Last updated 2 weeks ago
Only 2% of global philanthropic and conservation funding reaches African local actors directly. With a $1.3T SDG financing gap, civil society lacks tools to route capital transparently to public goods
UNDP AltFinLab & local partners identified funding challenges that require scalable solutions. Builders in a month-long residency prototype public-goods funding rails, with a Cardano track for pilots.
Please provide your proposal title
Africa Builder Residency with UNDP AltFinLab
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
60000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
10
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Only 2% of global philanthropic and conservation funding reaches African local actors directly. With a $1.3T SDG financing gap, civil society lacks tools to route capital transparently to public goods
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
Yes
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
This project depends on: 1. UNDP AltFinLab and FtC collaboration with local actors in Kenya and African region to co-define areas of opportunity for deployment. We already have management approval from the UNDP Innovation Team on the program scope and are in the process of seeking support from the UNDP RBA, as well as other UNDP stakeholders on the ground. 2. Co-funding from additional sponsors (e.g., multilateral donors, philanthropic foundations, and protocols). Catalyst funding will specifically secure the Cardano track, Cardano-aligned builder support, and associated documentation and storytelling. 3. Cardano ecosystem partners and mentors to support technical sessions, office hours, and follow-on pathways for builders. These dependencies are aligned with our existing relationships and program roadmap; they are not blockers but essential components that increase the program’s reach and impact.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Financial Services
Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano?
Who we’re targeting
Builders and teams
African developers and founders building public-goods infrastructure (identity, payments, aid, civic tech, climate).
Global public-goods builders interested in African deployments and real-world development challenges.
Specifically, 1–3 teams interested in working with Cardano tooling and RealFi use cases.
Institutions and civil-society collaborators
UNDP development experts, local NGOs, community partners.
Municipal or national departments exploring digital public infrastructure and social protection tools.
Cardano ecosystem stakeholders
How we’ll reach them
Open call + targeted outreach.
FtC’s mailing list, social channels, and conference network (21k audience size)
Direct outreach to African dev communities (e.g., Nairobi / Lagos / Accra meetups, university tech hubs, existing residency alumni).
Coordination with Cardano community channels to promote the Cardano track and builder opportunities.
UNDP networks.
Previous cohorts and partners.
Why this matters for Cardano
Cardano gains trusted, institutional use cases in a key region where RealFi narratives resonate: everyday financial access, public services, and community funding.
The program onboards new builders, creates Cardano-based prototypes with live partners, and seeds a multi-year pipeline of Cardano-relevant pilots with UNDP and African NGOs.
It positions Cardano as a serious, neutral infrastructure option for public institutions, rather than just one more DeFi chain—aligning with Cardano’s long-term strategy around governance, identity, and RealFi.
By connecting this residency to Cardano’s work with BitVMX on Bitcoin scaling, we support a pathway for African teams to experiment with Bitcoin-Cardano bridges and BTC-denominated RealFi use cases that serve public institutions and local communities.
Provide a list of key activities of your project:
Key Activities:
Program and challenge design (Q4 2025 – Q1 2026)
Finalize residency structure with UNDP AltFinLab.
Define 2–3 challenge briefs focused on public-goods funding in Africa.
Co-design a Cardano-specific track and technical support plan.
Identify and initiate conversations with UNDP Country Offices participating in the programme to reach as many stakeholders as possible.
Recruitment and selection (Q1 2026)
Launch open call for builders and mentors.
Targeted outreach in African dev communities and Cardano channels.
Select ~40 builders (1–3 Cardano teams) and match them to challenges.
Curriculum and content preparation (Q1 2026)
Develop workshop curriculum, sprint templates, and evaluation criteria.
Prepare Cardano workshops and integration guides.
Confirm onsite mentors and speakers.
Four-week residency in Kenya (Q2/Q3 2026)
Daily sprints, weekly reviews, and mid-term demo.
Local context sessions with UNDP development experts and community partners.
Cardano technical sessions and mentorship.
Demo Day and dissemination (Q3 2026)
Final demos for UNDP, local partners, and Cardano ecosystem.
Broadcast via online channels and FtC / Cardano community platforms.
Post-residency support and storytelling (Q3–Q4 2026)
Follow-up advisory and matchmaking for top teams.
Production of media assets (videos, interviews, case studies).
Publication of an impact report with a section dedicated to Cardano use cases and learnings.
What are your success metrics?
