EDUCATE SENEGAL INNOVATORS - DI/FI

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The hurdles for African regenerative/impact innovators adopting Cardano include:

Poor inclusion of local knowledge to provide a pertinent mapping of the local ecological, social, cultural, governance, economic, and financial landscape.

Poor understanding of intellectual property, and poor access to digital and financial identities.

Lack of practical training, capacity-building and project acceleration.

Absence of financial mechanisms for monetisation and ultimately tokenisation.

Challenges with governance, and with transparency. These obstacles to sustainably seeding and growing Cardano in Africa, also limits the potential to create a new monetisation model using ADA and Financial Technology.

The specific challenges and questions are as follows:

CHALLENGES:

·     Most young African innovators with creative ideas do not know that these ideas constitute intellectual property

·     More often than not, the funding process for any local project is opaque, whether it comes from governmental, non-governmental or other financing source.

·     Few young African innovators are aware of and have access to any type of funding, and the majority of their creative ideas are not known.

·     The use of local knowledge is too often disregarded, resulting in a biased methodology being used for the decision-making process regarding funding.

·     When young African innovators do get funding, there is seldom an ongoing and adapted human and technical support towards a successful sustainable outcome.

·     The lack of financial identity and adapted financial mechanisms make it difficult not only to receive funding, but also to partake in various financial transactions towards monetising, let alone tokenising any business opportunity.

·     The lack of transparency with the entire ecosystem is compounded by the absence of any concerted efforts to make young African innovators known to their own community, let alone the world at large.

QUESTIONS:

·     To what extent are socio-technical transitions such as low carbon development, often conceived at a national and regional level, responsive to local landscape needs?

·     How effective are socio-technical innovations (e.g., off-grid) in accelerating regenerative jobs creation and building landscape resilience?

·     How equitable are just transition opportunities distributed in vulnerable communities across gender, age, and income groups?

·     What financial and business models are required to deliver a just transition pathway?

·      What policy and regulatory frameworks are required to support a just transition at multiple levels from grassroots to the national and regional level?

·     What innovative tools can facilitate scalability?

CONTEXT

Africa’s unparalleled assets and wealth. Creative, entrepreneurial youth, cultural richness and diversity combined with one-of-a-kind biodiversity, wildlife, abundant natural resources, the continent is home to precious, diverse ecologies and cultures that have the potential to unleash regenerative development pathways that enable all to flourish.

Overshadowed Potential. Too often the African story that is represented, told and shared is one of scarcity and failure. Failure to prosper economically, failure to self-determine and failure to manage resources, ecologically.

Overcoming old narratives. This narrative, uncritically repeated over, and over again, shapes the world’s perception of the continent. It also makes Africans lose sight of their own wealth and numerous accomplishments and contributions throughout history.

Little has been highlighted about what Africans are doing to unleash the continent’s untapped potential for the benefit of its communities, its ecosystems as well as the world at large. It begins with giving a voice to its most prospective population: its youth.

New stories, new heroes, new ventures. Africa needs to shift the old, often inaccurate narrative and share new stories, celebrating its heroes and ventures. Stories of hope and regeneration. Heroes who embody the best Africa has to offer – youth, energy, imagination, creativity – voices as diverse as Africa itself. Ventures that demonstrate local impact when we blend imagination, innovation, entrepreneurship, resilience and purpose.

SOLUTION

Africa Grain 

Unleashing Youth-led Regeneration for the Continent

Africa Grain is an impact venture acceleration, social investment, and mobilisation program with a mission to support and amplify youth-led regeneration on the Continent. 

Africa Grain (see visual 1)

Identifies, selects, and mentors young, regenerative entrepreneurs.

Mobilises resources and investments to accelerate their innovations.

Produces events and communications campaigns that elevate stories of regenerative leadership, transformation, and change. 

Driven by the vision, talent, and networks of Fatou Sow and an as yet to be named African icon (confidential TBA) - two influential African change-makers who leverage the power of African arts, culture, and philanthropy to enable positive change - Africa Grain will launch its call to action in the fall of 2022 in connection with a globally-known brand content release, and will culminate with a mega-concert in the spring of 2023 in Dakar, Senegal.

The mission we are on

We envision an African Continent where young entrepreneurs everywhere embrace the potential of regeneration and have access to the support, capital, and platforms to build and amplify powerful ventures and enterprises that support thriving ecologies and communities.

We support the emergence of this movement by building programs that surface the most promising entrepreneurs and innovations, mobilise the support they need to succeed, and amplify their stories in order to shift the narrative and inspire others to join the movement. 

Africa Grain rests on four core activities that, together, support its vision of a flourishing, thriving, regenerative Continent and its mission to drive large-scale mobilisation, and enable purpose-driven entrepreneurship, and impactful investments.

Local solutions sourcing.

We map local knowledge and resources and rely on the power of transmission to build a culturally relevant and sustainable development paradigm.

Regenerative innovation acceleration. 

We partner with local players to enable a supportive ecosystem to mentor early to growth-stage promising innovators and entrepreneurs who demonstrate the possibilities of a regenerative Africa, a Continent where innovation and partnerships lead people and nature to thrive, TOGETHER.

Resource mobilisation. 

We mobilise resources and financial support in order to accelerate and scale Africa’s regenerative transformation.

Storytelling, events, mobilisation campaign. 

We design and organise events and other engagement and storytelling opportunities that elevate an African narrative of potential, hope, and opportunity for the youth and the community at large.

