Community Governance Oversight (CGO)

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

cgo proposals

[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)

7

[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)

Maintain oversight of Catalyst governance changes, report regularly to the community, and develop a participatory, community-led change management process for use in Catalyst and beyond.

[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

All project outputs, and all documentation (such as our final whitepaper) will be published under Creative Commons CC BY-SA-4.0.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Over recent Funds, the parameters related to Catalyst governance have changed often; and although community members have individually commented and engaged, there has been little focused oversight, nor research into the effects of changes. There is also no clearly-defined, evidence-based process for managing and sharing changes: despite some discussion of questions such as “how much community opinion-gathering and engagement is enough?”, there is no commonly-agreed idea of how to consult the community on changes, and no clarity on how community input is incorporated; so those who have contributed to consultation are often left unclear how or whether their input has been used. Additionally, the process of sharing background information and research about the thinking behind changes has been patchy. Sometimes, key sections of the community who are affected by a change have not been reached or engaged, and often, little information has been shared about the research behind a proposed change, so that people can fully understand it. 

You can read about these issues in the relevant section of CGO’s Fund 8 closing report .

We propose to address all this by reconvening CGO (Community Governance Oversight), a group that maintained successful oversight of Catalyst governance processes in funds 7 and 8 (see for example our Fund 8 closing report, which covered issues such as the proposed change from Challenges to Categories, the Circle election process, and the proposed introduction of dReps.) 

In this proposal, CGO (with a new team including some core members from F8, and some new members) will meet monthly for 6 months, to investigate recent Catalyst governance parameter changes, explore how such changes can be managed in a way that is fully co-produced with the community, and develop an approach for a community-led change management process for the future. This will include recommendations on how changes should be introduced, how they should be shared and what kind of information should be given about them, how to identify who needs to be consulted, how best to reach particular stakeholder groups, how to establish baselines, what to track when trying to assess the effects of a change, and so on. We will include in our thinking both current changes, and the changes CGO identified during its Fund 8 proposal (see CGO community register of Catalyst parameter changes) which, since they happened some time ago, we will be able to examine the results of - this will ensure any process we devise is evidence-based. The change management process we develop will be intended to work as an adjunct to IOG’s funded processes, as an independent “check and balance” to the system. 

To support this work, we hope to be able to test and use an open-source participatory interface which is the subject of another F11 proposal, "CGO Parameters Platform", to help us track parameter changes. This tool was first suggested as a result of CGO’s Fund 8 work - see https://github.com/Catalyst-Auditing/Catalyst-Parameters-Dashboard - and if it is funded, we will contribute to its testing by using it to track the parameter changes we are exploring. We also hope this tool will offer an ongoing way, after the end of this project, for the community itself to log and analyse parameter changes and determine whether they meet recommendations on change management, thus embedding long-term community oversight of parameter changes. 

Our meetings will be documented on the CGO GitBook, and via recordings on YouTube, and via a GitHub project board. Progress will be shared with the community via a weekly slide at Catalyst Town Hall, and posts on key channels such as Discord, Telegram, Twitter and the Cardano Forum. The project will end with a detailed final whitepaper.

A note on the background to CGO’s approach to “governance parameters”

In CGO’s Fund 8 project, we concluded that “governance parameter changes” in Catalyst is a broader field than IOG’s definition of the functional parameters for each Fund - in fact, it comprises any change that substantially alters the way Catalyst operates, or the way a Fund is run. This is the definition of a “Catalyst governance parameter change” that we will be working to.

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

This proposal is rooted in the ideals of Voltaire governance - that governance should be decentralised and participatory, and that the community needs to be able to understand, and engage easily with, governance changes. Maintaining a lively community oversight of changes, and a full awareness of the background to them, will help Cardano as a whole in moving towards greater co-production and shared power. 

We anticipate that our recommendations at the end of this project around the management of governance changes will be relevant beyond Catalyst itself, to core governance issues in the wider Cardano ecosystem. The methodology that we are refining will be readily applicable to maintaining community awareness and oversight of Cardano governance changes in general, such as CIP-1694, Continuous TestNet changes, and the development of the Cardano MBO; and we see this proposal as a testing-ground for this.

The development of a community-led change management process that supports ongoing oversight by a whole community, will help Cardano to be more accountable, and provide a way for decision-making to be more transparent, more evidence-based, and more participatory.

[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?

Our team members are highly skilled and experienced in their fields, and are established members of Catalyst with a deep understanding of the ecosystem and its governance. Several of them were part of CGO (Community Governance Oversight) in Fund 7 and Fund 8.

We are all committed to the open-source ethos, and all have extensive experience of working on projects (developer-based and other) that are accessibly documented through GitHub and GitBook, providing a trackable, accountable and trustworthy audit trail. 