We will track both program-level and Cardano-specific metrics.
Program-level
40 builders participating, with at least 60% African and strong gender balance.
10–15 prototypes or advanced design packages delivered, each with a clear pilot pathway.
At least 3 pilots tested / advanced towards implementation with UNDP development experts or local partners within 6–12 months.
≥80% satisfaction scores from builders and institutional partners (survey).
Cardano-specific
1-3 teams working on Cardano-relevant challenges during the residency.
At least 2 prototypes using Cardano rails or clearly designed to deploy on Cardano.
At least 2 Cardano projects applying for follow-on funding (Catalyst or other Cardano grants) within 6 months.
At least 1 pilot with UNDP or African partners where Cardano is part of the solution stack.
Community metrics:
Number of Cardano community members engaged through demo day, AMA sessions, and online content.
Reach of residency content across Cardano channels (views, shares, impressions).
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
We propose a four-week FtC Builder Residency in Kenya in Q2 2026, run in partnership with UNDP AltFinLab. The residency will gather ~40 open-source builders from a) Kenya, b) the wider continent (including strong representation from Nigeria), and c) global public-goods funding communities to design and prototype funding and coordination mechanisms for locally led public goods projects.
The program will be grounded in insights from UNDP local development work and local civil-society organisations, ensuring that development capacity is embedded in real community and institutional contexts. Instead of designing tools in abstraction, builders work from concrete problem briefs sourced from UNDP challenge owners: how to route capital to humanitarian aid, climate projects, community treasuries, digital public infrastructure, and knowledge commons. The scope will narrow as we finalise challenges with local development experts.
The residency is multi-chain by design, with several technical tracks. For Project Catalyst, we will integrate a dedicated Cardano track: a set of challenges, workshops, and mentorship aimed at building and testing mechanisms on Cardano rails (and, where relevant, Midnight and associated identity / compliance components), in front of UNDP AltFinLab and local partners who can pilot them.
A final public Demo Day in Nairobi will be open to local Web3 communities, universities, civic-tech groups, and impact organizations, serving as a regional education and community-building moment around Cardano and public-goods infrastructure.
UNDP AltFinLab brings the institutional capability, credibility, and real-world deployment pathways that make this residency more than an innovation sprint. UNDP operates in 170+ countries and maintains long-standing partnerships with national and local governments, civil-society organizations, and digital infrastructure stakeholders. Through this residency, UNDP AltFinLab in close collaboration with local UNDP development experts, will:
Co-define the development challenges with informed by inputs from relevant local and national stakeholders, ensuring that prototypes address real challenges in funding, governance, and service delivery gaps.
Facilitate engagement with government counterparts to ensure alignment with national priorities in digital public infrastructure, climate finance, social protection, and community treasury models through its already existing projects as well as the Government Blockchain Academy.
Offer institutional pathways to pilot prototypes.
Embed builders in an active development ecosystem, enabling co-creation with communities, not abstract design.
Ensure alignment with UNDP’s Digital Strategy, DPI priorities and UNDP’s global commitment to open-source digital public goods.
Brings extensive experience working with civil society organizations on diverse capacity-building programmes spanning fundraising and innovation-focused accelerators for the public good.
This institutional anchoring significantly increases the probability that Cardano-based prototypes progress from concept to live public-sector pilots.
The challenge sourcing model
Building on a proven model, this residency extends the approach piloted under the UNDP SDG Blockchain Accelerator, a programme led by UNDP AltFinLab in collaboration with selected global partners. Through the accelerator, UNDP developed a robust methodology for sourcing locally grounded development challenges from Country Office teams and matching them with builders capable of designing and prototyping open-source solutions. This model has engaged over 40 UN challenge owner teams matched with solution makers working on development use cases across climate action, financial inclusion, digital identity, supply chain traceability, and public-sector transparency. Within this pipeline, over 20 teams are already building on or integrating with Cardano.
The residency brings this experience into a new context and format. It does not replicate the accelerator; rather, it adapts its successful challenge-sourcing and co-creation methodology to a deeper, place-based, and community-embedded environment. The residency will take place on the ground in Kenya, enabling builders to work side by side with UNDP development experts, local civil society, and community partners. This setting allows for rapid iteration, rich contextual understanding, and direct exposure to institutional, cultural, and operational factors that shape the viability of public-goods funding mechanisms in the region.
