Use cases for governments
We are developing Aartum to be used as a tool by governments for more effective management of environmental
compliance and service delivery.
Please e-mail us if you
want to join in the effort to make this a reality.
Two potential use cases for governments are given below.
Environmental compliance
Aartum is supremely suited for use as a mechanism for environmental regulation because it provides a permanent record of very specific SDG-aligned outcomes.
The same process will also apply for many other allowances, such as emission- or extraction licences, or the use of any other ecosystems service.
Outcomes-based government
Because each unit of Aartum will be a token of the achievement of a specific SDG-aligned outcome, it represents the opportunity for governments to invest directly in desirable outcomes in a way that minimises bureaucracy and allows for maximum market freedom and efficiency. We envision a scenario where governments can budget directly for a specific outcome and, through a smart contract, pay only for that outcome or nothing at all.
A government agency could contribute to the Aartum community though the creation of specific standards, methodologies and procedures related to its mandate and then buy outcomes that meet those standards. Since the provenance is included in the token, a government agency can make sure to only buy tokens generated within its own jurisdiction. In such a way the traditional competence of governments (making rules en overseeing compliance) and the private sector (efficient implementation) can both be leveraged.
Consider the following example:
A government health agency operates an integrated TB control programme in a specific region. This activity resorts under Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. As a part of this programme it implements the World Health Organisation's DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) method to ensure patients adhere to their prescribed treatment. In addition to operating the programme from existing government facilities, the agency also creates a smart contract that buys and retires *Aartum* from DOTS outcomes within its jurisdiction. The agency can do this because it is satisfied that the methodology used to accredit providers and record and verify the outcomes meet its own internal quality standards, because the agency itself contributed the methodology to the *Aartum* community. It also remains active in the review of project registrations and the verification of outcomes. In this way private health facilities and NGOs can provide the service in areas where there are no current government facilities. The agency's own annual reporting is simplified by the fact that it only pays for verified outcomes and can report the exact number of outcomes. All this is achieved without the onerous procurement processes that are usual in the public sector. The creation of procedures and methodologies means that similar programmes can be implemented by other agencies or even private donors world-wide.