Two visionary leaders, one shared purpose. 

Africa Grain is the result of the vision of Fatou Sow, a seasoned music industry professional and change-maker, and (name TBA), an award-winning Senegalese singer-songwriter, farmer, educator and activist. 

Fatou and (name TBA), share the vision of a flourishing African continent where all people, and particularly the youth, have an opportunity to thrive and realise the potential of Africa’s unique cultures, traditions, and identity. 

Together with committed partners and collaborators - they are committed to supporting the emergence of a regenerative future for Africa.

Why regeneration?

The regeneration imperative.

The African Continent, like the rest of the world, is facing cascading and accelerating challenges: a changing climate, biodiversity loss, social unrest and inequity, the remains of economically extractive practices, political upheaval and instability. 

In the African context, these trends are compounded by a fast-growing population, challenges with governance institutions, and emerging economies that align with the pace of change. 

These long-term trends call for bold, transformative responses.

The Continent already possesses the seeds of these transformations: rich, vibrant cultures and communities, abundant land and natural resources, traditional knowledge, modern ingenuity, and cutting-edge technologies, and a boundless reservoir of youthful energy and entrepreneurial spirit to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.

Unleashing the power of regenerative innovation. 

Youth-led, regenerative innovation and entrepreneurship provide a powerful pathway for the Continent. 

Already, young innovators and entrepreneurs are embracing new ways to connect with the land and to their communities and to harness the power of regenerative agriculture and aquaculture, sustainable housing, clean, renewable technologies, and more. 

They are bringing communities and landscapes back to life, enhancing wildlife and biodiversity, and helping others experience this beauty through the power of regenerative tourism. 

This is happening already. And so much more can be done to accelerate this movement.

First stop: Senegal. 

Africa Grain will officially launch in the fall of 2022, in Senegal, in conjunction with a globally-known brand content release

Africa Grain will officially kick-off a call for action that will celebrate inspiring stories of regenerative innovation and support youth-led enterprises that manifest this potential.

Planning. Selection. Acceleration. Amplification (see Visual 1)

The program takes place between July 2022 and May 2023. We are starting the design, scoping, and planning phase. The activation will start with the official selection of a cohort of Senegalese regenerative entrepreneurs, will continue with an intensive mentoring and acceleration program, and will be capped by a celebration and amplification event that will take place in Senegal, in the spring of 2023.

Design and planning

The Design and Planning process, which formally kicks-off in July, entails:

• Partnership development with Senegalese and international collaborators, including domestic and international agencies, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders (including media and amplification partners) whose contribution is critical to the success of the initiative.

• Scoping and mapping of priority themes, regions, and potential enterprises and innovations. This will be done in close collaboration with local partners and will entail reviewing the innovation and impact ecosystem, mapping organizations and types of innovations, and prioritizing both regions, themes, and scope.

• Planning for media, branding, and other communications activities, including scoping and selecting venues and event partnerships and sponsors.

This phase will end with key partnerships finalised, venues and sponsorships secured, scoping completed, brand identity fully developed, and selection and acceleration process finalised.

Selection

The selection phase, which will start in October, will include:

• The official launch of the challenge and application process, which will target sectors, regions, and types of innovations and enterprises that will have been pre-identified during the design and planning phase.

• Initial announcement and mobilisation of media partners and celebrity spokespeople and amplifiers, including via social media, broadcast, and other channels. 

• Review of application by a select panel of local and international luminaries, impact venture and thematic experts, mentors, and funders and investors.

• Selection and announcement of the selected cohort of innovators and entrepreneurs.

This phase will end with the formal announcement of the winners of the challenge and enrollment in the acceleration program.

Acceleration

The acceleration program will start in late 2022 or early 2023. It will include:

• In person and virtual events geared toward supporting the entrepreneurs in the further development of their ideas and new or existing enterprises,

• Refinement of their products, services, and business models and detailed business and financial planning, with support from select mentors and coaches,

• Ongoing storytelling via social media channels and celebrity ambassadors,

• Mock pitch competitions in front of diverse panels of entrepreneurship experts,

• Production planning for the showcase and amplification event. 

Amplification

The program will be capped by a celebration event that will showcase our first cohort of regenerative innovators and will represent the capstone of their acceleration journey. 

The young entrepreneurs will showcase innovative impact ventures that restore and protect Africa’s natural ecosystems, engage communities, and develop breakthrough innovations and business models. 

The capstone event will be anchored by the celebrity partner (TBA) during a major public event that will take place in Dakar, Senegal. 

It will involve celebrities, influencers, funders and power brokers and will showcase the influence of African cultural wealth and heritage on the world. The event will be further amplified via media and social media channels and will engage a variety of ambassadors - all working in service of the growing regeneration movement.

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

Seeding and growing adoption of Cardano by young African impact innovators cannot exist in a vacuum. In order to galvanise African youth into participating to the ‘digital transition’ towards blockchain and cryptocurrency we must first call to action for social regeneration and elevate stories of positive transformation.

A.   The Cardano ecosystem will be put to use in the training, capacity-building and acceleration programs.

Mapping of the Senegalese landscape

The team must first design a mapping methodology custom-tailored for the Senegalese landscape (see detailed plan for the methodology that can yield data which facilitates Cardano’s seeding and growing efforts in Africa).

