Cardano for Africa

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

•  Creating an e-learning platform that provides renowned education and enables learners to improve their knowledge of foundational blockchain concepts taught by skilled and experienced instructors.
•    Not only will they learn theoretical concepts, but they will also be graded on their progress and the skills they gain throughout.
•   Upon completing each course, a collective project reviewed by the instructors will be mandatory to gain certification.
•   Teamwork is one of the main pillars of learning, as our platform will focus on improving learners' hard skills and creating a solid bond between all teammates.
•    Our e-learning platform will be interactive and prove that e-learning is not an obstacle for learners to gain social skills and meet fellow students with whom they share similar interests.
•    Our team has been researching the educational content regarding Cardano and the blockchain. Through this, we have hardly found any French content.
•  This led us to think about innovating a platform that provides informative videos in the French.

Therefore, educational content will no longer be exclusive to English speakers.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

• Africa is a continent with enormous natural beauty and resources, the majority of which are yet unexplored. It is a place of great promise and potential.

1- The increasing rate of illiteracy:

• Education is one of the most effective tools for reducing inequality, eliminating poverty, and laying the groundwork for a strong economy; however, it is also one of the primary reasons why Africans lag behind the rest of the world.

Inequality has always existed in Africa, and it is currently worsening, particularly in urban areas. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 33 million children, 18 million of whom are girls, do not attend school. According to Allafrica, only two-thirds of students who begin primary school complete the first grade.

Despite significant increases in literacy rates in Africa in recent years, 40 percent of adults over the age of 15 and 50 percent of women over the age of 25 continue to live in illiterate countries according to Allafrica.

2- The weak infrastructure and the inaccessibility to information:

• Another reason why African countries are falling behind is due to their weak infrastructure. Africa has very weak connectivity relative to the rest of the globe, but rural areas have worse connectivity and access to information than metropolitan ones.This hasn't yet been achieved because of the costs and expenses involved, and there is a big need for information in rural areas as a result.

As a result, we believe that the only way for Africa to develop and prosper is to educate people about new technologies and familiarize them with blockchain, which can help them in their daily lives.

3- The economic underdevelopment:

• Blockchain has the potential to drastically change Africa's economy. Technology will make it easier for African nations to battle corruption and collect taxes.

Blockchain is especially helpful in nations where bureaucracy or corruption restrict access to government records. The risk of fraud and money laundering might thus be decreased for African enterprises with the use of blockchain technology. Additionally, it can aid in lowering the possibility of additional wrongdoing that damages the financial ties between business partners.

The potential for Blockchain to revolutionize the African economy

• In Africa, Blockchain technology can be used as an open ledger for recording transactions between companies and citizens with transparency and accountability built-in. In fact, Blockchain could provide African businesses with a higher level of trust, something that has been difficult to achieve in some places.

Value chains across the continent might change as a result of a blockchain-based financial infrastructure. For instance, blockchain-based financial apps could boost the accessibility of finance for small farmers and lower the cost of sending money home.

The analysis reveals that the Sub-Saharan African people feel very positive about the influence of technology in their countries, including in the area of education, economy, and politics.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Challenge 1: Ensuring a significant number of students enroll for the platform

• This issue will be resolved by digital marketing activities, which will entail contacting numerous universities. Furthermore, we want to promote our project extensively on social media platforms, as well as focus on establishing a user-friendly platform that will capture students' interest and make the website simple to use.

Challenge 2: The inability to deliver the information accurately to beginners and the difficulty of assimilating blockchain concepts with which students are unfamiliar.

simplifying the educated content as much as possible by teaching students the fundamentals of blockchain technology in a fun and simple way.

Challenge 3:  The lack of interaction between the learners and their instructors:

• scheduling online lessons that will be interactive, with students being graded on their participation, as well as quizzes during the lessons. In addition, all online lessons will be recorded and saved on the platform for future reference.

Challenge 4:   Not receiving constructive feedback from learners to improve the platform's quality:

• arranging Zoom meetings for students to submit feedback and fill out surveys regarding their learning experience on our platform Those Zoom meetings will provide a safe environment for students to openly discuss their innovative ideas for improving our platform.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

You can check our detailed plan down below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-tnnmB7RJC_bJ_89j54asq6OyFNnHM4vbjlOY9E9_Js/edit?usp=sharing

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

• Website development:$2500
• payment for teachers : $750
• Social Media and web marketing : $750
• Videos editing: $500
• content translation : $500

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

•  Our team members will include a programming expert as project manager, who guides the team, measures project progress, and promotes the project while remaining in contact with skilled instructors.
• Yosr Benmahmoud, a computer science student, and Manar Bennaceur, a Pre-engineering student at Faculty of sciences of Tunis, are both hardworking and committed students who will develop the platform, design it, and innovate a captivating logo from scratch. This will be done under expert help and supervision.
• Our team will be fully supported by Oussama Benmahmoud, a Cardano community member and Plutus Pioneer, as well as his company PeakSoft GmbH, a software development company based in Germany.
• You can contact us at the following university email addresses:

Yosr.benmahmoud@etudiant-fst.utm.tn

Manar.bennaceur@etudiant-fst.utm.tn

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Undoubtedly, yes.

As a student, I plan on working on other projects and believe that the catalyst community is a great place for the valuable opportunities Cardano provides.

Fund 9 serves as proof that Cardano actively encourages young and ambitious students to present their creative business ideas, subsequently developing them to success.

Eventually, this initiative will encourage students enrolled on our platform to apply for funding for their own projects in the future.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

• Establish Clear Deadlines for every task will keep the team members on track
• setting specific goals throughout the project
• Communication between the teammates is the key to make sure that the project is running smoothly and everyone is getting their tasks done on time.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Our project will be considered successful when these objectives are fulfilled:

• achieving the ideal union of blockchain technology and education that results in a potent combo. The quality of the institutions and the education provided will be indeed improved by blockchain technology in eLearning.
• increases the application of clever technology.
• Maintaining the fixed budget and not exceeding it .
• Achieving the purpose of the project by introducing the largest possible number of students to programming and blockchain and training them so they can be fully ready for the professional world.
• Receiving constructive feedback and honorable ratings from the website users.
• Establishing a reputable and a creditable platform

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This proposal is an entirely new one.