Abstract There are global discussions recognising the need for more development aid with jurisdictions such as the EU unveiling increased foreign aid budget for 2021–27 to deliver large increase in aid spending and eliminating the bureaucratic barriers. However, this increased flexibility gives rise to growing concerns on where aid is sent and that whole chain of custody in terms of tracking, traceability, and reporting. The fear is monies are raised, approved, and sent, but there is uncertainly where and if those monies have reached the persons most in need of development aid. Also, for those that willingly contribute to aid development who want to have clear knowledge that funds were securely used for the correct purposes. Therefore more desire for openness, transparency, and method of governance for accurate monitoring and use of evaluation tools in development aid will help secure the chain of custody and for all to realise project outcomes. Recent studies have shown that the utilisation of technology presents opportunities for advancement and particularly the use of blockchain and its attributes of immutability, transparency, audit control through smart contracts, and security. However, the contribution of blockchain to increase transparency in development aid deliverables has received less attention within scholarly research. The aim of this chapter is to examine the viability of blockchain technology in delivering development aid in explaining these attributes of blockchain, some use cases, and applications and analysing data points that can support taking forwards as viable blockchain models.