Education

The team will then implement the mapping methodology for the purpose of identifying and curating a cohort of young impact innovators in Senegal. Once this inaugural cohort has been identified, and their financial and capacity-building needs assessed and seed-funded, the training program begins.

The program will be comprised of in-person training courses that will use local and international human resources (courses, workshops, masterclasses), as well as borrow from e-learning methods and video-conferencing. This will allow us to draw upon a wide network of professionals, in the educational and business world, both locally and internationally.

The cohort training program will also rely on vetted members of the Cardano community to provide safe practical training in all things blockchain and Web3.

Acceleration:

A key goal is to provide capacity-building support that enables young African creatives to gain more visibility internationally and become competitive in global markets.

We do so partly by utilising blockchain and financial technologies to generate digital and financial identities for users while facilitating monetisation and revenue payment. We implement by exploring the use of existing tech tools such as Cardano’s Atala Prism system, and draw inspiration from such references as the Esusu model (see link), with a tie in with a financial tech platform such as Wave (see link), a mobile payment provider similar to Paypal (with mobile money accounts, no bank accounts), that also runs an agent network which uses their cash on hand service to Wave users, and that is cheaper for users than mobile money service provided by telecommunications companies,

This will, in turn, help young African creatives efficiently leapfrog traditional banking towards cryptocurrency and financial technology. When it comes to growing that proportion, mobile money — based on simpler technology and with an easier onboarding process — indeed wins out on traditional banking, and it is set to capture more market share faster than traditional banking in the region.

B. The Cardano brand will gain visibility through the amplification activities.

Mobilisation: Lights. Camera. Action. 

Africa Grain will officially launch in the fall of

2022, in conjunction with the release of the movie a global brand content. With

his involvement with the brand, (name TBA) will show the ties that bind the

African diaspora and showcase the influence of African cultural wealth and

heritage on the world. 

Africa Grain will officially kick-off a call for

action that will celebrate inspiring stories of regenerative innovation and

support youth-led enterprises that manifest this potential.

The call to action starts with grassroots communication using local and regional media platforms and social media. We eventually expand to international medias (traditional and digital) and build partnerships with targeted and pertinent medias to further amplify the initiative.

The call to action will feature local and regional youth voices, creative and digital entrepreneurs, regenerative thought leaders, creators, musicians, and other influencers who will share powerful stories that help shift the narrative towards hope and potential.

The call to action will also serve as a talent scouting medium to mapp-out young impact innovators and to be able to engage that talent pool.

Keystone: large-scale event that will take place in Senegal, in the spring of 2023.

Anchored by (name TBA), this event will feature youth

voices, entrepreneurs, regenerative thought leaders, creators, musicians, and

other influencers who will share powerful stories of hope and potential,

innovation and entrepreneurship, and will paint a picture of Africa as a place

of rebirth, regeneration, and future flourishing.

This event will also showcase our first cohort of regenerative

innovators.

Young entrepreneurs, many of them women, whose

ventures restore and protect Africa’s natural ecosystems, engage communities,

and develop breakthrough innovations and business models. Their ventures fight

climate change while generating wealth and prosperity, and paving the way for a

regenerative future.

Overarching communication strategy.

Amplifying the Cardano name in Africa without providing a sound development strategy for its users is tantamount to ignoring the community’s needs. Tentative parallels would be such endeavours as Global Citizen, or the Live-Aid Model. In both cases we end-up knowing more about the organisation than the actual work that needs to be done on the ground. And, as commendable as their efforts may be, in both cases, we know little about long-term results these fundraising vehicles actually yielded .

Our communication strategy will be designed with transparency in mind and to showcase stories of transformation.

The program will be replicable and scalable.

While the key outcomes of this project will be local and contextual, this project also aims to develop replicable and scalable models that have potential applications in other landscapes, starting with sub-Saharan Africa and expanding to other regions on the Continent. To the extent possible, we will prioritise approaches whose features can be replicated and scaled. This will also ensure that the proposed models have features that funders and investors can recognise, above and beyond their contextual application in Senegal. This gives an opportunity to seed and grow Cardano adoption in other landscapes.

C.   Cardano will host an aggregating platform.

The long-term objective is to create a service which is functionality similar to that of an incubation hub and Fin Tech aggregator - bringing innovators together with capacity-builders and investment funds- that offers the added value of using the Cardano ecosystem and ADA combined with adapted and affordable financial technology that facilitates monetisation and access to revenue.

Seed-funding with ADA automatically makes the cryptocurrency and its ecosystem known to these young African innovators. Blockchain technology will ensure transparency for every ADA spent throughout the course of the cohort acceleration program.

Monetising: How do they access the funds, understanding the lack of digital and financial identities. How do they monetise innovative impact endeavours? Mobile money, if broadly used in Africa, presents some drawbacks: high service fees, and still no means to create a smart contract or any form of investment portfolio. Financial technology at large offers more adapted solutions to providing a sustainable financial model for users and introduces Cardano and ADA as an innovative partner.

The platform is the subject of a separate but complementary project submission under F9: Dapps, Products and Integrations.

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

See measuring systems section.

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

A - Objective

Sustainable landscapes underpin human health and well-being as well as sustainable and resilient economies. Sustainable landscapes, with protected and conserved areas as cornerstones, contribute significantly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably raising employment, safeguarding access to clean water, ensuring environmental sustainability and resilience to future shocks, and increasing the amount of land and oceans under protection.

