Last updated 2 months ago
Build a Dapp to record work history as verifiable credentials and publish a Governance Framework, enabling hiring organizations to verify the authenticity of work history to hire qualified candidates.
This is the total amount allocated to Socious: Work History as Verifiable Credentials. 6 out of 6 milestones are completed.
1/6
Market and Technical Research
Cost: ₳ 51,143
Delivery: Month 2 - Dec 2023
2/6
UI/UX Research
Cost: ₳ 60,286
Delivery: Month 4 - Feb 2024
3/6
UI/UX Design
Cost: ₳ 32,857
Delivery: Month 6 - Apr 2024
4/6
Backend and Blockchain Development
Cost: ₳ 55,714
Delivery: Month 8 - Jun 2024
5/6
Frontend Development
Cost: ₳ 94,571
Delivery: Month 10 - Aug 2024
6/6
Marketing, user testing, Governance Framework and final report
Cost: ₳ 59,143
Delivery: Month 12 - Oct 2024
N/A
No dependencies.
Project will be fully open source.
This project contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth - Our project addresses SDG 8 by proposing a robust, secure, and verifiable system to document employment history. This can enhance the credibility of potential employees while enabling organizations to hire qualified candidates with greater confidence.
8.5: The project supports equal employment opportunities for all by providing a trusted platform to verify work history, which can help to ensure equal pay for work of equal value by eliminating discrimination based on inaccurate or false credentials.
8.6: By enabling a more reliable way to verify skills and employment history, our project could contribute to reducing youth unemployment and underemployment.
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure - Our initiative advances inclusive and sustainable industrialization by introducing a verifiable credential system for recording and verifying work history. This represents a novel, innovative approach to tackling the issue of resume fraud.
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities - By providing a universal method of verifying work history, our project can reduce disparities in job opportunities. This levels the playing field between individuals who may previously have been at a disadvantage due to non-verified credentials.
SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions - Our project aids in establishing more transparent and accountable hiring processes, which contribute to the development of trustworthy, accountable, and transparent institutions.
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals - We align with SDG 17 by encouraging collaboration between job applicants, hiring organizations, and credential issuers. This promotes a partnership-based approach to achieving more reliable and transparent hiring processes.
In addition, we commit substantial financial and human resources to aid organizations in implementing this new system, thereby accelerating social and environmental impact. We monitor our impact through various indicators, including the adoption rate of our system and feedback from participating organizations and individuals.
Moreover, our approach to record work history as verifiable credentials also indirectly contributes to the well-being and happiness of job applicants and employers alike. This increases trust and reduces stress in the hiring process, which can lead to greater job satisfaction and workplace harmony.
In conclusion, our vision of improving the hiring ecosystem by leveraging verifiable credentials has the potential to significantly contribute to various SDGs and promote fair, efficient, and trustworthy hiring practices globally.
According to a survey from StandOutCV which surveyed 1,785 Americans, 55% of respondents admitted to lying on their resumes. How can organizations determine the authenticity of resumes? Unfortunately, identifying fraudulent resumes is a challenging task, and hiring a background check agency can be costly. This creates a disparity between larger companies that can afford to hire agencies and smaller companies that may struggle with unqualified candidates and high turnover rates.
To address this issue, we propose recording work history as verifiable credentials tied to an Atala DID. This approach enables candidates to securely share their verified work history, while hiring organizations can verify the authenticity of the work history and hire qualified candidates.
There are benefits for both hiring organizations and job applicants when using verifiable credentials (VCs) for work history. Here are some key advantages:
In summary, VCs for work history could revolutionize the way we share and verify work-related data, making processes more efficient, secure, and fair.
The project engages with a wide array of stakeholders, including job candidates, employers, and credential issuers. Our impact will be demonstrated through the adoption rate of our system, feedback from participants, and the reduction in fraudulent hiring cases.
This solution is crucial to Cardano as it leverages the Cardano blockchain's inherent security, transparency, and decentralization to solve a real-world issue. Moreover, our project aligns with Cardano's ethos of driving societal change through technology, showcasing the real-world application and utility of Cardano's blockchain technology.
We have already developed a system to record work history as verifiable credentials on Socious for jobs that were contracted and paid through the platform as part of our Fund 9 project (https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/recognize-impact-through-dids).
