Genealogy registry in Goma, DRCongo

[IMPACT]

D. R. Congo in need of nation-building DApps

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a population of over 80 million people.

Congo is one of the largest and strongest growth markets on the African continent.

Goma is the third largest city with a population of over 1 million with a vibrant tech industry.

Several U.N and World-Bank initiatives have failed to generate reliable public administrative capabilities.

Goma City Official contemplating DApps for Archives

One of our members has been informed by city officials that the city of Goma was considering implementing a Blockchain-based application for archiving the numerous certificates and deeds delivered to residents. Deeds often involve genealogy linkage and we sought to prepare ourselves to be able to compete once this tender will be official.

Genealogy DApp as the solution

The requirements for implementing this solution require the following:

• A scalable solution which the decentralised application offers.
• A solution to an existing need which is the lack of national ID.
• Revenue-generating stream by charging users verification fees once the app is live.
• The integration with the public notary filing system.
• Integrating monetary and identification (DID) linkages.

The Genealogy DApp for Goma will be marketed to young adults who can register freely while being technically-savvy enough to use a blockchain wallet to onboard relatives.

Alignment with Challenge KPIs

A genealogy DApp to showcase as a minimum viable product for future public city tender competition fulfils the Nation-building Challenges as follows:

Proposers commercial approach and negotiation strategy with different Governments

The upcoming digital transformation of archives held by city led the Goma Cardano Hub to envision a learning project which would set it ready to present a application whose features would link to archiving needs.

Participation of Cardano's Local Community Centers

Having hosted the Cardano Summit in Oct 2021, a Wada Hub with weekly meet-ups to learn Haskell and Plutus through project-based learning, the Goma Cardano Hub is a thriving community of Cardano adopters and members regularly attend Town Halls and other digital events.

Participation and/or partnerships with other international organizations

With one of the largest United Nations missions in the world headquartered in Goma, the implementation of a popular blockchain Dapp is likely to raise interest among international organizations seeking efficiencies.

Timely solution

• The DID is promising because it will "grow" with the young people
• It wil serve as a base for the creation of ID Documents
• ID cards are not yet implemented in DRC, so a popular DID could easily be incorporated
• Driving licence and election identification may use the DID as proof-of-identitication of the first level.

Commercially Viable

• Family trees become valuable as they grow. By offering them on the blockchain, we allow the Atala Prism Standard to hold the root element of the genealogy tree
• Identification at a young age allows a user to build a credit history or any other reputation-based assets

Challenges

• Adoption by the public services: driving licenses, elections, etc.
• Family composition challenges. African families are notoriously fluid and validators will rely on the most available data.
• Array merging: Uniting partners from different branches will require interoperability of DID.

Solutions

• Dem. Rep. of Congo is one of a handful nations without identification. Any DID which offers international interoperability will be hardly challanged.
• Every adult is able to self-Id. The children will be offered later the ability to claim a registered DID or break from the family trees if wrongly assigned. At adulthood, they can claim a root element if unwilling to be linked to an existing tree.
• Atala Prism offers interoperability as it implements the speficiations from the WWW Consortium at https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core

[FEASIBILITY]

Roadmap

• Filing review at the city notary services (1 month)
• Website to generate family trees and visualisation tools for family tracing (3 months)
• Create Issuing Certificates that notary officials as well as Wada validators will be using to on-board families. The claims are the actual DIDs which will consist of information arrays containing family links (mother, father, child, etc.) (2 months)
• On-board high school students at final examination centers by allocating 1 Ada in each wallet for early birds. Wallets holding DIDs are being developped for the Atala-Prism DID standard. (3 months at 3 sites - circa June-Sept 2022)
• Offer wallet integration to reproduce the DID visually. Users can attach pictures and other metadata both off-chain (pictures) and on-chain (upward and downward linkages, names) (2 months).
• Offer Mobile Integration for handheld visualization (unknown date due to PAB integration challenges - but the team will implement it beyond the funding scope).

Milestones

• Design genealogy decentralized application for array-based DID serialization and reproduction.
• Create and Offer Atala-Prism DID issuing keys for notary services.
• Graduating High School Student are issued DID when 18+ with hand-out for parents and adult siblings.
• 5000 early birds who join are assisted to create their DID at the Wada Hubs and receive tokenized DID free-of-charge.
• DApp generates fees for the creation of subsequent DID and discount are offered when extending an existing tree.

Genealogy DApp Cost Breakdown

• Review and copy Notary deeds filing system: $1000
• Liaison, Logistics & Coordination with city officials: $ 2000
• Front-end design with wallet integration: $4000
• Back-end design and integration: $3000
• Atala-Prism Validation Portal integration: $2000
• High-school on-boarding sites (3 sites x 3 months x 2 reps x $ $200): $3600
• Goma Cardano Hub tools rentals: $1500
• Marketing: $1500

Akilimali Cizungu Innocent: Proposal lead who had received the initial request to propose an archiving solution to the city of Goma. Akilimali is a technical analyst within ISDR/GL (www.isdrgl.org) and holds a degree in computer science from ISIG (https://www.isig.ac.cd/). Akilimali is also the technician supporting the Cardano Stake Pool. Akilimali has experience in front-end and back-end developments.

https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/akili-innocent-7649951a8

https://github.com/Innocent-Akim

Bandu Balume Boaz: Graduating student at ISDR/GL, Boaz is the Hub manager who coordinates meetups for Haskell and Plutus learning. Boaz has completed several training modules on Cardano and is aiming to develop blockchain applications in the field of sustainable development. 

Paul Mupenda: Graduating student at ISIG, Paul holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science. An avid blockchain learner and promising blockchain developer, Paul has completed several Haskell and Plutus learning modules. Paul’s technical blockchain skills include the ability to create and issue Atala-Prism DIDs

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-mupenda

https://github.com/paulmupenda

Frédéric Samvura:Wada Business Initiatives Lead, DRC Wada Coordinator. M.A in Economics, experienced in banking and public policy. Completed the Plutus Pioneer and Atala Prism Pioneer Programs. Haskell and Plutus trainer in Wada and Guimbalabs Education programs, Smart Contract Developer and entrepreneur. https://www.linkedin.com/in/fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-samvura-907aa53b/?originalSubdomain=ca

[AUDITABILITY]

• Upon funding, a video highlighting archiving challenges will be produced.
• Regular YouTube Video Updates
• GitHub repositoty for open-source front-end DID validation for residents of Goma
• Update through Catalyst meetings and site for progress
• Website with live user count updates as students are on-boarded at the three sites.

• Onboarded DIDd and genealogy tree App
• Number of high school graduated on-boarded during national examinations
• Family linkages extending beyond second generation in the first 3 months
• Linkage to national identification (within city records of deeds)
• Private and secured visualisation of genealogy tree through fee payment by walled integration.

New Proposal

SDG Rating

The right to legal identity, previously neglected by the development community, has gained recognition by the adoption of a target in the SDGs to ‘provide legal identity for all, including birth registration’.

However, issuing DIDs is often done as a tool of control and discrimination. Digital DIDs through community-led initiatives are launched "By the People, For the People" and can thus be less prone to negative biais towards marginalized communities.