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Chainlink Partners with UNICEF Innovation Fund to Support Blockchain-Enabled Applications in Emerging Markets

The Chainlink Community Grant Program provides financial resources to the many development teams and researchers building a more functional, accessible, and socially impactful Chainlink Network. We encourage talented individual developers and development teams to apply to the grant program here, or if you are a researcher and want to collaborate, contact us.

As part of our Social Impact Initiative centered around our mission of creating a more economically fair world using smart contracts, we actively support projects that share this goal of applying cryptographically enforced systems in a manner that is driven less by vague brand promises and more by the value that institutions and individuals actually provide. As part of furthering this initiative, we’re excited to award a grant to support the UNICEF Innovation Fund, a pooled fund designed to finance startups building early stage, open-source technology that address key global challenges; and the UNICEF CryptoFund, a new financial vehicle allowing UNICEF to receive, hold, and disburse cryptocurrency. The Chainlink Community Grant will go towards supporting the startups building blockchain-based solutions that UNICEF works with by offering funding, mentorship, and access to our expertise.

Some of the specific objectives of Chainlink’s grant to support the UNICEF Innovation Fund and CryptoFund are:

  • Finance early-stage, free, and open-source blockchain-enabled software, specifically designed to benefit emerging markets by fostering technological leaps that lead to major advancements in overall quality of life.
  • Provide domain-specific expertise and additional resources to support blockchain-focused startups working with UNICEF’s CryptoFund.
  • Accelerate blockchain as a force for good by expanding the capabilities of startups building solutions for populations where innovative applications are most needed.

Launched in 2016, UNICEF’s Innovation Fund enables UNICEF to learn from and shape markets of emerging technology by investing in and supporting companies in spaces such as blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Together, the CryptoFund and Innovation Fund provides both fiat and cryptocurrency investments to early-stage startups.

By contributing to the UNICEF CryptoFund, Chainlink will be able to further support early-stage companies who are scaling their operations and increase the amount of people who can benefit from social good projects. Some of the initiatives the CryptoFund supports with its funding include applying AI analytics to public services in Argentina, making sensitive clinical data portable and private in Mexico, using an interactive voice response platform in Cambodia to educate people about Covid-19, and improving food and vaccine distribution in India.

Support for the UNICEF CryptoFund is just one of the many social impact initiatives being supported by the Chainlink Grant Program, ranging from helping smallholder farmers get crop insurance and increasing transparency in state lotteries to incentivizing smart-contract based government improvements through hackathon prizes and funding education programs to advance global knowledge on the power of blockchain technology. We remain fully committed to building an economically fair world and plan to continue supporting developers who want to apply hybrid smart contracts in a manner that enables major technological leaps in emerging markets and drastically reduces systemic risk within established markets.

“We are grateful that Chainlink is contributing to our work geared towards showing how blockchain and cryptocurrency can drive more transparent and globally accessible investment in open-source solutions that solve the most pressing challenges facing children,” stated Thomas Davin, Director, UNICEF Office of Innovation. “Through these additional financial resources, the scale of the Innovation Fund can be increased, providing even more support to the many innovative projects trying to raise the quality of life across the world.”

Through the Chainlink Community Grants program, we look forward to continuing to empower more and more Chainlink ecosystem teams, researchers, and social impact projects who are both researching and building key tools and infrastructure that accelerate the development of universally connected smart contracts, secure oracle networks, and impactful technology that improves the world. We will continue supporting the community as a key driver of Chainlink’s rapid growth, because only together can we make universally connected smart contracts into the dominant form of digital agreement.

If you want to learn more about the Grant Program, check out our recent blog post that further expands upon its goals and the criteria for submission. If you would like to participate in the Chainlink Grant Program, please apply here. Chainlink Community Grants are provided in cash and/or LINK.

About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.

Follow UNICEF on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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