The global humanitarian organization Save the Children and Fedi, Inc., a developer of global bitcoin adoption technology, announced a groundbreaking collaboration aimed at revolutionizing cash and voucher assistance (CVA) delivery to communities most impacted by inequality.
This joint initiative with Fedi will launch in the Philippines and provide select communities with bitcoin as part of community cash assistance via the Fedi mobile app. With the benefits of bitcoin—including speed, lower transaction costs, and decentralized distribution of digital funds—communities will be empowered to determine for themselves the best use of their funds for immediate and long-term needs.
Through the program, community members will learn more about the basics of bitcoin and how to use the Fedi mobile app to transact in bitcoin and exchange it for local currency when necessary. Central to the pilot is the ability for program participants to optimize peer-to-peer bitcoin transfers for faster, low-fee transactions.
The pilot will also explore the potential of community-secured wallets to promote financial inclusion, digital literacy, and economic empowerment through self-custody. Save the Children and the communities it works with will be able to take ownership of bitcoin and hold it or share it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“Around the world, children’s futures are at risk. Save the Children believes that bitcoin and the blockchain can be a force for good and for economic inclusion,” said Ettore Rossetti, Head Advisor, Emerging Technology, Marketing, and Innovation Partnerships at Save the Children. “We are tremendously excited about this collaboration with Fedi, and the potential to reinvent the way in which children and families with limited resources can increase their digital and financial literacy, lift themselves out of poverty, and ultimately shape their own futures.”
The program will also explore ways to increase transparency and accountability in the donation process by direct tracking from donor to program participant. This innovative approach could transform how humanitarian assistance is received and delivered, eventually leading to greater impact and resilience for impoverished and disenfranchised populations worldwide.
“Fedi aims to bring freedom technologies, financial inclusion, and digital empowerment to people throughout the Global South,” said Fedi cofounder and CEO Obi Nwosu. “Save the Children has been serving those same communities for a century, and in recent years has had the vision to see how bitcoin and other freedom technologies can help them reach even more people. We are grateful they chose us to be partnering with them on this innovative project and we are eager to show the world how we can empower these communities together.”
This project will allow Save the Children to test digital and mobile money solutions to incorporate bitcoin into Save the Children’s global cash transfer programs. As the first international NGO to accept a bitcoin donation in 2013 in response to Typhoon Haiyan, which struck Southeast Asia and devastated the Philippines, Save the Children is a 105-year-old organization committed to pioneering innovative approaches that will equip our next generation with the tools, and technology, and education required to thrive in an increasingly interconnected, digital, and inequitable world.
Save the Children has been working in the Philippines since 1981 with programs in humanitarian response, health and nutrition, education, and children’s rights and protection.