Note: Please note that the following use of 'landscape' generally refers to 'country' or 'territory'.

Nature positive landscape investment offers a relatively new approach to achieving landscape level financial sustainability. It is being explored by several Development Finance Institutions, International Finance Institutions, pension funds, NGOs, and impact investors. For the purpose of this proposal, nature-positive landscape investment is understood as investment including use, conservation or restoration in a particular landscape, which respects the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and habitats within it, encouraging ecosystem regeneration. A nature positive landscape investment approach also aligns with a locally legitimate landscape transformation strategy that enriches biodiversity, stores carbon, purifies water and reduces pandemic risk, while enhancing local livelihoods and sustainable economic development.

Senegal, home to globally recognised protected and conserved areas, is a bastion for biodiversity and ecological infrastructure critical for people and the Senegalese economy. This landscape is also home to innovative nature positive endeavours. However, Senegal is facing a substantial shortfall in financing and resourcing to effectively address environmental, social sustainable economy challenges. Urgent action is needed regarding nature- positive investment to address the underspend on environmental and social efforts and assist the landscape to be sustainable. This situation has been exacerbated by the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.

The objective of this initiative is to provide a pathway for young impact innovators in the Senegalese landscape to address funding requirements needed to achieve nature-positive development, taking into account a continuum of market-based and impact-based investment approaches, identifying bankable ‘nature-positive’ investment opportunities that also enable the following transformations:

1: Securing the Natural Capital base of the Senegalese Landscape

2: Increasing employment and sustaining livelihoods

3: Integrating Land-use Planning and Management

4: Supporting Partnerships and Governance Structures

5: Mobilising Resources and Optimising Investments

6: Strengthening Data and Knowledge Management

7. Incubating innovation to grow new value chain models.

In order to grow these opportunities, the team must first design and implement a mapping methodology that is custom-tailored for the Senegalese landscape. The team will identify zones with distinct characteristics and functional outcomes that require different types of investments. In addition to these zones, the team will further delineate specific geographical areas. At a finer scale, within each zone there are even more specific clusters to guide implementation. The zones will be identified based on the land rights and user groups within specific areas, such as traditional authorities, natural and private reserves, residential areas and farming landscapes.

Concurrent to the identification of these zones, specific objectives will be delineated for the initial mapping and design phase:

* First, to undertake a due diligence and modelling of existing and prospective revenue streams in the Senegalese landscape. 

* Second, to generate a financing strategy for the Senegalese landscape noting the  importance of the structures established in the landscapes for cooperative management and stakeholder engagement.

* Lastly, to market-test each of the financing mechanisms with a spectrum of investors, including Cardano.

B - Approach to services

This project lays out a complex set of objectives and work streams that will need to be managed efficiently and effectively between team members, partners, and other stakeholders, and with organisations that are involved in Senegal’s development.

Four core principles will drive our work and approach for delivering on the goals of the project:

● We will establish a strong program coordination and guidance processes to ensure that the team is in full alignment with partners and other stakeholders. The core team as described in the relevant section, will meet on a regular basis and oversee all aspects of the project - work plan, team assignment, resource allocation, deliverables. The team’s organigram (organisational chart) will define the process for making key decisions.

● Our program design will include a detailed work plan which will be the initial roadmap for the work. We will also create both a tool and a process to review work plans and progress on a regular basis, adjust as needed, and refine timelines and outputs accordingly, in collaboration partners and other stakeholders.

● This project calls for several deliverables that will need to be delivered in relatively short timelines. We will create and validate templates and outlines for these deliverables to ensure partners, and other key stakeholders, and ensure timely delivery and review of these deliverables.

● The team’s results-orientated efforts will be aligned with local landscape stakeholder priorities.

In summary - our approach will be results focused, accountable and transparent, as well as nimble and agile - and will allow for real-time problem-solving, decision-making, and orientation of the project toward the most impactful results.

C - Methodology

This section describes five key sets of processes, methods, tools we expect to use, for the key activities. These do not cover every method and activity in the project, and we will further specify these methodologies during the inception period.

1. Leveraging landscape and stakeholder knowledge

One of the key assets our team brings to this process is the blend of contextual knowledge, paired with our conceptual understanding of integrated landscape development and of the role different financing models can play in developing thriving bioeconomies.

The mapping phase of the project will allow us to rapidly establish a baseline of opportunities and needs. It is from this baseline that we will be able to engage with stakeholders and develop criteria for prioritisation of both the landscape needs and the financing strategies to meet those needs.

This contextual understanding will enable the roll-out of the methodologies in a way that is customised and tailored to these baselines, dramatically increasing our capacity to synthesise information and meaningfully engage local stakeholders.

2. Literature review and expert consultations

We have access to substantial information and documentation for the desktop review. Additional literature and material will be sourced during the inception phase. Key themes for this review will include: Landscape management processes, existing transformation strategies and action plans; landscape investment enabling environment; investable business plans; potential investors and mechanisms.

This review will be complemented with a series of bilateral interviews with key informants, to ensure integration with other national and local processes, including, but not limited to: 

• Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Tourism and Air Transport, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Equipment, Ministry of Petrol and Renewable Energies, Ministry of Education, and all related government agencies.
• Biosphere Reserves stakeholders.
• Local Business Chambers’ members.
• Traditional Leaders.
• Youth Organizations.
• Women Organizations.
• Local and District Municipalities.

