TypeHuman worked with the Red Cross to explore the application of blockchain to better coordinate the identification of volunteer and humanitarian workers. After significant organisational and market research, we designed and developed a solution (from pilot to production) called Ponto. Ponto is a digital credential platform aimed at reducing the structural barriers surrounding humanitarian action in Australia. It does this by allowing organisations to issue and verify decentralised, digital credentials in the form of a badge for aspects such as humanitarian response training, first-aid, working with children. Badges are stored in a digital wallet on phone or web, and leverage blockchain to reduce the cost of integration for humanitarian organisations, as well as broaden the availability and portability of credentials for individuals.
The Results
The effort to mobilise the humanitarian sector requires more than just technological solutions. Advancing the adoption of digital identity standards requires coordination across organisations. The Ponto partnership has led to the formation of a humanitarian digital identity alliance called “The Trust Alliance”. Founding members of the Trust Alliance include Australian Red Cross, Oxfam Australia, RedR Australia, EWB-A, Bridge of Hope, Swinburne University, and RMIT University.
Ponto has now successfully received external investment and the reusable components of Ponto allows the identity solution developed to be applied to other use cases which require portable, self-sovereign credential solutions.