically increase security, transparency and traceability”.
The proposal occurs while USAID faces an uncertain future. In January, the State Department placed agency staff on administrative leave and interrupted payments to partner organizations, which aroused judicial disputes.
A federal judge has since issuing A preliminary injunction against the agency’s dismantling, following Doge’s efforts, the Government Department of EffectivenessElon Musk established which sought to do so.
We still do not know who wrote the document because it seems to be scanned from a physical copy. Decipher contacted the agency to find out more.
Innovation, efficiency, impact
The proposal also maintains that the approach “would encourage innovation and efficiency” and focuses on “tangible impact” instead of “simply finishing activities and inputs”.
The implementation of the blockchain seems to be part of wider reforms intended to impose more strict controls on the distribution of aid, requiring measurable results through “third-party measures, and not self-declaration”.
The authorization of the congress would probably be necessary for major structural changes, although the document indicates that certain reforms could be implemented by executive action.
More broadly, the proposed revision limits the emphasis put by USAID on global health, food security and the response to disasters, making American initiatives for foreign aid lean in terms of scope.
The document also describes a restructured framework based on three organizational pillars – “safer, more prosperous and stronger” – directed by three agencies under the direction of the Secretary of State.
Ideas resonate with existing literature on how blockchain technology could be used for public good.
A 2018 article published In the newspaper for Humanitarian Action, cites the fundamental characteristics of technology as having the potential to “remove corruption by ensuring transparency and responsibility”.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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