Latam Cardano Community Operations

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Ezequiel Matías Marclé Montenegro

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

With our community's support, LATAM now collaborates smoothly. We must scale our reach to drive adoption and boost LATAM’s impact even further.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Project will be fully open source

[METADATA] Horizons

Education

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Our Purpose

The LATAM Cardano Community is a decentralized alliance that empowers individuals, organizations, initiatives, and governments with an interest in Latin America. We strive to foster collaboration and expand Cardano adoption, amplifying the region's impact on a global scale.

LATAM TownHall

Our LATAM TownHall sessions, conducted in Spanish and Portuguese, are a cornerstone for collaboration. Held bi-weekly, these Zoom events offer a space for people to present, share, and discuss ideas and projects. Weekly, we explore diverse topics, enabling the community to drive discussions and activities that foster growth and connection.

TownHall features:

• Bi-weekly moderated Zoom events with varied content and audiences
• Bi-weekly Twitter Spaces to engage a broader audience
• Expert community moderators who ensure productive, high-quality discussions
• A gathering place for diverse LATAM communities, providing a platform for cultural expression in their own languages
• A unique, innovative learning environment centered on decentralization in Cardano All events are documented and recorded, building trust and transparency. Access past sessions on our YouTube channel.

After over 70 TownHalls featuring more than 60 speakers and a peak audience of 77, we’ve shown our commitment to delivering on our promises. We’ve also hosted six LATAM Ideafests (F7, F8, F9, F10, F11 and F12), with nearly 150 proposals presented in Spanish and Portuguese. Additionally, we’ve alternated TownHall sessions with over 30 Twitter Spaces to expand our reach.

We created the FUNdFest events to celebrate Catalyst Funds F9 and F10. These events bring Cardano to new audiences, teaching them how to become proposers and introducing them to Catalyst. FUNdFest even featured an NFT prize, minting 49 NFTs and facilitating the creation of nearly 30 new Cardano wallets.

Through coaching, translations, and presentations, we support LATAM's participation in the Catalyst process. Our goal is to bring more people into the ecosystem, generating value and expanding Cardano’s use cases in the region.

LATAM X Spaces

Every 15 days, we host X Spaces to provide a fresh, interactive format for our community to connect, learn, and collaborate. These sessions attract a different audience from our TownHalls, with over 20 X Spaces held so far, further extending our community's reach.

We are constantly innovating with new communication approaches, including short audiovisual content aimed at educating and training those who engage with our initiatives.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

With global community support, we aim to continue building a stronger network by creating quality content in Spanish to onboard more members to Cardano and Catalyst. Our goal is to increase member engagement in decision-making, enhance transparency for treasury spending, and extend our reach. By maintaining regular spaces (Zoom, Twitter, workshops, and events), we’ll foster collaboration, integrate LATAM talent into the global ecosystem, and create new opportunities across the region. We strive to bring Cardano to every corner of LATAM and continue to cultivate a thriving, synergistic community

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

The core team of the Latam Cardano Community, has now more than two years of demonstrated valuable contributions both to the wider global cardano community and to the Latin American ecosystem. Our capabilities range from event organization to community engagement, from decentralized governance to translation to local languages, from helping people to create and present their projects to actively promoting them in order for the world to learn about the LATAM opportunity.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Outputs:

• Deliver 4 LATAM TownHalls (two in January 2025, two in February 2025)
• Deliver 4 Twitter Spaces (two in January 2025, two in February 2025)
• Translation of Catalyst materials to Spanish and Portuguese onboard projects and reviewers during the TownHalls and Spaces made during this two months. 

The Acceptance criteria for each of the deliverables set will be as follows:

• For the TownHalls the acceptance criteria is that the each of the 4 TownHalls included in this milestone are effectively promoted and hosted live in Zoom and it is streamed live and recorded in the Latam Cardano Youtube channel (url of the channel provided at the evidence section)
• For the Twitter Spaces the acceptance criteria is that the 4 spaces were effectively promoted and delivered live at X platform of the community (latamcardano) and recorded in that platform.
• The acceptance criteria for the Catalyst translation of materials to Spanish or Portuguese, is that each step of the Catalyst cycle was explained in Spanish/Portuguese at either any of the January/February TownHalls and/or Spaces so the community was able to understand the process and when/how to participate in the different Catalyst stages. 

Our Second milestone is composed of the following outputs :

• Deliver 4 LATAM TownHalls (two in April2025, two in May2025)
• Deliver 4 Twitter Spaces (two in April2025, two in May2025)
• Latam Fund14 Ideafest, delivered
• Translation of Catalyst materials to Spanish and Portuguese onboard projects and reviewers during the TownHalls and Spaces made during this two months. 

The Acceptance criteria for each of the deliverables of this second milestone set will be as follows:

• For the TownHalls the acceptance criteria is that the each of the 4 TownHalls included in this milestone are effectively promoted and hosted live in Zoom and they are streamed live and recorded in the Latam Cardano Youtube channel (url of the channel provided at the evidence section)
• For the Twitter Spaces the acceptance criteria is that the 4 spaces are effectively promoted and delivered live at X platform on the community account (latamcardano) and recorded in that platform.
• For the F14 Latam IdeaFest the acceptance criteria is that the Latam F14 Ideafest was promoted, projects were able to register thru the provided form, the ideafest was held live on Zoom and each project pitch was recorded and published in the LATAM Cardano Community Youtube channel (url of the channel provided at the evidence section)
• The acceptance criteria for the Catalyst translation of materials to Spanish or Portuguese, is that each step of the Catalyst cycle was explained in Spanish/Portuguese at either any of the August/September TownHalls and/or Spaces so the community was able to understand the process and when/how to participate in the different Catalyst stages. 

