Empowering Communities through Blockchain Education: Strengthening Learning Centers with Cardano Integration

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Zablon Girma

[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)

12

[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)

We propose establishing Community Learning Centers equipped with internet, computers and blockchain materials to deliver workshops on blockchain and Cardano to young people and communities in Ethiopia

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

Yes

[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.”

Yes, the project will depend on partnerships with local educational centers, internet providers, and community leaders. These partnerships are essential to reach the target audience effectively.

[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

The learning resources and workshop materials will be open source, enabling other communities and educators to replicate and adapt the program to suit their needs.

[METADATA] Horizons

Community Outreach

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Our initiative is centered around three key pillars to drive meaningful impact in Ethiopia:

1, Infrastructure Development: Internet connection will be provided in areas of interest in the country through setting up of nodes. These will be learning materials, gadgets, and connections to the Internet so that students receive all the necessary for obtaining digital experience and cognitive work. Therefore we seek to narrow down the digital gap as well as develop environmental solutions in our concentration of infrastructure.

2, Educational Workshops: In using the Cardano blockchain, we will conduct a sequence of informative educational seminars aimed at presenting the general principles of the blockchain and concentrating on its implementation in such spheres as agriculture, finance, and other common spheres important for a certain region. These workshops will equip people with the knowledge on how to search for new economic opportunities, as well as to look at innovative solutions within a given society.

3, Community Engagement: It will also entail the cooperation with local managers, specialists and teachers for training within the context of the communities. With due focus on grassroots engagement, the objective of the proposed initiative is to make blockchain technology top of mind across the populace.

The workshops will be conducted by the Human Resources who work in blockchain companies along with local teachers so that the high level technical experience and locally focused teaching methodologies can be both provided. This approach equally advances the optimum adoption of blockchain technology besides guaranteeing its real and lasting applicability for Ethiopia’s various sectors. Its long-term aim is to reach out to those that wish to make a change and to do that with capacity, digital performance, and productivity improvements through a communal effort.

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

This project aims to deliver significant outcomes that will benefit communities across Ethiopia, promoting the growth and adoption of blockchain technology:

1, Drive Blockchain Adoption: So, by providing people with carefully developed educational content on how Cardano works in agriculture, finance, and other sectors relevant to the country, we want to help improve people’s understanding of blockchain technology. Direct demonstrations will be performed through workshops in order to enable the participants get to realize the actual impact of blockchain in solving challenges within their region. Thanks to the increased activity and the demonstration of the need, the project will create a favorable environment for applying blockchain at the community level.

2, Empower Communities: It will empower communities to get the necessary tools and information to seek and implement blockchain solutions for their context. As with any application of Cardano, local residents will gain the ability to take the reins on solving some of the most urgent problems such as bringing transparency to the supply chains in agriculture or proper access to financial services. With these resources, the project will be effecting the much needed change that will assist the communities to steer their own development alongside.

3, Create Career and Business Opportunities: The development of this project will create new opportunities for the youth and local startups to gain education and get acquainted with the blockchain field. Filling the demand for blockchain expertise worldwide, anyone that enrolls in the program will be armed with knowledge that will create new opportunities in new emerging careers. Blockchain offers an opportunity for developing new business models for entrepreneurs when entering both national and global markets.

Therefore, this project will help with drawing a local community into blockchain technology and innovativeness of the people and stimulate the emergence of new professions and companies. It will be able to enhance digital literacy and innovative generation for the accomplishment of sustained development and economic growth in Ethiopia in the future.

[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?

Proven Track Record: Specifically, as a business person from Ethiopia and as an active contributor to the local tech and community, I know what is possible in Addis Ababa. The practical experience I have in customer facing and technology based roles makes me well placed to steer projects that may demand technical understanding, cross cultural communication and community relations.

Team Expertise: I will engage with educators, and other professionals that are knowledgeable about blockchain technology and its educational initiatives. They have experience in developing appealing sessions and therefore can help in development of the content that will be delivered to the target beneficiaries. Our legal and compliance advisers will help GES to ascertain that all contents and the manner of sharing of data complies with the local laws.