3. Landscape governance assessment and landscape profile

Assess landscape governance in a participatory way. It includes four criteria: 1)

Inclusive decision-making in the landscape; 2) culture of collaboration in the landscape; 3) coordination across landscape sectors, levels and actors; and 4) sustainable landscape thinking and action.

4. Identifying and characterising relevant existing financial mechanisms and financial instruments relevant for key types of investments

Identify sources of finance for new investment ideas, find the current financial flows that are most in need of transformation, and better understand the elements of a landscape’s financial context that require support.

Review of the nature-based enterprises (NBE) in the Senegalese landscape with specific attention to:

• Scalability which includes the ability to bundle with other NBEs and/or within the same sector
• Cash flows: Out and in, timing, size
• Profitability: Timing, payback period, predictability of revenue
• Its relative importance or priority for the landscape transformation strategy
• Scoring for social justice, biodiversity and conservation factors.

These characteristics help inform which type of funding instrument is most appropriate. Our process recognises that financial returns should not be the only input when placing a value on nature. Indeed, it is often the non-financial elements that open up the potential for assistance from certain categories of funders, be to seed the feasibility stage of NBEs, to de-risk the project to attract return-based investors to fund implementation. This would turn grants into venture philanthropy. Venture Capital (VC) invests in early company development; Private Equity (PE) invests when there is steady profitability which can support the company if it is built out.

5. Matching current finance mechanisms to investment opportunities and Identifying gaps that require new mechanisms

A diverse portfolio of projects will be surfaced during the mapping phase, touching on various programmatic areas and themes, organisational models, financial and revenue model, and more.

The portfolio will likely also include projects and enterprises at very different sizes and stages of development - some quite nascent, others well-developed already - each with their own financing needs and investment models.

A key activity at that point will be to inventory and evaluate:

• What relevant financing and investment mechanisms do exist - either within the landscape, nationally, regionally, or globally,
• Which ones best align with the financial models and needs of priority projects,
• And whether some are missing and absent altogether.

The review will also include an assessment of the quality of the alignment, and likelihood of accessing those resources - especially in the context of competitive mechanisms.

Mechanisms that will be considered include:

• governmental and quasi-governmental grant and investment funds,
• regional financing mechanisms,
• international grant and investment facilities,
• and financial instruments held by non-profit and for-profit financial intermediaries and fund managers.

From experience, it is likely that some financing needs will not be met by existing facilities and funding mechanisms.

Given the diversity of projects, sizes, themes, and stages of development - it is likely that some new mechanisms will be recommended for development, in particular in cases that touch on highly localised and landscape-specific needs, e.g., context-specific green infrastructure whose needs can best be met via governmental or quasi-governmental support.

These unmet needs will be documented and submitted for consideration to those who are in a position to mobilise resources toward developing these instruments.

IV - Workplan (Deliverables, Components and Activities)

The following section provides summary descriptions of the project’s key components and their associated activities and deliverables.

A.   Project inception

The purpose of the inception period is to provide an opportunity for the three organizations in the consortium to further align their methodologies, elaborate the workplan and engage with relevant partners as well as key stakeholders in and outside the Senegalese landscape. The key activities during this period will be the implementation of an inception workshop, and the execution of all necessary contracts.

Activities:

1. Contract between Slingshots Music and Celebrity Stakeholder concluded
2. Sub-contracts with LLF and RDG finalised
3. Organization and convening of Inception meeting and Report produced
4. Work Planning workshop and workplan produced

Deliverable A: Work Plan and Inception report

B.   Mapping

Mapping will begin with the review of relevant literature and material related to the Senegalese landscape as well key interviews. This will allow for the identification of stakeholders and their respective functions as well as the landscape boundaries for the purposes of the project. A key activity will be to work with landscape managers to verify and assess their institutional capacity, objectives, strategies, action plans, business plans and budgets to achieve them. We will also review relevant monitoring and evaluation frameworks. Based on this, we will develop a set of recommendations on how landscape-wide management could be strengthened. This will also allow us to estimate a timeframe for the implementation of a landscape finance strategy.

Activities:

1. Review relevant literature and material
2. Implementation Kick-off workshop
3. Create a stakeholder map and engagement plan
4. Stakeholder engagements
5. Explore and verify objectives of landscape managers
6. Review existing monitoring and evaluation framework
7. Review, create or update landscape management budget

Deliverable B: Mapping Assessment Report

C.   Landscape Financing Strategy

The core work of developing the landscape finance strategy is to identify the most promising investments in the landscape that align with the needs and goals of the landscape and explore potential financing instruments that would be well suited to make these investments. The outputs of this strategy will include a ‘landscape investment portfolio’, which would be a spatially explicit illustration of the financial, ecological and social links between these investments.

Based on existing stocktaking, we are already aware of some investment opportunities that have been identified, including but not limited to:

● Business opportunities linked with regenerative innovation.

● Tourism Investment opportunities.

● Small-business opportunities linked to biodiversity conservation.

The team will define a spectrum of financing instruments that could be deployed to meet all the budget needs of the landscape over a period of 10 years. Instruments will range from pure philanthropy, blends, to highly commercial. Each instrument proposed will include detailed description, pre- requisites, and examples where possible. In our selection of proposed financial instruments, we will consider conventional instruments as well as more innovative ones that specifically focus on the landscape-scale (e.g., landscape funds, place-based investor collaboratives, landscape bonds).

