Rumsan Associates

Nepal | Early Warning System, Finance, Humanitarian

The company

Rumsan’s decentralised platform Rahat provides immediate access to finance with transparent and inclusive aid distribution and builds resilience through microinsurance for smallholder farmers.

The problem

Nepal is highly susceptible to various climate hazards, with community members often experiencing delayed responses and slow recovery mechanisms from humanitarian agencies, government and hence, need support to anticipate and prepare for the crises. During times of crises, current aid distributions are in-efficient, expensive and plagued with potential fraud and mis-management.

GSMA project

In November 2023, Rumsan received a GSMA grant to enhance the Rahat platform with a blockchain-powered module for faster humanitarian response, focusing on providing early warnings and pre-disaster cash access to more than 5,000 vulnerable individuals in Nepal’s flood-prone Terai region. This upgrade uses smart contracts to automatically dispatch voice and SMS warnings and transfer tokens directly to beneficiaries, significantly speeding up the process and management of disaster aid.

In December 2025, Rumsan received additional GSMA grant to support with the expansion and commercialisation of the “Rahat” platform by extending its reach access the operational areas of their project partner, Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), focusing on women and people with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD).

Outcomes

In December 2024, Rumsan raised funding from the Stellar Foundation to integrate Rahat in the Stellar ecosystem for their cash distribution system with smart contracts and an early warning system.

Traction

As of December 2024, Rumsan had more than 5,300 direct users.
The Rahat project has provided early warning communication to more than 20,000 vulnerable individuals.
Distributed NRs 11.61 million to 774 climate-affected individuals, improving their financial resilience.
Sent more than 27,000 real[1]time early warning notifications on financial aid and disaster preparedness, enhancing outreach and response.

A message from the Chief Development Officer

“Very grateful to IFRC/DRC and the GSMA Innovation Fund for believing in our mission of helping the most vulnerable ones to get access to immediate finance against climate shocks using innovative technologies. Their invaluable support has provided us an opportunity to test and actualise the potential of our product, Rahat.”

– Shristi Piya, Chief Development Officer