Product Demo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jTwgqlKj-Ypy_7XckFg0uDpMzdTPVzNj?usp=sharing
Step-by-step guide: https://socious.notion.site/Socious-Mastery-Guide-ae3745be82ad4845b6e1521694fa5ed8?pvs=4
However, jobs that were contracted outside of Socious or in the past were not within the scope of that project. This current project focuses on developing a feature that allows users to record their work history as verifiable credentials, even for jobs outside of Socious. If the user's work is for impact projects, they will additionally earn Impact Points. Individuals with a high number of impact points may receive benefits, including THANK tokens. More information about Impact Points and THANK tokens can be found here: https://www.notion.so/Socious-Whitepaper-58fbe2c106f547898df42e409a00c73e?pvs=21.
In addition to developing a feature (a pilot to commercial launch) to record work history as verifiable credentials, we plan to develop an Ecosystem Governance Framework (EGF) for Socious. For this, we will follow a Minimum Viable Ecosystem (MVE) approach. We will also convene regular meetings with stakeholders including issuers, holders, and verifiers, host a Governance Framework Workshop and publish a Governance Framework. Our stakeholders consist of previous hiring organizations as issuers, job seekers as holders, and potential hiring organizations as verifiers.
NB: We have already completed the Atala PRISM Pioneer Program via Canvas, which bolsters our understanding and implementation of decentralized identities (DIDs) within our project.
Our proposed solution brings forth an innovative approach to verifying work history using Verifiable Credentials (VCs) tied to an Atala DID, addressing the problem of fraudulent resumes. This solution isn't just about the technology implementation but involves substantial coordination and stakeholder engagement efforts, in line with the challenge setting.
The unique aspect of our solution is twofold:
The proposed solution addresses the challenge in the following ways:
Number of newly created Atala PRISM DID addresses. -> By offering a feature to record work history as verifiable credentials and utilizing Socious' incentive mechanisms, we can attract more individuals to the Cardano ecosystem. Currently, we have over 3,800 registered users, many of whom had no prior experience with Cardano before joining Socious.
Our project aligns with the campaign brief by bridging technology development and business coordination, aiming for a more robust, trustworthy, and inclusive Cardano ecosystem.
The potential benefits to the Cardano ecosystem from our project are manifold. We're primarily focusing on enhancing the vibrancy of the ecosystem, boosting productivity, and fostering growth, both in the short and long term.
We are using both quantitative and qualitative measures to gauge the success of our project. Our primary quantitative measure is the number of registered users on our platform, Socious. Currently, Socious boasts over 3,800 registered users, many of whom are new to the Cardano ecosystem as developers. Our goal by the end of the project is to ramp up this figure to 10,000. We deem this target realistic considering the current growth trajectory of Socious and the significant value that the project adds to the platform and the wider Cardano ecosystem.
On the qualitative side, we intend to use user feedback and testimonials to measure the level of satisfaction and the perceived value of our platform within the Cardano ecosystem. We will continuously engage with our users, seeking their opinions on the benefits, improvements, and overall impact of our platform on their interaction with the Cardano ecosystem.
As for the project’s benefits to the Cardano ecosystem, they are three-fold:
Our innovation will markedly improve Cardano's productivity and growth. In the immediate term, members of the Cardano community can leverage our platform to document their work history as verifiable credentials, securely sharing their employment records. This practice also enables employers within the Cardano ecosystem to mitigate the risk of hiring unqualified individuals.
In the long run, our innovation will entice more individuals to create Atala PRISM DIDs, driven by the unique incentive mechanisms of Impact Score and THANK tokens. These tokens will not only increase engagement but also spur more contributions to the Cardano ecosystem, driving its productivity and growth in the process.
We plan to spread the project's outputs during and after its completion. While building, we provide monthly and milestone reports, and present in two Town Hall meetings every two weeks: the Eastern Town Hall and the Pacific Town Hall. We regularly attend these town hall meetings to provide project updates and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. While we are based in Japan, which naturally aligns our schedules more closely with these two Town Halls, we make efforts to reach beyond these forums. At significant moments, such as the completion of a project phase, we expand our participation to include other town halls, overcoming time zone challenges to do so. We greatly value these occasions as they present an opportunity to share our accomplishments and engage in beneficial discussions with a wider audience.
We will share the projects’s outputs, impact and opportunities with the community members. The links to our close-out report and video will be publicly available on Youtube. We will also share information on our website and social media. Because we are a gig marketplace, gig opportunities for Cardano developers will be listed on our Socious platform.
Since Socious is an open source project, our code base is public on our GitHub page and Cardano developers are encouraged to fork and use it for other projects.
We will be analyze the results of this pilot project to further our research and development activities.