How it works: Co-design problem brief with UNDP and Cardano partners
We work with UNDP AltFinLab to frame challenges around public-goods funding and governance (e.g., climate adaptation funds, community treasuries, local service delivery).
Together with Cardano ecosystem partners, we identify where Cardano’s stack (payments, identity, governance, RealFi tooling, potential Midnight components) can support these challenges and define Cardano-focused challenge statements inside the broader program.
Selective cohort curation and Cardano track recruitment
We run an open call across FtC’s alumni, UNDP networks, and global communities, with targeted outreach to Kenyan, Nigerian, and South African developer ecosystems and local community leaders.
From the applicant pool, we select ~40 builders, with a goal of 1–3 builders or teams working on Cardano-aligned challenges. Selection criteria:
strong open-source development track records
collaborative development and communication skills
potential for real-world pilots with UNDP and local partners
In parallel, we identify and onboard local builder community leads in East Africa to help host meetups, co-facilitate learning sessions, and maintain an active presence after the residency.
Four-week residency
The residency uses a co-living format in Nairobi (or similar city), combining structured sprints with local immersion and ongoing contact with UNDP development experts and community organisations.
Weekly cadence:
challenge framing and refinement with UNDP and local actors
design workshops and mechanism labs
rapid prototyping and interim demos
feedback loops with UNDP development experts, civil-society partners, and ecosystem mentors
Cardano-specific components include:
technical workshops on tooling, RealFi use cases, Midnight integrations
office hours with Cardano mentors (engineers, ecosystem leads, Catalyst veterans)
Challenge bounties and design support to de-risk experimentation
open educational sessions for local developer communities
From prototypes to pilots
Each team leaves with:
a working prototype or advanced design
implementation memo co-authored with host partners (use case, architecture, risks, next steps)
opportunities for pilot funding or further incubation
For Cardano teams specifically, we map next steps into funding pathways (Catalyst, foundation grants, ecosystem funds) and into UNDP/local partner pilot opportunities. The goal is a clear and realistic path to a live pilot. This builder pipeline also complements Cardano’s collaboration with Bitcoin scaling researcher Sergio Demian Lerner on BitVMX ensuring that emerging Bitcoin Layer-2 and bridge infrastructure can be directed toward public-goods pilots with UNDP and African partners.
Storytelling, education, and knowledge capture
We document the residency through video, written case studies, and an impact report.
Outputs focus on practical patterns for “funding rails for public goods” on Cardano in African contexts, including:
recorded talks and workshop snippets that Cardano communities can reuse
write-ups of Cardano-based mechanisms and architectures explored
residency impact report with dedicated section on Cardano use cases, learnings, next steps
The Demo Day will invite the broader Kenyan ecosystem – developers, students, NGOs, local institutions – creating an entry point into both Cardano and public-goods infrastructure. Meetups and online sessions can keep these communities engaged beyond the residency.
Why this addresses the problem
It directly addresses the funding gap: by co-designing challenges with UNDP and local civil-society actors, builders prototype open-source funding rails intended to increase the share of capital reaching African local actors.
It builds capacity where it matters most: within the local builder ecosystem, enabling Kenyan innovators to address locally defined challenges, and providing concrete pathways for implementation, rather than relying on external intermediaries.
It turns Cardano into visible infrastructure for public goods: Cardano builders work on concrete challenges set by UNDP and local partners, not speculative use cases, and present to stakeholders who can actually pilot and scale successful ideas.
It builds community and education, not just prototypes: local developer communities, students, and civic actors are invited into workshops and Demo Day; regional builder leaders across Africa are engaged as co-creators, not just guests.
It creates reusable patterns: mechanism templates, governance models, and deployment notes for Cardano-based funding rails that other teams across the continent can adapt
It fits into a multi-year roadmap to increase direct, flexible, and accountable funding flows to African public goods, with Cardano positioned as one of the key enabling stacks in a multi-chain environment.
For the Cardano community, this residency is:
a deep technical and educational activation in an important region, and
An opportunity to position Cardano as a relevant technology partner within UNDP’s and Africa’s emerging public-goods ecosystems at a moment when standards for digital funding rails are still taking shape.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
For Cardano:
Onboard high-quality African builders into the Cardano ecosystem.
1–3 teams will work on Cardano-aligned tracks, gain hands-on experience with Cardano tools, and build relationships with Cardano mentors and funders.
RealFi, not just DeFi.
