Please describe your proposed solution.

This proposal aims to carry out crucial research in two folds to reach the objectives: namely, phase 1 and phase 2 outlined below.

Phase 1

Researching their current users/proposers enquiring about the process, what worked well, what they would improve

Use phase 1 to inform Phase 2 research on a niche area - how can more African people in the ecosystem be encouraged to apply for CLAP projects

Phase 3

Engaging workshops and new content with potential African proposers all about the Cardashift system and how they can apply with proposals that can make a difference!

NB: We are aware that there is an African challenge however, if one reads this CLAP challenge brief in full, it is still relevant for us to apply this research within this remit.

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

The two phase approach to our proposed solution will help to tackle the lack of financial attractiveness of impact projects in impact ecosystem with a focus of potential African proposers.

• Discovers innovative ways for impact-oriented projects to create financial value out of their impact generation, notably by issuing impact tokens: the third part of the proposed solution involves education potential African proposers on how best to make a Cardashift application based on phase 1's research. That is, interviewing those who have successfully been funded with CLAP for their projects.
• Increases transparency and traceability on the impact generated by a specific project - the best way to increase transparency on the impact generated by a specific project is to speak to those who have been successfully funded on the Cardashift platform.

Our proposed solution will address the 'impact valuation & monetisation' part of the challenge by interviewing those who have already been funded successfully on Cardashift with CLAP. This will help to identify the number of proof of concept trials that can be run with impact-oriented projects. By researching with the funded proposals, we can also identify how much financial value can be derived from impact-oriented projects. Furthermore, teams from funded projects alongside Cardashift team members will help us identify the time required to validate the impact value.

Additionally and in-relation to phase 3 of our proposed solution: we will create resources to help potential proposers understand the differences between 'impact-oriented solutions' and projects that only focus on 'Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria' as there is a general misconception with 'social entrepreneurship' for this reason.

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

The main risk would be access to the existing successful Cardashift proposers and their ability to liaise due to time constraints, however, we will communicate with the Cardashift team about the best way to approach this. For example, offering rewards (CLAP) for their time.

Additionally, from phase 1 of research, we will look into how best to encourage those from the African ecosystem to submit proposals on the Cardashift website, hence, we would have to simultaneously communicate with these people in question. To that end, this would be mitigated from our existing networks. For example, Daniel Lezu is a strong community member in the African Cardano ecosystem.

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

The timeline will be as follows:

Formulating the semi-structured research questions and final survey for the phase 1 research (1 month)

Assessing the Cardashift website for potential research questions

Integration of the challenge KPI's in the survey

Identifying a number of funded proposals to reach out to and creating a database (2-3 months)

Putting a call out on social media

Directly contacting teams on Cardashift

Getting connections from the Cardashift team

Research for phase 1 (3-5 months)

Interviewing the successful project teams from Cardashift using thematic analysis to assess results. Key themes will be identified and built upon for phase 2.

Identification of potential African proposers (5-6 months)

They will be identified from the Cardano Africa ecosystem and put out preliminary survey's to explore proposers will may be interested in applying for Cardashift/CLAP funding.

Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Research Phases for 6 months (Desk Research & Interviews)

• Dedicated researcher
• Survey & Interview Incentive Fees (depending on sample size)
• Incentives for potential interviewees
• Tools for meetings, surveys, and data gathering

$10,000

Findings Reporting

• Dedicated Report Analyst
• Report Design

$5,000

Marketting and Advertisement $ 3000

Cardano Partnership, Advisory, & Maintenance $10,000

• Internal costs for Cardano advisory services and team allocation

Miscellaneous $ 2,000

Total $ 30,000

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

Daniel David Lezu: a Front End web developer. He holds Bachelors of Science in Information Technology from Bluecrest College and Professional Diploma in Software Engineering from IPMC Ghana. He is passionate about Cloud computing, Cyber Security and Decentralized Applications. He was a Community Advisor in Catalyst fund 7 and Catalyst Challenge Team Lead for ‘Scale-UP Cardano’s Community Hubs’ challenge settings for fund 8 and Community Manager for the Catalyst Africa Town Hall. He envisions using Blockchain Technology to bridge the gap between human capabilities and machine learning (AI & IoT).

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-david-lezu-7ba04b24/

Dr Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi: a researcher and entrepreneur. She holds a PhD, 2 Master's degrees and is a Postdoc at Oxford University. Fund 8 winner with 'Oxford Student Hub'. Community advisor in fund 8.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferagwunobi/

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

Yes, we shall come for later round of funding because we aim to create resources to help potential proposers understand the differences between 'impact-oriented solutions' and projects that only focus on 'Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria' as there is a general misconception with 'social entrepreneurship' for this reason.

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

For phase 3, will measure level of interest in our resources which would be posted in groups for Africans in the Cardano ecosystem. We will assess engagement with replies, views and comments. Though, month 5-6 is when we will formally reach out to African proposers, they will be made aware of the plans of research from month 1 and we will thus compare these metrics each month. By doing so, we will indicate whether interest is growing, declining, or staying the same.

What does success for this project look like?

Understanding what could encourage more African people to submit projects in Cardashift and potentially collaborate amongst each other to come out with solutions with really important areas whilst being financially secure.

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

This is a new proposal.