Each instrument will be evaluated in the context of the landscape with pros and cons that will include the timing and guidance on deployment for each instrument (i.e., what external and internal conditions are optimal); the types and profile of investors or funders for each instrument, including specific leads where appropriate. There are a number of noteworthy potential financing instruments already identified by the team.

Activities:

1. Outline of financing needs, size, timing and requirements
2. Identification of potential investments
3. Identify current and potential financing instruments
4. Prepare broad plans to set up selected instruments
5. Prepare draft finance strategy for internal review
6. Circulate revised draft finance strategy to stakeholders
7. Validation workshop on draft finance strategy
8. Draft finance strategy updated with inputs received
9. Prepare lessons learned and considerations report

Deliverable C: Draft Landscape Financing Strategy and Draft Lessons Learned Report

D.   Testing financing mechanisms

Investor testing will include the testing of existing mechanisms as well as the potential identification of new mechanisms based on the interviews. Building from prioritisation and documentation - the team will develop a standard format to summarize the investment mechanism, match it with the funder/investor segments that best match the financing model, and develop a short-list of target interviewees, based on our existing networks and databases and new ones that will be developed in the process. The report will synthesise the findings from this testing, describe which instruments are most attractive to which actors and what could be changed to make these opportunities more attractive. We will pay particular attention to stakeholders.

The process of identifying and scoping new mechanisms builds from our experience designing finance mechanisms.

Activities:

1. Identify relevant interviewees for each financing mechanism
2. Create an interview guide
3. Prepare documentation for circulation to interviewees
4. Set up meetings and conduct interviews
5. Identify and scope new financing mechanisms to be developed
6. Develop illustrative blueprints for selected new financing instruments
7. Test the new financing mechanism(s)
8. Compile a report on findings of testing phase

Deliverable D: Report on findings from testing

E.    Communications Campaign Design and Cost Assessment.

The project amplification campaign requires the identification of a creative agency to design the overarching campaign and key messages, as well as specific marketing and P.R. activities along a scheduled timeline.

Activities:

1.    Identify select prospective creative candidates.

2.    Set-up meetings and conduct interviews.

3.    Call for a bid for marketing and P.R. strategy outlines for the project.

4.    Test all proposed strategy outlines

5.    Select most adapted and functional strategy.

6.    Define marketing and P.R. deliverables

7.    Negotiate service fees and sign agreement.

Deliverable E: Report on selected creative agency and agreed-upon deliverable and timeline.

F.    Event Production Design and Budget Projections.

The project amplification campaign also requires event-planning combined with live music production planning and management. We rely on our experience and on our creative and technical network to construct a production and event-planning team for the creation of the Celebration Concert event.

Activities:

1.    Scoping venues in Dakar, Senegal

2.    Assessing venue capacity and accessibility

3.    Assessing security, health, technical and logistical requirements.

4.    Assessing talent participation and related needs, such as hospitality and transportation.

5.    Assessing human and material liability Insurance, customs and visa requirements.

6.    Identify potential sponsors and other stakeholders.

7.    Establish production timeline.

8.    Negotiate contracts with talent, staff, partners and other stakeholders.

Deliverable F: Report on production design requirements, budget projections and timeline.

Project Conclusion

The project will conclude with a revision of the mapping report and cohort identification, as well as the project selection process, taking into consideration comments from partners and other stakeholders.

Deliverable G: Final Project Design and Project Close-out Report

V - TIMELINE & MILESTONES (see visual 2)

Critical path.

We are currently seeking funding for the design and planning

phase of the program – The goals for this phase are as follows:

• Identify partners and priority themes and geographies and develop detailed plans.
• Map local innovation and regenerative economy ecosystems,
• Scout inspiring innovators who showcase the best that African ingenuity has to offer
• This phase will also include the marketing strategy design, and the production need assessment for the celebration event,
• Ultimately design a powerful program that will ignite an entire movement,

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

TBA

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

• Fatou Sow - Slinghsots Music:

As a Fulani woman, Fatou Sow has always been comfortable with the nomadic lifestyle. Her father was a Malian diplomat traveling extensively with his family as an Executive with the World Health Organization. Ultimately Fatou moved to the US to attend University. This is where she met and worked for Patrick Moxey, who ran both a management company named Empire, home to the likes of Hip-Hop group Gangstarr, and the record label PayDay, specialized in underground Hip-Hop with artists like Jeru the Damaja and the band Group Home. 

Then she worked for Hip-Hop group Cypress Hill which had gone mainstream with hits like Insane in the Brain. Followed jobs at Universal, then Warner, before landing at EMI where she got to work with artists like Joss Stone and the Baha Men.

Fatou managed Nigerian-German singer songwriter Ayo, singer-songwriter and producer Yodelice, and developed the early stages of Jain’s career. Through management, she tackled strategic brand development, intellectual property, marketing and digital technologies, and she became involved in concert and event production.

Fatou was able to apply her long held belief in culture as a vector for development, overseeing Ayo’s role as UNICEF France Godmother, and bringing solar power to a village in Mali with the help of Akon’s Lighting Africa. Fatou went on to develop an awareness campaign for nature-based solutions to fight against desertification around the Great Green Wall initiative. This African plan to plant trees to create an 8000km long and 15km deep green barrier from Western Africa to the East.