The residency builds Cardano’s reputation as infrastructure for real-world public goods funding: social protection, climate, digital public infrastructure, and community treasuries in Africa. It also strengthens Cardano’s role in Bitcoin-adjacent infrastructure: by aligning with the BitVMX alliance Cardano can attract builders who want to route Bitcoin liquidity and scaling advances into transparent public-goods funding rails in Africa.
Reusable “funding rails” patterns.
We will document Cardano-based mechanisms (e.g., matching funds, outcome-tied disbursement, identity-aware aid flows) in public playbooks and open repositories that any Cardano team can reuse.
Visibility and narrative.
Cardano’s involvement will be visible across FtC’s media outputs (residency recap, builder interviews, demo-day footage) and at a Funding the Commons flagship event, strengthening Cardano’s position among UNDP, philanthropies, and other protocols.
For African civil society and local builders
New tools and prototypes aimed directly at the pain points of underfunded local actors.
Stronger relationships between local organizations and Web3 builders.
A pipeline of projects that can be piloted and scaled with UNDP and partner support.
For the broader public-goods ecosystem
A working example of how to embed open-source, chain-aligned innovation inside multilateral institutions.
Evidence and stories that support better funding models for the commons, beyond this program.
Bringing together key stakeholders to advance the public good by leveraging UNDP’s existing partnerships and collaborations.
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?
Capability
Funding the Commons (FtC) has three years of experience running high-trust builder residencies and conferences focused on public goods funding:
3+ global residencies (Berlin, Chiang Mai, Buenos Aires) with 100+ alumni across climate, identity, and finance.
>$2M in follow-on funding generated by prior cohorts.
Longstanding collaborations with UNICEF Office of Innovation, UNDP AltFinLab, Ethereum Foundation, Protocol Labs, and others.
Invitation to join the UNDP Blockchain Advisory Board in December 2025.
About FtC:
Funding the Commons works on the financial infrastructure for public goods.
We bring together builders, funders, researchers, and public institutions to design, test, and deploy new ways of moving money to the systems societies rely on: social protection and aid, climate and resilience projects, digital public infrastructure, and knowledge commons.
We focus on open, programmable funding rails that use emerging technologies, including blockchain and AI, to make capital flows more transparent, auditable, and adaptable. Our role is to act as a neutral, cross-sector partner: close enough to technology to understand what is possible, and close enough to institutions and communities to understand what is needed and what can be implemented in practice.
Through residencies, conferences, and pilots, we help turn promising mechanisms into real infrastructure that moves capital fairly and efficiently to locally led work.
FtC core team:
David Casey – CEO
Strategy, institutional partnerships, and program design. 12+ years in blockchain, venture incubation, and public-sector innovation.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcasey/
Kim Buisson – COO
Ecosystem building, communications, and partnership strategy; former Global Marketing Director and co-founder of a creative/media strategy firm.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-buisson/
James Farrell – CTO
Technical curation, mechanism design, and governance tooling; 10+ years in Web3 and privacy-preserving systems.
Charlotte Fradet – Residency Manager & Community Experience
Cohort selection, facilitation, and community building; 10+ years in participatory and systemic-change programs.
Tereza Bízková – Builder Community Lead & Content
Storytelling, media production, and ongoing community engagement (former host of the ReFi Podcast).
This team has repeatedly delivered international programs that combine education, community-building, and ecosystem storytelling, not just technical sprints.
UNDP AltFinLab team:
Digital incubation, accelerator design, and ecosystem /partnership building; 10 years working across UN development portfolios & emerging tech for impact.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milica-dimitrijevic-a91142ab
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burcu-mavis-7a9325149/
Capacity building, partnerships, accelerator management, civil society engagement in 35+ countries, impact measurement.
Feasibility
Institutional alignment. Program scope with UNDP AltFinLab is already approved; the host Country Office will support the challenge design to reduce execution risk and ensures local relevance.
Proven format. The four-week co-living residency model has been tested and refined since 2023: weekly milestones, clear expectations, and structured learning sessions for builders and partners.
Transparent process and outputs. Each team produces:
a working prototype or design,
documentation (implementation notes, risks, and next steps),
a public presentation at Demo Day.
Code and materials are open-sourced and shared with the Cardano community.
Community and education focus.
Public Demo Day and open sessions for local developers, students, NGOs, and civic-tech groups.
Local builder community leads (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa) involved in recruitment, facilitation, and follow-on meetups.
