Publications

The New Humanitarian asked Linda Raftree and myself, to weigh in on the same six questions relating the use of biometrics in humanitarian settings.

The current fragmentation of the aid industry is a result of the interests of their main actors which are pursuing mandate and turf driven exclusive relationships with a subset of persons in need of protection and assistance. However, these powerless persons would benefit from competition and extended services which requires that the necessary disruption is imposed on the aid industry from the outside. There are prospects that once the current digital gold rush is replaced by more regulated approaches, the recipients of aid and protection can benefit from the logic of digital commercial platforms and digital citizens’ portals.

While UNHCR has been using cash cards for more than a decade but the real protection dividend lies elsewhere: We should advocate for refugees to have full-fledged bank accounts so that they can receive, save, and transfer their monies like everybody else!