In 2010, she also notably produced the Concerts for Peace Tolerance and Understanding in New York, Washington DC and Dakar (60000 people), showcasing every major Senegalese star, as well as, in 2016, the first edition of Festival Acoustik Bamako in Mali with the great Kora artist Toumani Diabaté. Artists like Damon Albarn, Tony Allen and Gary Dourdan got to share the stage with Mali’s great artists such as Songhoy Blues, the Ali Farka Toure’s Band, and Cheick Tidiane Seck.

Fatou initiated the project and will contribute to key deliverables, but she will focus on producing the concert/event and coordinating the communications campaign.

• CELEBRITY PARTNER: this artist's name must remain confidential for the time being. What can be said however is that the artist's lyrical themes of communication, reconciliation and responsibility chime with his work as an activist who has campaigned for women’s rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, debt relief, climate issues and education. He is a Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Program and a global ambassador for Oxfam. For this artist, music and activism are intertwined because they are both about building bridges and encouraging mutual understanding. 

Recently appointed the United Nations...Land Ambassador, the artist believes that the future

of Africa is in the hands of the youth. He is actively supporting the new narrative on the Sahel

as the region of opportunities, rich in traditional culture and with a large potential for

development in the management of natural resources as well as opportunities for youth, since

close to two thirds of the population is under 35 years old.

The artist and his foundation will spearhead the initiative with a call to action, media

engagements, and inviting his rock star friends and other luminaries to his

mega-concert/event in Dakar, Senegal, in support of the project.

Through his concerts and social engagement, the artist uses the magic of his voice to bring

people together and empower them to build a peaceful and prosperous future on land,

harnessing the potential of the African traditions mixed with new technologies.

• LIVING LABS FEDERATION (LLF):

Founded in 2020, LLF has deployed projects on Food Waste, Agritech, Blue Economy. It also provided entrepreneurship courses, expertise, training, and support to various Initiators and Innovators. LLF’s outreach is global and activities have been covering Latin America, Africa, the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia.

LLF’s goal is to accelerate innovation for sustainability.

Impact Ventures (“Zebras”) struggle to emerge at the traction stage, and sustainability initiatives struggle to find long lasting models.

LLF builds blended financing models to help New Ventures as well as transitioning organizations pass this early-stage phase.

LLF’s mission is to build lasting models via developing « Glocal » economies: the power of decentralization - Global connection of players and replication of local successes.

The strategy is to build global acceleration programs combining local impact projects (from Initiators) and solutions (from Innovators). These innovations can range from ideation to commercial solutions.

The success of Initiators and Innovators is enhanced through providing global access to various Enablers: Capacity building, knowledge, expertise and blended funding

 LLF’s founder is also co-founder of www.ixsa.earth, the Innovation for Sustainability Alliance, which rallies 800 professionals and experts globally. 

https://www.living-labs.org

•   Yann LeMoel (LLF)

Mechanical and aerospace engineer, Yann has 25 years of experience as an executive in large corporations, angel investor, and mentor and coach for startups. Animated by the purpose of playing an active role into sustainability issues, he decided to leverage his experience and network to the profit of impact-driven entrepreneurs. He founded Living Labs Federation in 2019, an organization that boosts the impact of local environmental initiatives across the globe with the support of internationally sourced innovators. Yann will lead on project mentoring and acceleration. He will also contribute to key deliverables.

• Herland Cerveaux (LLF)

Expert in Economic Development, Herland has 10+ years of experience in designing and managing multi-actor, multi-territory and multi-sector programs across multiple African countries. Passionate about facilitating partnerships for development, he is particularly involved in projects motivated by the deployment of local sustainable solutions in response to international development challenges. His current contribution to the sole Pan-African acceleration programs in support of disruptive entrepreneurs in sectors of the Blue Economy has led him to be a member of the informal panel of experts of the UN Ocean Decade. Herland will project manage the initiative and contribute to key deliverables.

• The Regenerative Development Group (RDG) is a mission-driven firm with a focus on developing thriving bioeconomies. We work with stakeholders who are committed to creating thriving landscapes and support the development of projects, enterprises, and blended investments that regenerate ecologies, communities, and local economies. We work with funders and donors, investors and corporations, and non-profit organizations committed to a regenerative future. Recent partners include the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, ProNatura, International, and the Peace Parks Foundation, RDG connects regenerative ventures and investments opportunities and contributes to thriving ecosystems, landscapes, and bioeconomies.  

• Jean-Louis Robadey (RDG)

Jean Louis' expertise span from stacktaking to finance strategy. Methodological contributions for stocktaking based on past experiences, support project portfolio development and finance strategy, lead on testing and refinement of finance mechanisms including documentation, outreach, surveys and interviews, and summary documentation. He will contribute to key deliverables. 

• Tammy Tullis (RDG)

Specialist in landscape finance strategies with significant experience with investors, developing and testing new financial models.

Tammy will lead on new instrument design and testing, will contribute to development of financial strategy and the refinement of finance mechanisms. 

The aforementioned core team will receive support from additional technical partners from Senegal and beyond. They include:

• an international creative agency to hep design a P.R/Marketing strategy. Taking into consideration interview and assessment process of several contenders, the ideally projected agency is responsible for the groundbreaking UNICEF/Gamers/Blockchain fundraising campaign (see link).
• a seasoned international production manager and production team to help design and plan the live concert event.
• Local P.R./Marketing and Production counterparts.
• Local, regional and international legal support from rigorous and well established attorneys/law firms.
• Local, regional and international accounts/business managers/Fiscal Specialist.
• Local and international insurance brokers (human and material liability).
• A 501 (c) (3) organization to manage funds.