Our project wallet will be managed by Miroslav Rajh of Treasury Guild, thus ensuring trustworthy and accountable budget management.

We will measure the success of our project by recording:

• Number of meetings held, and who attends each meeting
• Number and range of issues and parameter changes discussed; number of data-points explored for each change we discuss
• Views and engagement with our meeting documentation on GitBook and YouTube
• Attendance at our After Town Hall towards the end of the project
• Qualitative measurement of the success of our regular TownHall slides and our After TownHall
• Views and engagement with our final report
• Informal qualitative monitoring of the degree of community discussion that our publicity generates on the topic of parameter changes, in channels including Discord, Telegram and Twitter.

We will share the outputs and results of our project via: 

• Documentation of meetings on the CGO GitBook, and via a GitHub project board and YouTube videos
• Presentation of a regular slide at Town Hall, and sharing updates on Discord, Telegram, Twitter, and the Cardano Forum
• Hosting an After Town Hall towards the end of the project
• A final report with details of our findings.

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

Set-up (to be submitted at the end of Month 1)

Outputs

• Team onboarded
• Initial meeting to set up project board and define issues
• Set-up of wallet and budget management structure, GitHub project management board, and documentation systems.

Acceptance criteria

• Project board is populated with issues we will cover
• Treasury management process clearly defined

Evidence

• Record of initial meeting on GitBook and Youtube
• Wallet
• GitHub project management board

Meetings, part 1 (to be submitted at the end of Month 3)

Outputs

• Documentation of the first 3 of our 6 meetings
• 3 Town Hall Slides presented
• Community engagement and publicity on key channels about the issues we are discussing

Acceptance criteria

• Project documentation is clear and acessible
• Publicity has been done across a range of platforms

Evidence

• Documentation on Gitbook and YouTube of 3 meetings
• Posts on Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Cardano Forum

Meetings, part 2 (to be submitted at the end of Month 6)

Outputs

• Documentation of the final 3 of our 6 meetings
• 3 more Town Hall Slides presented
• Community engagement and publicity on key channels about the issues we are discussing

Acceptance criteria

• Project documentation is clear and acessible
• Publicity has been done across a range of platforms

Evidence

• Documentation on Gitbook and YouTube of our second 3 meetings
• Posts on Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Cardano Forum

Report and recommendation (to be submitted at the end of Month 7)

Outputs

• Closing report and video to IOG
• Publication of a more extensive report/whitepaper outlining the results of our work, and our recommendations for change management
• An After Town Hall to share our outputs

Acceptance criteria

• Closing report and video are accepted by IOG
• Final report/whitepaper is publicised widely
• At least 20 people attend After Town Hall

Evidence

• Closing report and video
• Final report/whitepaper
• Recording of After Town Hall

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

Vanessa Cardui - Community engagement professional with 20+ years' experience of working with communities to record and collate their information, archive it, and make it discoverable. Part of QA-DAO where she leads on documentation (see for example documentation of Catalyst Circle https://quality-assurance-dao.gitbook.io/catalyst-circle-oversight-v3 ) CGO F8, where she maintained oversight of Catalyst parameter changes and was editor of the closing report; founding member of Catalyst Facilitators Collective; part of the SingularityNET archives team; part of the SingularityNET DeepFunding Focus Group. Role: Oversight and analysis team; meeting facilitation; project management and reporting; editing final whitepaper.

Stephen Whitenstall (LinkedIn; Twitter) is the co-founder of QA-DAO, https://qadao.io/ , and has provided project management consultancy for many Catalyst projects since Fund 4 including Catalyst Circle, Audit Circle, Community Governance Oversight, Training & Automation (with Treasury Guild), Governance Guild and Swarm. Catalyst Circle V2 representative for funded proposers. Also engaged in cross chain collaboration with SingularityNET managing an Archive project. He has 30 years experience in development, test management, project management, social enterprises in Investment Banking, Telecoms and Local Government. A philosophy honors graduate with an interest in Blockchain governance. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; documentation.

Rodrigo Pacini: (LinkedIn,Twitter) Participating as Veteran Community Advisor/Veteran Proposal Assessor/Reviewer Level2 and Moderator on Project Catalyst since Fund2. Funded proposer on Fund 10, Twitter(X) Space host of the Manifesto Cardano Brasil project, and project manager of DReps LATAM - Brasil - Exploration & Community Sensing. Mentorship of proposers in Catalyst. Participation in the development of guidelines and processes for quality assurance in the review stage of Catalyst. Former Cardano Ambassador Moderator. Economics, blockchain and DeFi research since 2018. BTech degree in Naval Construction. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; publicity and community engagement.