Our team is aptly suited and equipped to successfully deliver this project. We possess the requisite capabilities that uniquely position us to execute this project to high standards of trust and accountability.
As outlined in the section "Who is in the project team and what are their roles?", our team is composed of seven full-time members, each bringing considerable experience in developing Dapps. To supplement our core team, we maintain a reserve of skilled freelancers, ready to contribute at short notice. Our talent marketplace, Socious, is a hub for over 3,800 individuals, many of whom could potentially assist in this project, if required.
Our ability to deliver is not just theoretical but backed by a track record. We have successfully completed five distinct Catalyst projects funded in Fund 9, all within the projected timelines and budget. These accomplishments bear testament to our capabilities and our commitment to deliver projects as proposed.
The Fund 9 projects we’ve completed are as follows:
The trustworthiness in our fund management processes is grounded in our serious adherence to legal and financial compliance. Each transaction conducted is meticulously documented with tangible evidence and audited internally for accuracy. To bolster our commitment to financial transparency, we have established collaborations with external accounting firms that assure compliance. Our Japanese entity works with Tatsumi Accounting Firm (https://kessan-online.jp/company), while our Singaporean entity partners with BBCIncorp (https://bbcincorp.com/offshore/accounting-and-auditing).
Additionally, we liaise with an external law firm, Enlighten Law Group (https://www.enlightenlaw.com/), to ensure full legal compliance. This meticulous, multilayered approach to fund management reflects our dedication to maintaining high levels of trust and accountability.
The goals of the project is develop the “work history as verifiable credentials” feature on the Socious app (https://socious.io/app) so that the users can perform the following functions on the app.
Our Technical Approach:
We use several technologies to develop the functions mentioned above. We use Atala PRISM DID to receive non-transferrable verifiable credentials (i.e., impact points) to determine who will be eligible to serve as judges on the panel. Socious is already integrated with ProofSpace which supports Atala PRISM DID. For identity verification and KYC-AML, we use Veriff which is fully integrated with ProofSpace; our users can use passports and other IDs to verify their identity. For the escrow mechanism, we use Milkomeda, Cardano’s side chain, and Solidity/EVM for smart contracts. We use React for the frontend technology and Capacitor to deploy the app to App Store and Playstore. Our backend technology is Javascript, and we use a MySQL database on AWS. For Agile tools, we use GitHub and Notion. For design tools, we use Figma and Miro.
We believe that our approach is feasible as we have used these technologies and tools in the past, delivering successful projects including the five Catalyst projects in Fund 9.
We have six milestones, including the final milestone, and we plan to complete the entire project within 12 months from the start.
Milestone 1
Title: Market and Technical Research
Outputs
Milestone 1 includes the following key activities:
Acceptance criteria
The market and technical research paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.
Evidence of Milestone completion
Community members can access the market and technical research paper to find the following content:
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 2
Cost
51,143 ADA ($14,320)
% Completion
14%
Milestone 2
Title: UI/UX Research
Outputs
Milestone 2 includes the following key activities:
These steps will results in a finalized UI/UX Research Paper.
Acceptance criteria
The UI/UX Research Paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.
Evidence of Milestone completion
Community members can access the UI/UX research paper.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 4
Cost
60,286 ADA ($16,880)
% Completion
32%
Milestone 3
Title: UI/UX Design
Outputs
Milestone 3 includes the following key activities:
These steps will result in a finalized, production-ready UI/UX design in Figma, along with a video walk-through.
The Figma file will be published and made available for community review. Similarly, the video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.
Acceptance criteria
The production-ready UI/UX design is finalized, published and is accessible to the community for review.
The finalized production-ready design will be handed over to the engineering team. “Production-ready” means that it doesn’t need more work from designers and is ready for the engineering team to turn the design into code.
The video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.
Evidence of Milestone completion
The Figma files and the video walk-through are publicly available and community members are able to review them.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 6
Cost
32,857 ADA ($9,200)
% Completion
41%
Milestone 4
Title: Backend and Blockchain Development
Outputs
Milestone 4 involves the following key activities:
These steps will allow us to develop the feature and make the GitHub repository (public) available to the community member.
Acceptance criteria
The community members can review the source code which will be available on GitHub (open source)
Evidence of Milestone completion
Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 8
Cost
55,714 ADA ($14,400)
% Completion
57%
Milestone 5
Title: Frontend Development
Outputs
Milestone 5 involves the following key activities:
These steps will allow us to deploy the "Work History as Verifiable Credentials" feature and produce a product demo video.
Acceptance criteria
Users can go through the “work history as verifiable credentials” feature on the Socious app. They include the following functions:
NB: The aforementioned functions are subject to change, depending on the result of research in this project.
Evidence of Milestone completion
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 10
Cost
94,517 ADA ($26,480)
% Completion
83%
Final Milestone
Title: Marketing, user testing, Governance Framework and final report
Outputs
Final Milestone involves the following key activities:
These steps will produce the following deliverables:
Acceptance criteria
Evidence of Milestone completion
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 12
Cost
59,143 ADA ($16,560)
% Completion
100%
Milestone 1
Title: Market and Technical Research
Outputs and Deliverables
Milestone 1 includes the following outputs:
At the end of these outputs, we deliver a technical and market research paper summarizing the findings above
Intended outcomes
The market and technical research paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.
How we measure the project’s progress
We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached below.
Community members can access the market and technical research paper to find the following content:
Milestone 2
Title: UI/UX Research
Outputs and deliverables
Milestone 2 includes the following key activities:
These steps will results in a finalized UI/UX Research Paper.
Intended outcomes
The UI/UX Research Paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.
How we measure the project’s progress
We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.
Community members can access the UI/UX research paper.
Milestone 3
Title: UI/UX Design
Outputs and deliverables
Milestone 3 includes the following key activities:
These steps will result in a finalized, production-ready UI/UX design in Figma, along with a video walk-through.
The Figma file will be published and made available for community review. Similarly, the video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.
Intended outcomes
How we measure the project’s progress
We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.
The Figma files and the video walk-through are publicly available and community members are able to review them.
Milestone 4
Title: Backend and Blockchain Development
Outputs and deliverables
Milestone 4 involves the following key activities:
These steps will allow us to develop the feature and make the GitHub repository (public) available to the community member.
Intended outcomes
The community members can review the source code which will be available on GitHub (open source)
How we measure the project’s progress
We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.
Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
Milestone 5
Title: Frontend Development
Outputs and deliverables
Milestone 5 involves the following key activities:
These steps will allow us to deploy the "work history as verifiable credentials" feature and produce a product demo video.
Intended outcomes
Users can go through the “work history as verifiable credentials” feature on the Socious app. They include the following functions:
NB: The aforementioned functions are subject to change, depending on the result of research in this project.
How we measure the project’s progress
We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.
Final Milestone
Title: Marketing, user testing, data analysis and final report
Outputs and deliverables
Final Milestone involves the following key activities:
These steps will produce the following deliverables:
Intended outcomes
The following items will be completed:
How we measure the project’s progress
Please find below a detailed breakdown of our budget, including the number of people and hours allocated to each task. We have calculated the cost at $40 per person per hour. The base conversion rate for USD-ADA is 0.28.*
Executive summary:
Total Cost: 353,714 ADA ($97,840)
Milestone 1: 51,143 ADA ($14,320)
Milestone 2: 60,286 ADA ($16,880)
Milestone 3: 32,857 ADA ($9,200)
Milestone 4: 55,714 ADA ($14,400)
Milestone 5: 94,571 ADA ($26,480)
Final Milestone: 59,143 ADA ($16,560)
Please find the details of the breakdown here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dpVBcenpzZcvSPn35ypwOOUCZT3wtlR9nCW-eSRIIOw/edit?usp=sharing
*We've adopted the USD-ADA conversion rate of $0.28 which is the rate at the time of the proposal submission deadline.
The proposed project holds immense potential to further the Cardano ecosystem, and while there are significant costs involved, they are justified in their allocation, and as such, represent excellent value for money.
To start, the impact of our Socious initiative is already apparent, with 3,700 individuals already introduced to the Cardano ecosystem. The current project not only aims to maintain this trend but to accelerate it further. This will help to expand the user base and, consequently, the value of the Cardano network, providing a high return on investment.
Addressing the labor costs, we have optimized our budget based on industry standards and geographical considerations. According to ZipRecruiter data, the average salaries for product designers, developers, and product managers are $72, $68, and $65 per hour, respectively. However, we have managed to budget the hourly salaries at a more cost-effective rate of $40, without compromising the quality of the work or expertise of the individuals involved.
This is made possible by leveraging our network of professionals who are both passionate about our mission and have agreed to work at rates that allow us to provide value to the Cardano ecosystem. As a result, our operational costs are significantly reduced while maintaining the necessary high standards of quality and professionalism.
Furthermore, the project budget was not created in isolation. It was meticulously crafted based on our extensive experience with similar projects in the past. This has given us a clear understanding of the human resources and hours necessary to successfully implement this project, resulting in a reliable, accurate budget.
