Paying out in bitcoinAt least 2,000 WAF users in Afghanistan are paid in bitcoin. Their average income falls between $250 and $400 monthly.The country’s average income is US$680, according to 2012 data.Payouts to the girls in Afghanistan were problematic before bitcoin was integrated this February. It compensated users in US dollars via bank wires that required hefty fees or PayPal, which isn’t supported there. They would send the money to Mahboob in one lump sum, Forough recounted, who would then cash it and find a place to pay all her users in a given locaton.“Imagine … it’s dangerous if a girl has a lot of cash in her pocket walking around the city,” she Forough. “And sometimes the family takes the money and there’s nothing for the girls.”With bitcoin, no one other than the payee has to know that she has a bitcoin wallet. WAF can pay the girls in a timely manner with minuscule fees. This eliminates the need to open a bank account, which would require extensive documentation and the need for legal guardian approval if they are underage, which might result in more difficulties.Bitcoin enthusiast Ross Mintzer, 27, spent three and a half months teaching girls English and music in Karachi, Pakistan from October 2011. Now in New York, where he was born and raised, he tries to send money to the schools when he can. He said:“It’s impossible to send a small amount of money, a micropayment, and have it make sense because of the transaction fee. People have spoken to this many times, that bitcoin will change the remittance business, and I really believe it.”Although, it seems other people could argue that for a long time.“All I’m waiting for is for someone in Pakistan to open a shop where they can exchange the Pakistani rupee for the bitcoin, and I’m sending the bitcoin,” Mintzer said. “It’s easy, it’s powerful.”Usability is something WAF is working on in Afghanistan, Forough said. Film Annex, the group’s parent company, provides a marketplace for content contributors to spend the bitcoins they earn, currently offering mobile and Skype credit. It offers Amazon gift cards to users in some regions, but since the concept of billing or shipping addresses doesn’t exist in Afghanistan – requiring any packages to be delivered to organisations or offices working with FedEx – users there can’t spend their digital currency earnings as easily.Currently, WAF is scouting around for local shops in Afghanistan to collaborate with on bitcoin acceptance, particularly electronics stores, to give its girls easier access to their own smart phones and tablets – thereby encouraging further engagement with both social media and bitcoin.Keeping girls connectedDeveloping countries lack the infrastructure needed to participate in and benefit from bitcoin. A 2011 Gallup study said that 3% of the Afghan population have home internet access.For that reason, WAF provided 11 computer labs in schools across Herat and Kabul free of charge. Forough said:“We have to focus on infrastructure and girls in schools can be our target because they can be very easily influenced by the stream of content and everything. Once you find yourself in this stream you’ll find it fascinating and interesting and you’ll go with the stream and everyday you’ll elevate your level.”It can cost around US$1 an hour to use an internet café in Afghanistan, she explained, a high price for many. Girls often have to find an all-women’s center, both to avoid verbal harassment from men and to steer clear of issues arising from disapproving family members.The bitcoin technology is capable of improving the digital economy via e-commerce, personal finance, peer-to-peer philanthropy and crowd funding. But, Kenahan cautioned, the global community must act to ensure that all contenders in this economy are equipped to engage in it:“Math-based currencies and cryptographic protocols are undoubtedly the main drivers of innovation within the fintech landscape … But without ensuring that the necessary tools and knowledge are both available and protected, I fear that women in socially oppressive environments will, yet again, be excluded from benefiting from the aforementioned fintech innovations. That’s a failure in my eyes.”WAF also provides female teachers and a curriculum teaching them everything from the fundamentals of how to operate a computer to how to use sites like Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Facebook and the Women’s Annex platform. The schoolgirls that attend are between 13 and 19 years old.
Communication without bordersCommunity is as important to WAF’s goals as is individual empowerment. For Forough, bitcoin is a “social currency”, meaning that it’s one that assembles people by promoting social interaction, helps boost users’ social and digital presence; and revolutionary, especially in developing countries. She said:“It’s the concept of digital citizenship, or communication without borders, and that’s how technology empowers people. I always wanted to have this for women in Afghanistan – to be powered using education and technology.”At the same time, bitcoin also grants independence and self-responsibility to anyone that embraces it. In February PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that 96% of people surveyed that partake in bitcoin discussion are men. Given the reach of its different functions, it takes a certain curiosity and tenacity for one to educate him- or herself about it – about its role as a digital currency, as a store of value, as an undelrying technology; its regulatory grey area and its philanthropic application.“If you have cash in your hand, you’re not gonna go and Google ‘what is the history of cash?’” Forough said. “Indirectly it [bitcoin] forces you to go through articles and interact with people that know; go to meetups. And this is the amazing part.”And perhaps all that responsibility and self-reliance is the very thing keeping mainstream consumers from embracing it and consequently holding back more organisations from integrating bitcoin in other fields.Kenahan called bitcoin “morally neutral, and infinitely useful”, and surmised that more philanthropic groups might emerge with greater understanding:“It is certainly frustrating that programs like WAF may be overlooked due to the fact that bitcoin’s positive applications are constantly invalidated by past media hype surrounding Mt Gox, Silk Road, etc. If the full innovative potential provided by bitcoin and other math-based currencies were actually understood I feel, and hope, that tons of noble organisations like the Women’s Annex Foundation would sprout up.”No politics, just InternetWAF’s more active users generate more income. They receive a BuzzScore, an algorithm exclusive to the networks of Film Annex. It calculates users’ social media activity to rank their online influence, with factors including the frequency of content production and social sharing, subscriber numbers and growth rates, and the collective weight of both a user’s BuzzScore and those of her subscribers. As her BuzzScore increases, so do her earnings.Good language, grammar and subject matter are also important elements of the process. Topical issues like education and women’s empowerment will likely merit a feature on Annex Press, the platform for professional writers, which can as much as double a user’s BuzzScore, thereby boosting her income further. Forough expalined:“I monitor the girls’ activity and some girls in the schools have started writing much better, [they] are focused on very serious topics and sharing their stories. Some of them have two or three followers right now, some have 600 followers.”The organisation has around 60,000 registered users worldwide – 6,000 of which are in Afghanistan. The platform supports content not averse to any religion or political view, with moderators serving users who speak the English, Dari and Pashta, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese and Italian languages, among others. This seems to suggest and exemplify WAF’s motto: “No politics, just internet”.
About Women’s AnnexWAF is a nonprofit organisation that took off in 2012. Outside of Afghanistan, it operates in Pakistan, Egypt and Mexico. In addition to the computer labs that have been established in Heart and Kabul schools, it’s also built two independent computer labs in the respective areas.The organisation is mostly driven by donations, but is also backed by Film Annex, who contributed greatly to the creation of the computer labs. The eleventh school is partially funded by Craig Newmark of Craigslist. WAF aims to raise $300,000 by the end of 2014.Images via Women’s Annex FoundationMatthew KenahanWomen's Annex FoundationOriginal author: Tanaya Macheel