Residency content (talks, interviews, recaps) repurposed as educational material for Cardano and UNDP channels.
Post-residency pipeline.
We are currently defining structured post-residency support for builders, including:
our own ****incubator (launching 1 January 2026),
partner programs such as the UNDP SDG Blockchain Accelerator and other regional accelerators,
sustained mentorship around the grant and crowdfunding landscape (including Catalyst and other Cardano pathways),
invitations to FtC funder-focused events where builders can meet philanthropies, multilaterals, and protocol foundations.
This combination of institutional backing, repeatable format, and clear post-residency pipeline makes the project both feasible and impactful for the Cardano ecosystem.
Milestone Title
Partnerships, Cardano Track Design & Program Setup
Milestone Outputs
Co-designed 1–3 "public-goods funding rails challenge briefs with UNDP Kenya / AltFinLab and African civil-society partners.
Defined dedicated Cardano track (learning objectives, RealFi/public goods use cases, example integrations with UNDP challenges).
Confirmed 2–3 Cardano mentors / ecosystem partners (e.g. Ambassadors, SPOs, infra teams).
Open call for residency applications launched and promoted across Kenyan, Nigerian, South African and broader African dev communities, universities and Web3 meetups.
Local builder community leads recruited in at least 3 African hubs.
~40 builders (teams + individuals) selected and matched to challenge briefs, including 2–4 Cardano-aligned teams.
Draft residency schedule and logistics plan (venue, housing options, local partners).
Acceptance Criteria
At least 60 qualified applications received from a minimum of 4 African countries.
Cohort of ~40 participants confirmed, including at least 2–4 teams committed to building on / integrating Cardano.
1–3 written challenge briefs approved by UNDP / partners and ready for residency use.
Cardano track document produced with clear learning objectives and 3–5 example RealFi / public-goods use cases.
Minimum of 3 local builder community leads or ambassadors confirmed (e.g. Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa).
Venue and accommodation options identified with provisional bookings or written confirmations.
Evidence of Completion
Copies of signed MoUs / confirmation emails with UNDP and local partners.
Challenge brief documents and Cardano track curriculum (shared as PDFs or public docs).
Application statistics (spreadsheet or dashboard) and published call for participation.
Final participant roster with country, project focus and Cardano-aligned teams clearly marked.
Venue and housing booking confirmations or contracts.
Delivery Month
6
Cost
18000
Progress
10 %
Milestone Title
Residency Program Execution in Kenya
Milestone Outputs
Four-week co-living residency delivered in Kenya (Nairobi or similar hub) with weekly reviews and interim demos.
Dedicated Cardano track delivered: workshops, technical office hours, and challenge bounties focused on Cardano-based funding rails.
Public Demo Day for local community, UNDP and online Cardano participants.
10–15 public-goods projects developed and documented, including multiple Cardano-integrated prototypes aligned with African use cases.
Daily / weekly progress tracking and structured feedback collection from builders and partners.
Acceptance Criteria
At least 30 participants complete the full four-week program, including 2–4 Cardano-aligned builders.
Minimum of 3 Cardano-focused sessions (workshops, clinics or talks) delivered during the residency.
At least 1 Cardano-based prototype or integration produced that respond to UNDP / African public-goods challenges (e.g. social protection, climate resilience, community treasuries).
Minimum of 10 residency events (workshops, peer reviews, mentor sessions, community evenings), plus 1 public Demo Day.
Public Demo Day reaches at least 80 participants total (in-person + online), including representation from the Cardano community and UNDP.
Activity logs, project updates and feedback surveys completed for all teams.
Evidence of Completion
Attendance records for residency participants, workshops and Demo Day.
GitHub repositories or equivalent links for all residency projects, with Cardano projects clearly tagged.
Slides, notes or recordings from Cardano workshops and office hours.
Photos and videos documenting residency activities and Demo Day.
Compiled progress reports, daily / weekly logs and anonymized survey results.
Delivery Month
9
Cost
24000
Progress
10 %
Milestone Title
Impact Documentation, Post-Residency Support & Community Reporting
Milestone Outputs
Published impact report (5–7+ pages) summarizing outcomes, metrics and learnings, with a dedicated section on Cardano’s role in African public-goods funding rails.
2–3 detailed case studies of Cardano-enabled prototypes or pilots originating from the residency.
Residency recap video (~5 minutes) plus 2–3 short clips suitable for Cardano community channels and social media.
Publication of all relevant open-source code repositories, funding-rail templates, and educational materials for Cardano builders.
At least one online showcase / Catalyst presentation and one follow-up online meetup to reconnect participants and onboard new African builders into Cardano.
Support provided to top Cardano teams to apply for follow-on funding (e.g. Catalyst, Cardano Foundation / ecosystem grants, or UNDP pilots) and to join the FtC incubator or partner accelerators.
Acceptance Criteria
Impact report published via Funding the Commons / partner channels, including: number of applicants, participants, African countries represented, Cardano projects, prototypes, and any pilots or MoUs for further work.
At least 1 Cardano-aligned team submits follow-on funding or pilot proposals (e.g. Catalyst proposals, grant applications, or UNDP pilot concepts).
Minimum of 1 case study documenting Cardano-based solutions in African public-good contexts (e.g. community treasuries, climate or social protection funding rails).
Recap video and short clips produced, branded with Cardano Catalyst support, and shared with the Cardano community.
Online showcase with a presentation delivered and recorded, plus at least one follow-up online meetup with 25+ attendees.
All residency code, educational materials and collaboration frameworks published in open repositories.
Evidence of Completion
Public links to the impact report and case studies.
YouTube (or similar) links to recap video, clips, and Catalyst / community presentations.
Copies or screenshots of follow-on funding / pilot applications from Cardano teams.
Attendance records and feedback from online showcase and follow-up meetup(s).
URLs to open-source repositories containing residency projects and Cardano educational materials.
Delivery Month
11
Cost
18000
Progress
10 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Personnel and Operations (20,000 ADA - 33%)
Project management and strategic coordination: 7,000 ADA
Local coordination team (2 coordinators x 4 months): 8,000 ADA
Administrative support and documentation: 3,000 ADA
Community engagement and relationship management: 2,000 ADA
Participant Support and Accommodation (15,000 ADA - 25%)
Accommodation support for 20 participants (4 weeks): 13,000 ADA
Local transportation and logistics: 1,000 ADA
Participant welcome packages and materials: 1,000 ADA
Venue and Event Costs (16,000 ADA - 27%)
Workspace rental and utilities (partnership with IOG reduces costs): 4,000 ADA
Community event venues and catering: 6,000 ADA
Final showcase event production: 3,000 ADA
Marketing, Documentation, and Media (6,000 ADA - 10%)
Video production and documentation: 3,000 ADA
Marketing materials and promotional activities: 2,000 ADA
Website development and maintenance: 1,000 ADA
Contingency and Reporting (3,000 ADA - 5%)
Unexpected costs and risk mitigation: 2,000 ADA
Impact reporting and community engagement: 1,000 ADA
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
This project represents exceptional value for money for the Cardano ecosystem across both the Kenyan pilot and the wider African context, with benefits that significantly exceed the requested ADA investment.
The cost per participant for a four-week, co-living residency in Nairobi is highly competitive compared to similar blockchain education, accelerator, or innovation programs globally. Traditional blockchain bootcamps and accelerators typically charge several thousand dollars per participant for shorter engagements and less direct institutional access. By contrast, this residency delivers a full month of hands-on support, local immersion with UNDP challenge owners and civil-society organizations, and dedicated Cardano technical mentorship at a fraction of that per-builder cost.
The leverage effect of our partnerships further amplifies the value of Catalyst funds. UNDP AltFinLab, together with the host UNDP Country Office and the Government Blockchain Academy, brings in-kind contributions in the form of challenge sourcing, access to government stakeholders, and pathways to pilot Cardano-based solutions in live public-sector and civil-society environments - capacity that would be prohibitively expensive to buy on the open market. Existing UNDP SDG Blockchain Accelerator infrastructure, including a global pipeline where more than 20 teams are already building on or integrating with Cardano, gives this residency an immediate on-ramp into an established ecosystem of development use cases and mentors. Local builder community leads in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and other hubs contribute recruitment, facilitation, and follow-on community-building that would otherwise require significant marketing and staffing expenditure.
Operating the residency in Kenya creates a strong “geographic arbitrage” in favor of the Cardano ecosystem. Nairobi offers high-quality infrastructure, connectivity, and talent density at materially lower cost than equivalent programs in Europe or North America. Accommodation, venue, and operational expenses are substantially lower while still enabling a safe, professional environment for international and African builders. This allows Catalyst funds to support a larger cohort (~40 builders) and more extensive programming - Cardano workshops, office hours, challenge bounties, and open community events - within the same budget envelope.
