Planting Roots in Africa

Funding basic infrastructure in African hubs will allow us to collaborate, coordinate, educate and initiate building out local use cases.

WADA: Skilled team of Cardano Community practitioners and entrepreneurs, located in hubs across  Africa and the diaspora.

Update

This is a resubmission from Fund5 that narrowly missed funding. We have made the following amendments with community input.

• Instead creating space that community can come to, we will start by doing more outreach work
• Rent spaces for big events as needed.
• Make use of some co-working spaces initially as appropriate

Thanks to Steve Lockhart and Gwendal Le Divechen for their help putting the original proposal together and for continuing to champion this proposal.

Purpose of the Project Proposal

• As with the Cardano ecosystem in general, in Africa there are parallel threads that need to be working simultaneously. First and foremost among them are the basic infrastructure needs that many in the western world take for granted, but are often things that African localities do not commonly have available at a level that will support the development of such a highly technical ecosystem.   

•  Internet access that will support inter-hub and international cyber-meetings as well as stake-pool operations is something that must be pursued and acquired. Electrical supply with UPS integration and backup generators is also something that must be secured as local power companies are often subject to brownouts/blackouts.  

•  In addition to those basic needs are also the hardware required to support developers, teachers, students and the associated community outreach each hub is planning. 

•  The following list in details what should be standard equipment and services for our community hubs:    

1.  Facility – (Rental / Maintenance.)
2.  Power – (Equipment/Installations/Rental/Fuel/Maintenance) 
3. Internet – (adequate for world communication and stake pool operation)
4. Networks – (Equipment/Installations/Rental/Subscription)
5. Insurance - (Safety / Fire / Hazards)
6. Workstations connected to screens for classes, printers, etc.
7.  Desks, tables, chairs 

• The funds requested for the support of the hubs (investment costs + 3 months recurring costs) will be administered by WADA and will be made available to the individual hubs according to a phased deployment plan . Partner hubs are people with whom we have developed a relationship over the last few months and with whom we share the same goals.

 Main Deliverable:

• Accelerate the creation of dapps and attract new developers into the Cardano ecosystem who are attuned to solving local problems.

 --------***--IMPACT--***---------

How does the proposal fit into this challenge?

•  Africa presents immense opportunity for Cardano blockchain adoption however, the continent's well-documented barriers to adoption could hamper the design of cutting edge digital solutions and the growth of Cardano in Africa. This proposal will Grow Cardano by ensuring the best ground solutions emerges and entrenches Cardano's cutting-edge solutions in the Sub Saharan Africa region. With focus on:

1. Infrastructure (main purpose of this proposal 
2. Education
3. Outreach

  How will this campaign add value to our ecosystem?

• By supporting and developing these activities, WADA will, thanks to its role as link between people and initiatives, help to simplify and boost the creation and deployment of innovative solutions.

-------***---FEASIBILITY--***-------

Reference & Past Successes:

• In August WADA completed a widely successful Proposer outreach program event, significantly increasing our visibility as the go-to for mentoring and onboarding new developers and entrepreneurs from Africa and diaspora. https://twitter.com/jaycidiq/status/1432106218923888640
• 8 unique country Africa and diaspora hubs with expanding teams
• A membership platform in development for onboarding and virtual & in person training sessions
• Mentors and experts willing to support both the goals of WADA and Cardano

Roadmap

1-3 months post funding

• Six local fit- for-purpose physical spaces acquired throughout West and Central Africa with internet access, stable electricity, and computers

4-6 months post funding

• The local hubs/centres are up and running under competent leadership. Each hub is uniquely delivering according to the needs and opportunities of their communities. Organizing recurring events, education in functional programming and blockchain technology (for all ages) and community outreach and events.

6 months to one year

• Hubs are fully functional and specialized to serve local and national needs
•  Hubs are networked with other international hubs to leverage each other's strengths, share learning, and increase accountability.
• All WADA planned activities to expand Cardano's market in sub-Saharan Africa such as government and academic outreach, dApp creations/business solutions, and creative enterprises in full implementation
• Collaborative projects with other projects in the Cardano ecosystem are being executed seamlessly on the ground.

Budget:$57,000

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1USLtlJPD2u0oNauv8lRgVF89VP1hVVHTz9R8R-jPkeo/edit?usp=sharing

Risk assessment

As part of our risk assessment process, we identified 3 main areas that require specific attention :

1.  Legalization: some African administrations are strong in harassing new businesses.
2.  Coordination/standards.
3.  Cost over-run.

