Today, we will continue with the series on blockchain application. Over the past few weeks, we have broken the topic into discussing how blockchain applications are used in financial services, the health sector, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This time, we will continue our discussion by introducing the use of blockchain solutions in government (the public sector).
Understanding the Public Sector
The public sector comprises those areas of the economy that are controlled directly by the Government (whether elected or appointed). One of the core purposes of the Government is to organize society for the common good of all where resources have to be allocated based on welfare needs and not profit motivation.
Planning an efficient and equitable mode of resource allocation is a common problem that the Government often encounters. Most governmental organizations don't have systems that give stringent rules that favour financial discipline. The lack of appropriate structures that will promote accountability stems from the general assumption that government resources belong to no one in particular. Hence, the drive to improve the system in order to eliminate waste is not there.
credits:medium.com
With the introduction of blockchain technology, government agencies, departments, and projects can set up a system that automates administrative processes. This sort of innovation will increase trust and foster a culture of transparency and accountability.
Comparison between Orthodox Government Systems and Blockchain Government Systems
How Governments can leverage from Blockchain Application
Governments around the world are using Blockchain application in the following areas:
1. Procurements and government contracts
The current process for procurements and contracts in most government agencies and departments are usually slow and tedious. In addition to this challenge, there is also a lack of adequate transparency in the contract bidding and approval process, thereby creating loopholes for corrupt government officials to manipulate the procurement process to favour their preferred applicant.
The procurement process can be improved by adopting Blockchain technology to automate and streamline the process for contract bidding. One of blockchain's biggest advantages is the immutability of data, which is able to prevent bidders from altering any information that has been entered into the chain.
Credits: Quintagroup
An example of a state that has implemented blockchain solutions in their procurement process is the Seoul district of Yeongdeungpo-gu, South Korea. A blockchain solution was used to assess all bids in the region in 2019. As a result of the success recorded from the implementation of this initiative, the project won the Grand Prize in the "Contest for Anti-Corruption Best Practices" in 2019.
Another government that has applied this technology is the Canadian Government. They announced the creation of an Ethereum blockchain platform that will explore different avenues of efficient organization of government contracts and foster clear direction in the approval process.
2. Elections
The present system of conducting elections into public office is still one of the aspects of government functions that are filled with lots of inconsistencies, manipulations, and distrust. Citizens have little or no faith in the electoral processes of most countries because the existing structure is not transparent enough to show that every valid vote is recorded.
This critical situation has prompted several individuals to suggest an electronic system of voting. Though it would give faster and quicker results, there is still the problem of security, where the central server could be hacked and votes altered and manipulated.
Credits: dev.to
This problem can be solved with the application of blockchain technology, which ensures that there is an end to end visibility, and data is immutable. Each voting unit can upload their results instantly, and once voting is concluded, nothing can be altered.
Sierra Leone is one of the few countries that has successfully implemented blockchain technology to improve their electoral process. The votes were stored on Agora's Blockchain and has been made available for any interested party to review, count and validate.
3. Registry
Have you ever tried to register the title of your land property? If you have, you'd most likely find that the process is neither easy nor straightforward. In addition to the unnecessary paperwork involved in the process, there is still the fear of record falsification. These situations can be avoided if the land registry is done via the blockchain platform.
Credits: coinpedia.com
In April 2016, Georgia's National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) worked together with Bitfuri Group to actualize the registering of landed properties on a blockchain. The Georgian resident begins the process with a title enlistment request through the approved legal official. After that, the authorized officer records the title on the private Exonum blockchain.
The Exonum hash is tied down on the open Bitcoin blockchain. This innovation has brought a 90% decrease in the general land library cost. Land enrollment time also decreased from 3 days to a matter of a couple of minutes.
4. Identity management
At its most fundamental level, identity is a combination of claims about an individual. This typically comprises the first and last name, date of birth, nationality, and some national identifier, such as national identification number, driving permit, and so forth. These kinds of data are managed centrally by the Government on their dedicated servers.
Most people do not have access to a medium by which they can process a valid means of identification. Around 1.1 billion individuals worldwide aren't able to validate claims of their identity. This lack of access leaves a large number of the world's population in a helpless state -- incapable of casting a ballot, claim property, or open a bank account.
With the use of blockchain technology, the Government will be able to solve issues of physical access to data capture centers, stolen identities, and data insecurity. A case study can be seen in the Swiss government utilization of the Ethereum blockchain to give decentralized IDs, known as uPort in the city of Zug. The undertaking was propelled in November 2017 and was restricted to private residential use in its first stage. At the moment, the ID can be used to access other public services, including the casting of votes.
Credits: coinsutra.com
5. National food and drug administration
Ensuring that there is adequate and proper supply of food and drugs is among the fundamental tasks of the Government because food constitutes one of the important human needs. Managing the national supply of food and medicines can be onerous because the supply source is usually diverse and a lot of crucial data are not often captured. Without proper tracking and records, we may not be able to give an appropriate estimate of food and drug supply.
Through blockchain technology, the government agencies can keep track of essential commodities supply while monitoring their movements. This will make it easy to track cases of contaminated foods and take proactive steps in reducing food shortages.
Credits: world publicity blog
A case study of a government that has implemented blockchain solutions to manage food and drug supply is the FSA or Food Standards Agency of the UK, which started a pilot project in 2018, utilizing blockchain innovation to monitor the meat supply from slaughterhouses.
Even though a lot of countries are yet to recognise cryptocurrencies as an asset class, governments over the world are implementing Blockchain solutions to address the different issues that emanate from the management of public resources.
A huge volume of the academic grant is being delivered to speed up the research into the use of blockchain technology in different aspects of the public sector. We hope that as more success stories are recorded from the impact of blockchain solutions, more people will be inspired to examine the other benefits that are yet to be tapped from the digital currency ecosystem.