Ubio Obu: (LinkedIn; GitHub): CEO of Remostart, and a blockchain and AI researcher with 4 years' experience. His research works range from AI, to IoT, agriculture, environment, blockchain, HR, and human behavior. He currently has 7 research paper publications in reputable journals including the American Institute of Physics and IEEE, 2 patents under application, and a Copyright on a book titled Research writing for beginners. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; publicity and community engagement.

Eystein Hansen runs the staking pool Ada North Pool and has been a Cardano staking pool operator since the first incentivized testnet of Cardano as well as private testnets before this time, and has been active in the community since the end of 2017. He is currently on the Civics Committee in Intersect. Eystein has a master’s degree in Psychology as well as a master’s degree in Law both from the university of Tromsoe, Norway. Eystein’s passion in the Cardano ecosystem is governance, and he has held and attended multiple workshops and summits on the topic. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; publicity and community engagement.

Phil Khoo: experience as an accountant, UI/UX frontend and graphic design and business advisor amongst numerous other pursuits. He currently has a lead position in the development and direction of Cardano AIM and is co-creator of the Community Tools. Was part of CGO F8 where he focused on oversight of Challenge Setting and Catalyst Parameters. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; publicity and community engagement.

Tevo Saks Building communities, connecting decentralised Open Source services, and contributing to community governance documentation. Co-founder of Catalyst Swarm. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; publicity and community engagement.

José Miguel de Gamboa: Management, Economics and HR strategic management from CESA, UWS and Cornell University. He is an experienced professional with 25 years in the corporate world specializing in culture and catalytic leadership. He currently teaches blockchain at CESA. In the Cardano community, he serves on Intersect’s Civics committee, is a founding member of the Latam Cardano Community, has contributed to Catalyst as a Challenge team member/leader and Community reviewer since fund 7, and has co-authored several governance related papers. His work aims to capture collective intelligence at the service of common growth. Role: Oversight and analysis team; contributing to final whitepaper; publicity and community engagement.

Miroslav Rajh (Linkedin) has 20 years of experience in managing finances. He also worked as a Human Resources Manager (HRM). Currently as part of Treasury Guild he manages transactions for Swarm, Singularity Net, Governance Guild, Catalyst Training and Automation, Lead Generators, and Edify. Role: Treasury and wallet management.

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

• CGO meetings: 8 people x 600 ADA per meeting x 8 meetings (6x oversight meetings, plus 1x onboarding meeting and 1x plenary) Subtotal = 38,400 ADA

• Treasury management: Miroslav Rajh of Treasury Guild will set up the wallet for Community Governance Oversight, arrange ADA payments to members, and maintain budget records. Average 12 hrs/month for 6 months = 72 hrs x 160 ADA /hr Subtotal = 11,520 ADA

• Facilitation: (agenda prep and facilitating 8 meetings, 800 ADA per meeting) Subtotal = 6,400 ADA

• Documentation of 8 meetings (summary videos and text meeting summaries): 600 ADA per meeting x 8 meetings Subtotal = 4,800 ADA

• Project management and reporting (comprises monthly reports, milestone reports) Subtotal = 6,400 ADA

• Publicity and comms (covers preparing and delivering TH Slides @ 645 ADA each x 6 = 3,870 ADA; posting in Discord, Telegram and Twitter @ 250 ADA/month x 6 months = 1,500 ADA; planning, delivery and documentation of 1 ATH = 1,500 ADA Subtotal = 6,870 ADA 

• Compiling, writing and editing final whitepaper: subtotal = 6,460 ADA

• Project close-out report and video: subtotal = 1,200 ADA

total = 82,050 ADA

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

The pay rates given are typical freelance rates at the low end of US and European averages. (see this 2022 survey in the UK, which assessed average freelance day rates as £368, or approx 1,268 ADA at current exchange rate. Typically, a 3-hr meeting is calculated as half a day, to account for prep and after-tasks ). Note that freelance pay rates are typically higher than salaried pay rates, since they need to take into account the employment overheads of the resources contracted. The amounts in our budget are calculated for each milestone based on the hours to complete.

Also, all the people working on this project are taking on the currency risk of being paid in ADA. This means that a fall in the ADA price will result in being paid less or delivering less in each milestone. Any rise in the ADA price will represent a reward for investing in the Cardano ecosystem.

The output from this proposal will be regular, detailed and open reporting, a closing whitepaper with detailed analysis of outcomes, and a legacy methodology that can be used to manage governance change and engage a community with governance. 

Given these factors, we believe this low-budget proposal offers excellent value for money in a volatile cryptocurrency environment.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept