DID in Congo Universities

Brief introduction to ISDR/GL

Institut Supérieur de Développement Rural des Grands-Lacs was founded in 2002 and has awarded undergraduate degrees since 2006. Since then, over 8,000 students have graduated from ISDR/GL in 6 departments focusing on rural development.

Website: www.isdrgl.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/isdrgl

 ----------PAST SUCCESS & IMPACT -----------

ISDR/GL, DID and Cardano

• ISDR/GL has offered free hosting of Cardano meetups organized by the West African Decentralized Alliance (WADA) 
• ISDR/GL hosting 200 participants for the Cardano Summit 2021 for in-person attendance in Goma, DRC 
• Students from ISDR/GL conduct 2 one-month long field stays in rural areas where they interact with rural farmers and support local rural business in organizational skills
• Credential verification is costly both for the institute (around 2% spent on emails, calls, trips and documentation) and students ($50 is get degrees signed by the Ministry of Higher Education and a replacement costs over $100)
• Schools are among the first providers of identity in Congo and students cards are widely used for authentification.

Implementing a Cardano-based DID for students

• Incentivize students to pay a portion of their student fees using the Yoroi wallet for a discount on a first-come first-served basis.
• Update the ISDR/GL Website to incorporate online deposits from the Yoroi wallet
• Host a third WADA meetup involving more students and facilitate students to buy ADA through the WADA Hub of ISDR/GL.
• Host members of the ISDR/GL Alumni Association to promote the DID.
• Update student management system (EDUSYS) to incorporate a cardano digital identification (DID)

----------FEASIBILITY -----------

DID in ISDR/GL 

• Student IDs have unique identification codes (barcode)
• Government issued ID have serialized codes (barcode)
• A Yoroi-like wallet would produce a public address (QR Code)
• New DID merges the three IDs and can be deconstructed into each
• Student Management System updated to incorporate new QR code and YOROI integration
• QR Code replaces current Barcode. 
• New QR code used for validation at different stages (examination, book rentals, field trips, etc.)
• System can validate the tree founding IDs as well (further details below)
• These three Institutes collaborate on several initiatives (curriculum, students field trips and student sport championship)

DID beyond ISDR/GL

• ISDR/GL has led several ID-related innovations that were copied by other universities and institutes : Switch from laminated IDs to PVC cards in 2009; barcodes and RFID tags in 2015 and Moodle-based distance learning in 2020.
• At each occasion, several universities requested support in adopting the new tools
• Heads of Higher Education Institutions meet through the Conférence des Chefs d'Établissements and many Director Generals of ISDR/GL have chaired the Conférence.
• Network of ISDR/GL Alumni can be a useful ressource in promoting public adoption of DIDs
• Network of ISDR/GL 12 rural extension centers (Antennes de Développement Rural, ADR) will promote DID for farmers and rural population when applications are available.

Metrics

• Update roster of graduates since 2006 to incorporate new DID. An estimated 2500 keep frequent contact with the Institute
• On-board 2021-2020 enrolled students (estimated around 2,000) into new system
• Host the Conference of Heads of Higher Education Institutions (Conférence des Chefs d'Établissements) to present on the use case of Blockchain technology and promote the adoption of DID for credential verifications.
• Support partner institutions that would like to use blockchain-based DID for credential verification.
• Mint Degrees (6 departments/faculties) as NFTs and issue them to participating Alumni members.
• Promote the use of DIDs through the media.

Roadmap & Costing

Phase 1: First 3 months (Start of 2021-2022 School year on October 15 to January 2022)

• Update EDUSYS and Website to process payment in Ada and use new QR Code ($6000)
• Mint and issue 2500 NFTs to alumni to certify their degrees ($2500) with priority to those furthering their studies or actively seeking jobs
• Interested graduates will cover the fees to send them the NFTs of their diplomas
• Campaign to promote the discount of tuition paid using ADA ($2 per student, $4000). An ISDR/GL employee in the computer lab will be answering questions, help students buy ADA and highlight key elements of the new system (ex: importance of safekeeping the passphrase).
• Campus Wada Hub will assist classmates acquire Ada on Campus with support from ISDR/GL financial services for exchange.
• Cardano wallet will be used to buy goods on campus such as drinks and sports items.

Phase 2: next 4 months (January 2022 to May 2022 - Anticipatory)

• Host 2 Cardano meetups open to all students and faculty. Goal is to brainstorm on applications of DID and review the implementation in ISDR/GL ($1,000).
• Host Conference on blockchain technology and invite Heads of Institutions (Rectors, Director Generals and Chancellors) from 2 public and 3 private universities. At such occasion, representatives from the office of the governor also attend. Goal is to showcase the applications of the new QR Code and DIDs applications. ($2,000)
• Second-year students have field trips from April to May and around 800 students participate. A lead instructor will be assigned to conduct a survey on members from the affiliated micro-lending Cooperative du Kivu (CAKI) to find ID-based obstacles faced by farmers and rural populations. ($1,500)

Phase 3: next 2 months (June 2022 to July 2022 - Anticipatory)

• Liaise with ATALA Prism to leverage the Cardano Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure (DPKI) to record past graduates from ISDR/GL and prepare the records of the 2021-2022 graduating cohort
• Support owners and managers of partner institutions that want to adopt the new Digital ID. Two close partner institutions could adopt the DID and ISDR/GL can delegate ressources to implement the tool ($2,000)
• One university in South Kivu, Université Simon Kimbangu of Bukavu (www.facebook.com/uskbukavu), with over 3,000 past graduates and 650 enrolled students, has requested to join the initiative for a blockchain-based DID
• On-going discussions with other university managers are encouraging as they also would like to reduce the risk of fraudulent cases among students whole diplomas are sent for signature at the ministry of higher education.

 ----------RISK MANAGEMENT & AUDITABILITY-----------

Risk Management

• Atala Prism DID may not be compatible with new ISDR/GL DID: ISDR/GL DID components will be made up of 3  concatenated IDs including a Cardano Public Address, which could be useful in linking up records
• Public institutions may be prevented from participating in a blockchain-based solution: highlight incorporation of government ID serial code in new DID
• ADA appreciating price may limit distribution of NFTs of degree among members of the Alumni Association : Distribution will be based on a first-come, first-served basis. Distribution may be limite to active members who usually hold meetings on campus. 
• Unexpected costs to which ISDR/GL may also contribute ($1,000).

Auditability

• ISDR/GL is a public institution which undergoes annual audits by a recognized firm
• Management committee will receive the funds to implement the project
• Video and other digital products will be produced
• Phase 2 & 3 will be dependent on the success of Phase 1
• Regular updates by proposer team

Bios

• Frédéric Samvura: Chairman of the Board of Directors & https://ca.linkedin.com/in/fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-samvura-907aa53b 

Related Projects

• WADA Stake Pool at ISDR/GL : ISDR/GL maintains EDUSYS connectivity 24/7. A Cardano Stake pool (one node) can be hosted and maintained by the IT department of ISDR/GL with no added costs. Pledge for such stake pool is committed.