Humanitarian organizations often use separate beneficiary databases, which can lead to duplicate registrations, repeated data collection, privacy risks, and inefficient aid delivery. This study proposes the Privacy-Preserving Self-Sovereign Identity Framework for Humanitarian Aid Distribution (PP-SSI-HA). The framework combines a Federated Ledger Service for cross-organizational duplicate detection with an Offline-First Mobile Wallet for low-connectivity environments.
Duplicate detection is performed at two levels. Within each organization, SHA-256 hashes are matched against a local Redis index. Across organizations, the framework queries Hyperledger Indy revocation registries. Raw personally identifiable information is not exchanged; only hash digests and revocation-related signals are used.
The mobile wallet allows beneficiaries to receive, store, and present verifiable credentials when connectivity is limited. It was developed using React Native, Credo TS, Aries Askar, and AnonCreds RS. Deferred operations are stored locally and synchronized when connectivity is restored.
The framework was evaluated using Design Science Research. Backend SSI operation latency was measured for DID creation, schema registration, credential definition creation, connection establishment, and credential issuance. Duplicate-detection accuracy was tested using 1,000 de-identified real beneficiary records obtained from the Zakat Authority. Offline queue persistence and synchronization were also evaluated for different queue sizes.
All backend operations completed successfully, although credential definition creation showed the highest latency and variability. Duplicate detection achieved TP = 100, TN = 900, FP = 0, and FN = 0. Offline synchronization succeeded fully for queue sizes of 5 and 10, partially for 15, and less reliably for 20. These findings support the technical feasibility of PP-SSI-HA under controlled conditions.
The study contributes a privacy-preserving federated deduplication method, an offline-first SSI wallet architecture, and an integrated prototype for humanitarian identity management. A limited field evaluation was conducted at the Amanat Al-Asimah Office of the General Authority of Zakat. The office includes 18 operational units for receiving aid applicants. The main limitations are the use of one institutional setting, a limited dataset, TestNet deployment, software-controlled offline testing, Android-only evaluation, and a single-device setup. Future work should include larger multi-organization field evaluations, multi-device testing, iOS support, and integration with humanitarian platforms.
Keywords: self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, humanitarian aid distribution, duplicate detection, offline-first mobile wallet, Hyperledger Indy, AnonCreds
عنوان الرسالة
الباحث
علي محسن محسن عزمان
مشرف الرسالة
أ.د/منير عبدالله المخلافي
سنة الإقرار
تاريخ المناقشة
لغة الرسالة
إنجليزي
الملخص
