Expanding the Cardano French West Africa Oureach to Côte d'Ivoire & Togo

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Laurentine Djatsa

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

Individual

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

3

[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)

After successfuly establishing two hubs in Burkina Faso and Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Togo are next in line. I intend to host a series of educational worshops in both countries for more impact.

[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

Every content we will produce whilst delivering the project will be uploaded either on our Youtube channel or our website and anyone can have free access to them.

[METADATA] SDG rating

>> SDG SELECTION:

• SDG goals:
• Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

• SDG subgoals:
• By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

• Key Performance Indicator (KPI):
• Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

This is the continuation on a funded project titled French West Africa Outreach that consisted of a series of workshops and conferences to reach the French speaking communities in West Africa. The first funded proposal focused on Senegal and Burkina Faso where two hubs were established with the aim to educate the communities about the blockchain technology and its opportunities for Africa. The impact was such that, aside the educational workshops we held through which we reached over 500 participants most of which joined the Catalyst communities (some of them summitted proposal in fund 9 under my guidance) and opened wallets on Yoroi, We also had 10 developers of our community initiated to Plutus and Haskell development in collaboration with the Wada hub in Goma.

 

Based on the impact the first proposal had, I and my team found it necessary to expand the French West Africa Outreach to Cote d’Ivoire and Togo where we have already established some connections during the delivery of the previous proposal.

 

The French communities in Africa are full of potentials but they lack a platform to express their innovative ideas because the existing platforms for innovation are not only inadequate, but they are restricted only to a certain category of people in society and very centralized too. And we know that where the system is centralized, innovation can not be effective and most people never get to materialize their ideas for lack of opportunities.

This project is targeting people of all professional backgrounds but with a particular focus on developers and programmers who could eventually expand their IT skills into blockchain development, as well as students and entrepreneurs. I believe that great ideas will emerge from the workshops I will hold because we can already see the impact of the first project. Our community members are getting more and more innovative and in no time our goal to contribute to the development of the French speaking Africa will be accomplished as we believe that the Cardano blockchain is a place where people can come and have their minds challenged and reset to produce solutions to some major problems the African societies face. 

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

I chose to submit this proposal because I need a room to ensure the continuity of the proposal funded in Fund 8 under Scale Up Cardano Hubs. Our community members in Burkina Faso and Senegal, after learning about Cardano Blockchain were eager to join the Catalyst Community and take on roles and we believe the same results will be seen in Togo and Cote d’Ivoire. 

Through this project:

1. The Cardano community in the French West Africa will enlarge thanks to our workshop sessions. I aim to reach 300 people in each of the countries and this this feasible thanks to the contacts I have already establised there.
2. people will have a clear understanding of blockchain and crypto currency and be willing to actively contribute to the Cardano ecosystem by taking up roles as we present the opportunity to them. Crypto currency as well as blockchain technology is still considered by many as a scam due to lack of education on the matter. I believe that with the right information spread, many will join the Cardano community and take on roles.
3. these communities will have access to great ideas as they navigate the projects on the Catalyst plaform, and this will help expand their innovative capacitiy and they will be able to participate actively to the ecosystem.
4. great ideas will emerge and eventually be turned into business opportunities and jobs offers, thus helping many to escape unemployment.

[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?

Success will be measured by:

1. The number of people registered in the Catalyst platform(during each of our worshops, we always insist that participants register.)
2. The number of Yoroi wallet opened and Ada holders(Education on Ada is an important part of our workshop topics).
3. The number of people willing to take on a role and the role they intend to play in the Cardano community. We will then guide them according to their roles because sometimes, people don't know where to start from when the join the Catalyst community.
4. The participation rate in our online follow up sessions even after the project is closed.

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

I plan to hold 3 workshop sessions in each country(Cote d'Ivoire and Togo)

Month 0

• Form a team: Burkina, Cote d'Ivoire and Togo;
• hold two online meetings to plan the worshops with the team;
• start social media advertisement for the first worshop in each country;
• Get the venue for our worshop booked for;
• Wrap up sessions with our resources persons to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Our workshop sessions will be organised as follows:

• History and evolution of the Cardano Blockchain and how it differs from the other blockchains
• The benefits of being an Ada holder
• Project Catalyst: What it is, how it works, and how to join and take on a role in the community
• Decentralised Finance and how it works
• A presentation of some outstanding projects people have been able to implement through the Project Catalyst.

All our worshops will be recorded and as we make sure the sound is good enough for others to watch and learn online. Photos will be taken as well and shared on our various social platforms.

A minimum of 300 people will be educated and onboarded through our workshops in each of the countries. This will lead to an increase of Ada holders and the expansion of Cardano in the French West Africa.

All my activities will be documented and a report sent to the Catalyst team on a monthly basis. Documents will include photos, links to our videos uploaded on Youtube.

Apart from the workshops, we will also engage in street marketing where voluntiers will wear the Cardano T-shirts and stand in various corners of the streets of Abidjan and Lome to create awareness.

Month 1

• first workshop in Cote d'Ivoire/Target: 100 participants
• first workshop in Togo/Target: 100 participants

Month 2

• Second workshop in Cote d'Ivoire/Target: 100 participants
• Second workshop in Togo/Target: 100 participants

Month 3

• 3rd worshop in Cote d'Ivoire/Target: 100 participants
• 3rd workshop in Togo/Target: 100 participants

A separate session will be held for those who will potentially take over the hubs that we will establish in both countries. These volunteers will follow up on the community members to ensure all their questions are answered.

A minimum of 600 people will be educated and onboarded through our workshops. Follow-up meetings will be planned for online session as well as one-on-one sessions

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

Aime Nico Kam: Administrative Assistant for the Cardano Hub in Burkina Faso since February 2022. He has trained and onboarded of a 100 people during our previous project's execution.

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

Venues hire for 6 Workshops: 8000

Equipment rental (projector, speakers): 6000

Main speaker: 6000

6 Resource persons in both countries: 12000

Remuneration for the supporting team for 3 months(community manager, photographer, video editor, administrative assistant): 12000

Media communication for six workshops(flyers, banners, advertisement, T-shirts, street marketing...): 13000

Refreshment for 600 participants: 10000

wallet opening for 300 participants: 2 ADA each: 600

Travelling costs: 10000

Miscelleneous: 2400

Total Cost: 80000

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

• Venue for 6 Workshops: 8000

This will cover the rental for 6 workshops(Cote d'Ivoire and Togo)

• Equipment rental(projector, speakers): 6000

This will also cover all 6 workshops

• Main speaker: 6000: As the main speaker, I will be present in person at all six events.
• 3 Resource persons from Cote d'Ivoire: 6000(2000 each)
• 3 resource persons from Togo: 6000(2000 each)
• Remuneration for the supporting team for three months: 12000: a community manager, a photographer, a video editor and our Hubs's administrative assistant who will be in charge of reporting and organising meetings.)
• Media communication for six workshops(flyers, banners, advertisement, T-shirts, street marketing...): 13000

This budget includes printing of banners, publicity on social media, printing of t-shirts and organising street marketing a day before each workshop to invite more people and create awareness.

• Refreshment for 600 participants in 6 workshops: 10000

Refreshment will cost 16.5 Ada per participant

wallet opening for 300 participants(after a quiz): 2 ADA each: 600

I am anticipating that about 300 paricipants will complete the quiz successfully.

• Travelling cost: 10000

This cost will cover 3 trips (burkina-cote d'ivoire-togo) and 3 trips(Burkina-Togo-Burkina)as well as accommodation. These are neighbouring countries were I can travel to with ease.

• Miscelleneous: 2400

Total Cost: 80000

[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