For a comprehensive breakdown of the project costs, please refer to the following document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dpVBcenpzZcvSPn35ypwOOUCZT3wtlR9nCW-eSRIIOw/edit?usp=sharing
In conclusion, every dollar spent on this project is a targeted investment towards expanding the Cardano ecosystem, enhancing the utility of Cardano, and providing exceptional value for all stakeholders.
NB: Monthly reporting was deprecated from January 2024 and replaced fully by the Milestones Program framework. Learn more here
Socious (https://socious.io) is a fast-growing impact startup that provides a talent marketplace, making impact work accessible and transparent. We connect purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching. We use blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.
Socious is supported by 500Global, Microsoft, and Milkomeda Foundation. Our platform lists over 70k jobs, 23k organizations, and has 3.8k registered talents. Our team consists of experts in impact measurement, finance, data science, and blockchain development.
Socious has extensive experience in the Cardano ecosystem, having successfully completed five Catalyst-funded projects in Fund 9.
Title: Founder and CEO
Role: Product Ownership, Project Management, Research
Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seirayun/
Bio: Seira Yun is the Founder and CEO of Socious.io, a talent marketplace that makes impact work accessible and transparent. Socious connects purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching, and uses blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.
Seira is a serial impact entrepreneur with years of experience in the sector. He has led teams within the ICRC, UNHCR, and social ventures. Drawing from personal experiences as a migrant, an autistic person, and a proud pansexual queer, Seira is driven to make the world a better place through social innovation. As a full-stack developer with a Master's in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge, he enjoys blending technology with purpose. Seira is also an impact angel investor, a member of Hustle Fund's Angel Squad, and a mentor for 4WARD.VC's Climate Accelerator. When not working, he enjoys shooting hoops, running, reading, spending quality time with the kids, or embracing the adventure of getting lost during travels. He is also a long-term member of the Cardano community; he’s won and managed five Catalyst projects and has participated in Atala PRISM Pioneer Program.
Title: Lead Designer
Role: Design
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-douang/
Bio: With more than a decade of experience specializing in product design, Minh is a multidisciplinary artist who has always believed art has a language of its own. As a neurodiverse individual, Minh is passionate about helping people and creating sustainable and inclusive solutions.
Title: Senior Backend Engineer
Role: Backend/Blockchain/AI Engineering
LinkedIn:
https://linkedin.com/in/ehsan-mahmoudi-611123b8/
Bio: More than 8 years of experience in Python and Machine Learning as well as extensive experience in blockchain development. Ehsan has worked for global startups including Rechat, AEC, and Navaak.
Title: Senior Frontend Developer
Role: Frontend Development
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sajad-abbasi-39485696/
Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 10+ years of experience.
Title: Frontend Developer
Role: Frontend Development
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanaz-mahmoudi/
Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 4+ years of experience.
Title: QA Engineer
Role: Quality Assurance
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/azin-zare-355a27179/
Bio: An experienced QA engineer with 9+ years of experience.
Title: Partnerships Lead
Role: Project Management, Research
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/madi-lommen-394940b0/
Bio: Madi has 10+ years experience in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and partnership building. Madi is passionate about interdisciplinary learning / problem-solving that leverages entrepreneurship and multilingual teamwork for community development. In recent years, she founded Madibanani Co. to champion refugee youth, designed a data collection program on the Jordan-Syrian border, and coordinated military-like training for Emergency & Disaster volunteers of La Cruz Roja (Red Cross) in Ecuador. After completing a thesis on medieval Arabic poetry at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, she worked with a network of angel investors scaling women-led SMEs tackling poverty in Southeast Asia. She has experience working in four languages (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese) and has lived in Singapore, Jordan, Ecuador, the UK, South Africa, the USA, and Japan.
Title: Design Advisor
Role Design Direction
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelhode/
Bio: Raphael is a Strategic Designer with a passion for social innovation and sustainability. After a few years in advertising agencies in Paris, Raphael moved to Tokyo in 2015 and joined Designit, a global strategic design firm. At Designit Raphael worked on growing a team and helping some of Japan’s most ambitious companies make innovation happen, leading him to endorse a variety of roles across UX design, service design, business design, and strategy.
In parallel, he has been passionately engaging in activities related to sustainability and social innovation: giving talks and workshops, mentoring early-stage social founders, and eventually co-founding a social venture. Today, he spends most of his time working with incredible social entrepreneurs to help them define, design, and launch visionary products that contribute to creating a more sustainable society.