skip to main content
European Commission Logo
en English
Newsroom

Overview    News

The role of Blockchain in social impact projects

Gathering data on experiences of gender-based violence is a sensitive issue. And gender violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most prevalent human rights violations, taking place every day, in all the corners of the world.

date:  13/02/2023

Estimates published by WHO indicate that globally about 1 in 3 women has been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Blockchain can step-in as a solution by creating trust in data, since it offers anonymity and allows networking.

A social impact project used blockchain to create a self-organised and self-sufficient community that ensures safety and privacy, and offers help and support to women who suffer gender-based violence. They use blockchain technology to tokenize the interactions between users, and turn them into transactions, thus creating a kind of "time bank" for victims of gender violence. After downloading the app, the user can request a meeting with someone in the network who will ''offer time'' to meet up "in a safe place", and afterwards get verified. The users create a community of mutual support, with low risk of exposure.  Another project used a blockchain-based solution to mitigate the effects of gender-based violence, facilitating the production and self-management of administratively valid evidence of violent acts. They have done this with a mobile application for the registration of evidence and legalization online, enabling civil, administrative, or criminal proceedings.