Blockchain for Development in the Era of Pandemics

In the context of Information and Communication Technologies for Development, several efforts have been carried out over the last decades to help developing countries address their challenges. In times of a pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, several of these challenges gain higher priority in development as they may become unmanageable with the resources of the developing world. Blockchain is a new technology in this area that could potentially be a game-changer and enable the easier and more sustainable addressing of several such challenges. COVID-19 offers a unique opportunity to utilize Blockchain, which is now in its first steps of maturity, and gain hands-on experiences in the development area. This work focuses on understanding the focused area defined by Information and Communication for Development, Blockchain, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Driven by extensive literature analysis, and targeted interviews, new insights are acquired and are critically discussed. The results point out towards areas where Blockchain could be utilized, and while a critical discourse points out the pros and cons in several areas. Several stakeholders are expected to benefit from the results and critical discussions, such as officers in developing countries that consider new technologies to address the challenges of the pandemic, industries that develop solutions and services with Blockchain, scholars that can get new insights for research, policy-makers, and regulators that may deal with initiating new actions or policies, as well non-governmental organizations active in developing countries