The multiplier effect of public-goods development creates value that extends far beyond the residency period. Each Cardano-aligned project developed in partnership with UNDP and African NGOs has the potential to touch thousands or millions of end users through climate resilience, community treasuries, digital public infrastructure, and improved access to social services. Because these are open-source, Cardano-based funding rails that address systemic bottlenecks in routing capital to African local actors, the positive externalities and network effects can generate returns many times larger than the initial Catalyst investment.
Knowledge creation and documentation provide durable assets for the entire Cardano community. All Cardano-related smart contracts, code, and mechanisms will be open-sourced, accompanied by implementation memos and playbooks focused on funding rails for public goods in East African and pan-African contexts. Residency talks, workshop snippets, and a recap video become reusable educational content for Cardano communities, universities, and developer groups across Africa and beyond. These outputs form a replicable template that future Cardano teams can adapt without incurring the original design and experimentation costs.
Strategically, this residency positions Cardano as a leading RealFi and public-goods infrastructure layer in one of the world’s most important growth regions for digital assets and mobile money. By embedding Cardano rails directly into UNDP-led challenge briefs and at least one pilot with African partners, the program moves Cardano beyond speculative crypto narratives into visible, trusted use cases in financial inclusion, climate finance, and civic infrastructure. Tying this work to Cardano’s collaboration with BitVMX on Bitcoin scaling creates additional upside: African teams can explore Bitcoin–Cardano bridges and BTC-denominated RealFi use cases that route real capital into transparent public-goods funding rails.
The budget is structured to maximize direct impact per ADA. The majority of funds go to builder support, local housing and venue costs, and on-the-ground program delivery. A smaller portion is allocated to documentation, media production, and community outreach, and only a modest share is reserved for coordination. This ensures that the Catalyst allocation is strongly felt by builders and partners in Kenya and across Africa, rather than being absorbed by overhead.
In sum, Catalyst funding unlocks: a high-leverage residency anchored by UNDP in a strategically important region; a new cohort of African builders onboarded into Cardano; Cardano-based prototypes and at least one pilot with institutional partners; educational assets; and a strengthened narrative of Cardano as neutral, credible infrastructure for public goods in Africa. Taken together, these immediate outputs and long-term positioning effects represent strong value for the Cardano ecosystem.
I confirm that the proposal is a non-technical initiative, with ≤20% of the budget for tech support.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal provides verifiable evidence (portfolio, links, reports) of the team's ability to deliver the project.
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes clear objectives with both Output Metrics (what proposal did) and Adoption-Focused Metrics (what effect proposal had).
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly explains the user journey and provides a credible plan for how the project will equip and motivate users for future on-chain activity.
Yes
I confirm that the initiative clearly demonstrates how it will grow the Cardano ecosystem or onboard users.
Yes
I confirm that the project plan and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic and well-defined.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal commits to public outputs and justifies any exceptions.
Yes
I confirm that the budget adheres to all policies: it is for future work, follows the merchandise rule, and excludes establishing local treasuries, incentives/giveaways, re-grants.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
FtC core team:
David Casey – CEO
Strategy, institutional partnerships, and program design. 12+ years in blockchain, venture incubation, and public-sector innovation.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcasey/
Kim Buisson – COO
Ecosystem building, communications, and partnership strategy; former Global Marketing Director and co-founder of a creative/media strategy firm.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-buisson/
James Farrell – CTO
Technical curation, mechanism design, and governance tooling; 10+ years in Web3 and privacy-preserving systems.
Charlotte Fradet – Residency Manager & Community Experience
Cohort selection, facilitation, and community building; 10+ years in participatory and systemic-change programs.
Tereza Bízková – Builder Community Lead & Content
Storytelling, media production, and ongoing community engagement (former host of the ReFi Podcast).
This team has repeatedly delivered international programs that combine education, community-building, and ecosystem storytelling, not just technical sprints.
UNDP AltFinLab team:
Digital incubation, accelerator design, and ecosystem /partnership building; 10 years working across UN development portfolios & emerging tech for impact.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milica-dimitrijevic-a91142ab
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burcu-mavis-7a9325149/
Capacity building, partnerships, accelerator management, civil society engagement in 35+ countries, impact measurement.