Blockchain: Uniting Aid and Trade? A case study of the UN Women Blockchain Project to Empower Women and Girls in Humanitarian Settings

Abstract

The increasing needs in the humanitarian sector and the lack of funding to address these needs have led to a paradigm shift in the sector. Humanitarian organizations are increasingly focusing on innovation and emerging technologies to meet humanitarian needs in a better and more cost-efficient way. This demands closer collaboration with the private sector, which has also been emphasized on policy level through the World Humanitarian Summit. However, prior literature has found that successful partnerships take a long time to establish, they are difficult to manage, and many of them fail. The innovation literature further claims that there is a need for collaboration between different actors in innovation processes, as innovation requires the combination of diverse sources of knowledge and capabilities. There is nevertheless little research found on collaborations between humanitarian organizations and private companies in radical, high tech innovation processes. This thesis reports on the early phase of the UN Women Blockchain Project to Empower Women and Girls in Humanitarian Settings. This qualitative case study contributes to the literature on innovation collaboration in humanitarian settings, by describing how a collaborative relationship between UN Women and private blockchain companies emerged and developed in the early phase of a radical, high tech innovation process, and identifying factors that support and constrain collaboration. Based on these findings, the thesis discusses implications for how cross-sector collaboration in humanitarian innovation processes can be supported and managed. The thesis argues that uncertainties and ambiguities prevail the early phase of the innovation process, and that there are structural factors that support as well as constrain collaboration in the UN system. These factors need to be addressed at a system level. The thesis also argues that issues related to cultural differences, interpersonal relationships and communication difficulties must not be underestimated in the initial phase of a partnership process. Thus, the research findings suggest that social factors should be accounted for and taken into consideration to ensure successful long-term partnerships.