Outputs:

• Deliver 4 LATAM TownHalls (two in June2025, two in July2025)
• Deliver 4 Twitter Spaces (two in June2025, two in July2025)
• Translation of Catalyst materials to Spanish and Portuguese onboard projects and reviewers during the TownHalls and Spaces made during this two months. 

The Acceptance criteria for each of the deliverables set will be as follows:

• For the TownHalls the acceptance criteria is that the each of the 4 TownHalls included in this milestone are effectively promoted and hosted live in Zoom and it is streamed live and recorded in the Latam Cardano Youtube channel (url of the channel provided at the evidence section)
• For the Twitter Spaces the acceptance criteria is that the 4 spaces were effectively promoted and delivered live at X platform of the community (latamcardano) and recorded in that platform.
• The acceptance criteria for the Catalyst translation of materials to Spanish or Portuguese, is that each step of the Catalyst cycle was explained in Spanish/Portuguese at either any of the August/September TownHalls and/or Spaces so the community was able to understand the process and when/how to participate in the different Catalyst stages. 

Outputs:

• Project Closeout Report with all the 12 TownHalls, 12 X Spaces and the F14 Ideafest documented and all the recording links provided. 
• Project Closeout Video (of what was done and achieved is created and published, so it can be referenced and consulted by the reviewers, the catalyst team and anyone in the community.) 

Acceptance Criteria

• Project Closeout Report is submitted . 
• Project Closeout video is delivered in our OneDrive and/ or LatamCardano Youtube channel.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Answer:

LATAM Cardano Community core team will help to set up the operations program.

Which will be coordinated by a full time dedicated team member:

Ezequiel Marclé Montenegro - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emarcle/

He has experience as a translator coordinator in the Community Translator Team and has more than two years of experience in the community, assisting and collaborating with the Core Team. He is an Accountant as a background formation, with specialization in web3 and DAO management. 

Other functional areas such as Marketing and Community managers of the organization will provide support.

LATAM Cardano Community core team will help to set up the program and appoint the 3 staffs, as we have the experience and contacts to be able to do it on time and with high quality results

Among our core team we can cite:

Juanita Jaramillo R (CoFounder Cardano Fem, Collaborator Cardano 4 Climate, Organizer of Bogotá and Manizales CIP1694 Workshops, Organizer of Pan Latam Workshop)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/juanita-jaramillo-rivillas-6009534b/

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

The impact the LATAM Cardano Community is bringing to the Cardano ecosystem is very difficult to measure in hard metrics, as we are creating impact at many levels and areas.

We have been funded in F10 and F11 and we are delivering on our promise and more, as it can be seen in our monthly reports and our Milestones

https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/10/f10-daos-less3-cardano/latam-cardano-community-operations-dao-infrastructure-for-a-wide-purpose

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/113805

We are requesting this new proposal, as if our project gets approved and funded, we will receive our first disbursement for F13 in January 2025, so it will not conflcts with our current F11 proposal that ended in August2024.

As per our previous experience, and the demonstrated outcomes, we have validated, prorated and determined that the cost for each event we do has an average of ADA 3879, covering following activities:

• Payment of different tools: Discord, Zoom, Office 365 accounts (4).
• Creation, publication and maintenance of the LATAM website.
• Content generation for promotions, paying as a service for Illustrators & Designers.
• Hosting and Organization of each event.
• Marketing and communication of each event topic and activity.
• Document every single activity of the Community for transparency.
• Social Channels management and moderation.
• Voltaire Era follow up and engagement.
• Intersect MBO startup participation to make it start as inclusive and diverse as possible.

So in 6 months we will be hosting 24 events, for a total of ADA 92.100

We will need this budget to be spent in 6 payments of ADA 15.350 so we can keep up with the costs.

We opted to use this form of costing, that our range of activities are very diverse and it is very difficult to get a detailed cost for each one, as we have a lot of volunteering work, a very changing agenda and a growing and needy community. So we need to focus our efforts on keeping the community spaces we have generated open and engaging, while we continue working with new activities and challenges to articulate the LATAM talent at the global level while also bringing the Cardano opportunity to the region.

Again, with the trust and support from the community, our contributions will keep growing and innovating to bring more people and brains into the Cardano fam, driving more inclusion and diversity which is a key cornerstone to generate the next stage in humans organization and sustainability

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Measuring the impact of the LATAM Cardano Community in hard metrics is challenging. However, by looking at the growing number of people and projects we engage with—both regionally and globally—it’s clear that this community has made a meaningful impact on Cardano. The insights and feedback we’ve generated, along with the rising number of LATAM projects driving change in their niches, underscore this value. Considering the success of our TownHalls, Twitter Spaces, and the projects emerging from our community—especially in a bear market and without funding—we can confidently say our impact is significant for the resources invested. The opportunity is here, and with the passion and resilience we've shown over the past year and a half, we’re ready to deliver even more with the global community’s support.