Transparent Project Management: For purposes of trust and accountability we shall incorporate strong project management principles:

Milestone-Based Progress Tracking: The project will also adopt clear and identifiable phases with tangible products with the progress shift recorded regularly.

Open-Source Reporting: Any material used in education will be as open-sourced as possible so that the members of the Cardano ecosystem can review our content. We will keep posting our updates on the Cardano Project Catalyst online platform.

Financial Accountability: Financial management in projects will also be clear, with our proposed budget, and subsequent monthly financial statements provided to the project members. External auditors will also audit the management of our finances to ensure they are in the realization of our objectives.

Validating Feasibility: It is our plan to begin our intervention in one or two learning centers only because this will help us to assess the impacts of the curriculum and the manner in which the learning processes are handled before expanding to other learning centers. Local coordination will help us ensure these centers contain the right programs for their areas, and constant feedback will help keep everything on track.

Measurable Outcomes: Milestones will be based on the number of workshops conducted, number of people trained, number of Cardano wallets created, and number of blockchain projects developed by community members. By the end of this project, the outcomes will show that the project is viable and would be beneficial to Cardano.

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

Described below is the first stage that can take up to (Month 1-2)

• A needs assessment should be carried out in order to determine the most appropriate premises for the centers.
• Knowledge of available and reliable internet connection and other equipment's to be used in learning centers.

Content Creation/Content Development (Month 3-4)

• Prepare teaching and learning resources dealing with Cardano and its uses.
• Copies of written materials should be produced in localized languages to cover a wider audience.

For the respective level of development, Launch of Workshops is during Month 5-7.

Launch workshops and blockchain educations programs in the aforesaid centres.

Track its participation levels and collect feeds back for necessary changes.

Promotion & Outreach – Texas Based Community Events and Cardano (Month 8-12)

Invitation to a host of events in the community where holders get to see first-hand Cardano in action – in the case of farming and farming and financial crop operations.

Engage learners progressively and establish mentor like guidelines of direction for them.

The last is the documentation of the final project where the project team is supposed to prepare a report and bring together a video that would demonstrate the ends of the Community Learning Centers. Such things are the total numbers of workshops that have been conducted, interaction with the community, take rates of the Cardano ecosystem, and the experiences of subject matter from participants who have used what they learned about blockchain in tackling problems in their day-to-day lives. The research paper will also have data gathered from interviews with community members and educators on how the project’s results may be easily replicable. These deliverables will be released to the Cardano community and the stakeholders of Project Catalyst in order to show the outcomes and viability of the effort.

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

Zablon-project lead

From a human resource point of view, I have hands on experience in customer service and technological environments, along on experience working with blockchain qualifications that allow me to comprehensively direct and lead this project. The knowledge of the Ethiopian environment that I possess along with technical knowledge and community relations ability will help me to efficiently lead this venture. I am positive in my ability to bring the technical requirements of the project and the community requirements when implementing these as well as the ADA tokens utility in providing the much needed impact.

Community Educators

Highly qualified specialists in the field of education and in the field of blockchain will work at the centers to conduct more detailed training.

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

Infrastructure Setup: 40,000 ADA

This includes costs for internet setup, purchasing devices, and furnishing the learning centers.

Educational Content Development: 20,000 ADA

Includes the creation and translation of blockchain-related learning materials.

Workshop Delivery and Community Engagement: 30,000 ADA

Funds will cover facilitator fees, workshop materials, and community events.

Marketing and Outreach: 10,000 ADA

Promotion and awareness campaigns to attract participants and promote Cardano adoption within the communities.

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

This project will provide a concept of Cardano’s applicability for a wide range of industries other than the financial sector. Through the training of local communities, we lay the groundwork for the succeeding projects and collaborations to show how Cardano operates and how it can benefit third-world economies such as Ethiopia’s.