IXO Foundation – Impact X Optimized Proof Of Impact Blockchain?

IXO Foundation – Leveraging Blockchain for Global Development

Just like the Internet, unearthing new Blockchain use cases will remain subject to heuristics, as a process of eternal exploration and learning. It's not a question of what can Blockchain do but what can we learn to make Blockchain do for us.

Last month, the UN partnered with World Identity Network(WIN) to develop a blockchain identity pilot in a bid to stamp out child trafficking. Now ixo foundation from South Africa has an unprecedented vision, aspiring to use blockchain to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

What are Sustainable Development Goals?

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) are a collection of 17 interrelated global goals set out by the United Nations. Each goal has several targets, with a total number of 169 targets. Replacing the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) in 2015, The SDGs are also known as “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” or Agenda 2030 in short.

The SDGs include a broad range of issues regarding social and environmental development aimed at addressing poverty, hunger, health and well-being, education, gender equality, climate change, peace and justice etc…

Ixo Foundation's Quest for Data

ixo Foundation is a South African organization leveraging blockchain technology to optimize sustainable development impact.

Every year, over $1 trillion USD is spent supporting impact projects around the world to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. In order to create social impact sustainably at the speed and scale required to create a more equitable future, an overhaul of the status quo is needed.

Although millions of impact projects are happening all over the world, each holding valuable insights crucial to helping us improve the way we create sustainable change, the insights are not available in a way that is reliable, detailed, or accessible to those who need it — as trusted data.

Either data isn’t collected, it lives in a private database, or it’s public but cannot be guaranteed to be valid. Even the data that is available lacks the granularity required to make informed decisions. This is what ixo plans to disrupt.

Proof of Impact

ixo has come up with the Proof of Impact solution to create a verified global quantifier for impact created.

Proof of impact is generated when an impact claim is made by a service provider and is verified by an evaluator or an oracle, validating the impact has been achieved. As a result, fraud and corruption are reduced, and both the service provider and the funder gain access to invaluable data about their impact.

Increased confidence in the sector incentivizes funding and investment in sustainable development and adds to an accumulation of global impact data, which enables optimized delivery and better visibility, planning and decision-making for the future.

ixo Protocol

The ixo Protocol incentivizes impact goals through the use of the IXO token, which donors and impact investors can earn when they fund high-priority projects. It combines several key blockchain technologies including Ethereum, Sovrin, and BigChain DB. By combining public and public-permissioned networks, we can ensure the most effective system, while protecting the integrity and privacy of the data.

Any sensitive, personal, and identifying data collected in the impact claims will remain confidential as users retain the right to decide where their data is stored, who can access their data, and for what purpose as well as other principles of self-sovereign identity. The ixo protocol will also use the Sovrin identity blockchain for storing all identity information, including use of Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) to ensure both privacy and accountability.

Amply – an App to Track Pre-school Attendance

With the support of Innovation Edge and UNICEF, Amply has developed a mobile application on the ixo protocol that allows teachers to collect attendance data, and create a verified impact claim that proves the impact of teaching children was delivered.

The verified claim can then be shown to the government in return for subsidies for underprivileged children. The ixo protocol has helped the teachers upgrade their previously paper-based system saving over 4,000 hours every month. Since November 2016, the project has grown to operate in over 71 schools and has recorded more than 42,000 attendance records.

By optimizing how preschool subsidies are delivered, ixo is ensuring there is more time for what really matters – teaching.

Future Goals For IXO Foundation

The IXO Foundation has assembled an incredible team of founders and advisors – people who work in blockchain because of its incredible potential to change the world for the better.

While ixo recognizes that it is not going to solve all of humanity's problems, its goal is to create the best protocol upon which anyone can provide the greatest impact, wherever their passions lie.

Anne Connelly, network lead at ixo, believes facilitating access to data across various sectors is a key factor in realizing SGDs, “By tackling an issue that is at the foundation of every organization’s ability to succeed — high quality data — we’re enabling every funder, government and service provider to optimize their impact and achieve the UN’s SGDs by 2030.”