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

Yes. We do plan to return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding. This current idea submission Round 1 funding solely meant for the Design and Planning phase described in our timeline and detailed plan. We need the reports and costs assessments resulting from this initial phase to proceed with a round 2 fundraising campaign.

Round 2 funds will be allocated to the cohort selection process, the acceleration program and the amplification phase of the project timeline.

[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?

Please note that the use of 'landscape' generally refers to 'country' or 'territory'.

Meanwhile, a key challenge, globally, to support landscapes on their path to sustainability is accessing and structuring finance to invest in multi-project, multi-sector investment portfolios that encourage ecological and economic synergies between investments and generate impacts at scale for diverse landscape objectives. The Senegalese landscape provides an opportunity to demonstrate how context-specific landscape finance mechanisms can be identified, evaluated, designed and tested. This process will also allow the team to identify ways in which it can engage with project-scale and landscape-scale finance efforts in the Senegalese landscape as well as, potentially, other landscapes throughout the Continent.

1.Access to key interviewees and timelines of feedback

The proposed timeline assumes ideal conditions in which stakeholders and investors are available for providing inputs, discussions and interviews. It also assumes that relevant partners and other stockholders are available to provide timely feedback at key points in the process. We will implement project management processes to enable coordination between the project team and partners and other stockholders that allow us to address technical, process, scope, and other project elements that can influence timeline and scope.

2.State of existing investment portfolio and financial mechanisms

Our team already brings a deep understanding of the landscape context and prior work done, but the mapping phase will allow us to perform a deeper dive into opportunities and needs. This mapping will give us a clearer sense of how much progress we can make on identifying projects and prioritising, designing, and testing finance mechanisms given the resources and timeline of this project. We will pay particular attention to the state and maturity of potential anchor projects in the landscape. We anticipate that the potential investment opportunities we identify will be in a variety of states that include those that are:

• Have clear cash flows and financing plans assessments and will be already very close to bankability.
• Have clear business or project definition and could achieve bankability with incubation support and,
• Roughly defined in action plan but need translation into concrete business or project plans.

The same caveat applies to financial instruments. We will identify some that:

• Already exist and could be utilised for existing investment opportunities
• Are already designed but need to be adapted to the Senegalese context
• Are ready to enter into development, with minor additional research/analysis and
• Requires considerable additional design work.

Having a clearer understanding of key opportunities and their state of development will provide the information needed to calibrate our focus for the finance strategy, instrument design, and testing portions of the project.

3.Building from existing landscape processes and institutions.

capturing existing opportunities without additional reframing and investigating. Our starting point will be informed by the local and regional governance and economic framing such as:

• The Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PSE) 2012-2023 (Phase 2) that has developed spatial layers of conservation, governance, and investment clusters in order to meet the 2035 SDG goals, and,
• The African Union 2022 theme: "to strengthen the Agro-Food Systems, Health and Social Protection Systems to Accelerate Human, Social, and Economic Capital Development on the African Continent", and where the Chair Person also called for a revisiting of the Union’s approach to partnerships, saying that such partnerships should focus on concrete, transformative and integrating mega projects in the five priority areas of peace and security, infrastructure and energy, climate change, innovative development financing, and training youth and women's empowerment.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an ambitious trade pact to form the world's largest free trade area by connecting almost 1.3bn people across 54 African countries. The agreement aims to create a single market for goods and services in order to deepen the economic integration of Africa

'The AfCFTA aims to reduce tariffs among members and covers policy areas such as trade

facilitation and services, as well as regulatory measures such as sanitary standards and

technical barriers to trade' (African Business, Feb 10, 2022).

4.Generating new mechanisms based on feedback from testing

The development of new financing instruments may also be appropriate, in response to investor demand. These should be designed and included in the strategy. The team will use the experience of our partners, in particular the Regenerative Development Group, to develop sample terms that can be used for testing and validation.

5. Proposed adjustment in timeline for Workplan and Inception Report

We propose to deliver the Workplan and Inception Report (Deliverable A) in 3 weeks after the contract is signed. An extra week will allow us adequate time for sub-contracting with our coalition partners, and to do an initial overview of the landscape.

6. Proposed adjustment in timeline for deliverables on Mapping Report, Draft Finance Strategy and Lessons Learned

We propose to deliver the Mapping Report (Deliverable B), the Draft Finance Strategy and report on Lessons Learned (Deliverable C) 12 weeks after contract signing. This will allow for a more thorough mapping process and draft strategy development considering substantial inputs from stakeholders, a detailed review of the key reference documents, and refinement of the three reports. This will not impact the overall timeline of the project as preliminary work on component C (Testing financing mechanisms) E Communications campaign design & cost assessment), and F (Event production design & budget projections) will commence in parallel to the work on component A and B (Mapping and Landscape Finance Strategy), with different partners taking the lead in the activities of their respective components.

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

The team has completed the mapping process and has created a comprehensive report on the Senegalese landscape. The team has identified our inaugural cohort of impact innovators, and has assessed the financial requirements and mentoring needs to support our cohort. The team has designed and tested a new financial model that uses blockchain technology and cryptocurrency combined with financial technology. The team has also designed the overarching communications campaign and assessed the marketing/P.R. and event production costs.

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

This is an entirely new proposal and the very first one in Catalyst

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

TBA