The possible risk management solutions:

1.Legalization:

• Obtain a legal document from which the WADA hubs would be operating. With numerous trade agreements overlapping, a copy of this document can be used for operations anywhere.
• Set up new hubs in existing offices or close to a partner developer's office. This would not only give legitimacy in the eyes of potential users, but government officials will not easily distinguish the new business as it will be collaborating with the established one.
• Crypto currencies are unregulated in many countries, WADA will ensure adherence to local regulation to any extent possible

2. Coordination/standards:

• Issue standards common to each partner hubs.
•  Hire the services of local lawyers. Laws in many African countries are relatively similar with standards such as OHADA (Organization for the Harmonization of Corporate Law in Africa).
•  Identification stickers to put on all material goods so as to establish ownership. A shared logo, paint and color themes can help ensure the motivation of participants who need to not only see themselves as members of one small hub but members of one large network. These standards will be visually visible through video calls.
• The coordinating team must be physically aware of the experience on the ground. At least a visit mid-project to each hub. Ideally, the same person/team would visit all hubs to establish a common assessment.

3. Cost over-runs

• Starting a new business/office has unexpected costs. This needs to be taken into account.
• Additional to forming new hubs, also find an established business dealing with programming and digital products to partner with.
• Actors would need to be compensated. For example, the coordination team. But also, the "lead" of each hub, even if it is a business owner. These costs can be symbolic and need not cover the full extend of their involvement as they are either already interested or employed. This will ensure that their keep their focus on the hub.
• To ensure functionality, cost items must be arranged in order of priority. We do not want to have bought laptops and printers only to find that there is no money for the office. Ideally, the ranking will ensure that the office can maintain some level of functionality.

--------AUDITABILITY-------

What success looks like:

• Significant Cardano market expansion in all current and future WADA-active countries through solutions design/ dApp creation, education & outreach, and continuous capacity/capability building. WADA will have a network of hubs or centers in sub-Saharan Africa connected locally, nationally and globally to Cardano and the digital world economy :

Metrics

• Identified existing developers and businesses  willing to create on the Cardano protocol
• New developers recruited and/or for the Cardano ecosystem
• New start-ups willing to create on the Cardano protocol
• Number of locally based Stake pools
• Increase in Cardano protocol transactions originating from West Africa
• Degree of public engagement with our marketing and social media plan

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Team:

Hubs/Community Centre Information

• WADA (West Africa Decentralized Alliance) is rapidly gaining momentum through its network of hubs in mobilizing local communities to solve local problems using Cardano. By simultaneously opening multiple resource centers/hubs spread over Africa, we will speed up Cardano adoption dramatically.
• We have country and subregional hubs operating in West and Central Africa with the first regional hubs in Ghana and Cameroon to provide additional oversight and visibility to other hubs in: Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The network connection creates expansion capacity by leveraging IT hub relationships, government, and academic outreach.
• In addition to forming new hubs, WADA will also find established businesses dealing with programming and digital products to partner with.

Regional/Country Leads

• WADA Ghana: Afia Asamoa Owusu https://www.linkedin.com/in/afia-asamoa-04911816/
• WADA Ivory Coast: Malik Koné. https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/malikkone
• WADA Cameroon: Our Cameroon/Tech Lead Felicien Fotio Manfo " https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicienfotiomanfo1642a479/
• WADA Lagos/Abuja, Nigeria: Abdulwahab Abubakar Oshomah https://www.linkedin.com/in/abubakar-abdulwahab-b886414b
• WADA DRC by Uptodate Developers
• Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Dan Baruka https://uptodatedevelopers.com
• Kinsasha, DRC. https://ferawi.github.io/ferawimabla/

Overall Project Oversight

• Mercy - WADA Coordination, https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercy-tachie-menson-77b10931/
• Megan - WADA Events & Central Africa Lead,
• Frederic Samvura (Genty) - WADA Business Initiatives & DRC Country Oversight Lead, https://ca.linkedin.com/in/fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-samvura-907aa53b    

Relationship to other projects

• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Scale-up-WADA-s-Outreach-Program/366982-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Catalyst-Virtual-Start-up-Bootcamp/366770-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/WADA-Proposer-Workshops/366968-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Strengthening-Stake-Pools-in-Africa/366840-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Cardano-Africa-Starter-Kit-CASK/366762-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/WADA-Uni-Students-Catalyst-Registry/370220-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Marketplace-Productivity-in-Africa/368932-48088
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Influencing-Policy-for-Adoption/367854-48088