Please describe your proposed solution.
<u>Introduction</u>
Notions of governance currently centre on the Westphalian concept of singular governmental authorities and nation-state identities. These are the concepts around which the global financial system currently operates.
This proposal describes the resources and activities necessary to start doing the business and technical engineering bringing centuries old Tribal traditions and governance methods around identities, identifiers and trusted relationships, into today's digital ecosystem. And, in so doing, begin the development processes necessary to ensure that they are internationally recognised and compliant. This is a mission, and life-critical project to maintain the culture and grow the prosperity of Indigenous Tribes globally.
<u>Jobs-to-be-done</u>
Indigenous nations (e.g. Māori in Aotearoa / New Zealand) don’t yet have control over critical nation-building capabilities and technologies to maintain their own decentralised systems. This makes it seemingly impossible to implement the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights so that Tribal peoples can participate in global trade independent of colonisers systems.
Currently, nation-state identity documents are mostly used by default, however, “formal” reputation based on indigenous methods that signal a person is well-known and respected among their people and their Tribes are not yet available. Māori, are in a unique position (with decades old, internationally recognised constitutional agreements in place with the British Crown) to harness the opportunity for self determination, social, environmental, and economic prosperity made possible by customising Digital Identity technology to bring their centuries old trust traditions into the digital realm.
Āhau has already started this work, is building a technological stack to issue and verify identities, has done analysis on related legislation, and has an engaged ecosystem. Our next step is to co-develop the agreements, frameworks, and technology necessary to interoperate with the NZ Government and business identity and compliance ecosystems. The technology is beginning to take shape, but ecosystem governance to support interoperability is needed.
We have built a strong network of key individuals, organisations, and Government departments who are highly engaged in this work (supported by the Fund 9 Project Catalyst funded project 'TribalDIDs=IndigenousSovereignty' still in progress). But, structured conversations and decision-making need to take place to begin to explore, build, and test human and computational workflows.
This project aims to align the needs of the ecosystem in Aotearoa on both a governance and technology basis.
There are two key elements being developed through this project:
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Ecosystem Governance — We will be taking a Minimum Viable Ecosystem (MVE) approach to building out a basic Ecosystem Governance Framework (EGF). We already have existing partners that have deep reach in Aotearoa’s finance, education, and healthcare sectors. We will be focusing initially on the financial side, compliance in particular.
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Technology — While the existing Āhau application is being developed to support the basics of credentialing (issuing, holding, and verifying), we need to tie the technology to an EGF. In particular, the Tribal Issuers and Compliance Systems Verifiers need to be formally linked. Financial institutions (Māori and non-Māori) need to know that any credentials are issued under high–assurance conditions. Further, Atala PRISM v2 is being integrated into the solution, which brings enterprise decentralised identity agent capabilities to bear.
How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?
Technology projects often fail due to a lack of adoption by the ecosystem within which they intend to exist. To ensure the success of Āhau's TribalDIDs products, Yūmi’s Regenerative Finance protocols, built on Cardano and their interoperability with organisations like 2Shakes to complete CDD, AML/CFT KYC processes we need governance and compliance frameworks that meet global standards and engage existing ecosystem partners.
This project facilitates the development of a Digital Identity ecosystem for Indigenous people, led by Aotearoa's Māori people, to realise the potential of peer-to-peer exchange of trustworthy digital credentials. A project that supports Māori cultural and societal values, traditions, and aspirations which echo those of indigenous people globally.
The project is possible due to a unique set of circumstances set in motion in the 1800’s with formal agreements between Māori and the British Crown. Now, after decades of reconciliation (and apologies from the Crown for not honouring the governance treaties), compliance standards and agreements, a still significant barrier to decolonization, can be addressed for the first time.
Recent shifts in legislation, such as the passing of the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill (which received royal assent on 04APR2023), coupled with the development of Cardano’s infrastructure, and non-nation-state governed grant funding from Project Catalyst, have created a contemporary opportunity to honour those early constitutional agreements. Integrating Te Ao Māori (the Māori world view) and its indigenous systems and processes deeply into the systemic fabric of Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Our impact will be in the demonstration of what good can look like for community-based, bottom-up, Tribal trust registries—providing an example of decentralised governance interacting with centralised nation-state government. Enabling DIDs and VCs and an ecosystem of participants engaged and contributing to the workflows, indicative agreements, methods, roles, and standards to contribute to a documented MVE exemplar.
In summary, our project will;
• expand the Cardano user base by introducing the technology to Indigenous people, led by Aotearoa's Māori people
• contribute to Cardano's further development by leveraging Atala PRISM for identity verification
• enhance Cardano's reputation as a socially impactful platform, making Cardano more attractive to other developers and users looking for a platform that is structured to support human rights and facilitates meaningful change
We are providing a real-world use case demonstrating Cardano's potential to drive significant socio-technical impact. It supports and advances Cardano's mission of empowering individuals and communities through decentralised technology.
How do you intend to measure the success of your project?
Our intent is to begin the establishment of an ecosystem that proves end-to-end verification and maintenance of trust through open-standard, community-led, digital credentials and governance frameworks, with a core focus on compliance.
As a Proof of Concept, the primary objective is to validate the feasibility and potential value of the launch governance ecosystem project. The focus is on gathering insights, testing assumptions, building relationships, and assessing the potential for broader adoption rather than measuring the direct impact on productivity and growth that would typically be associated with a fully operational production project.
As such, our success will be reflected in the ability for Āhau and other ecosystem participants to define and agree on requirements to be issuers, authorizers, relying parties, etc. and interoperate on a PoC basis.
We will measure:
- Level of adoption with a select number of external systems to demonstrate interoperability, or receiving positive feedback from early adopters.
- Feedback from users and stakeholders who interact with the PoC through surveys and interviews to gather qualitative data on their experience, perception of benefits, and suggestions for improvement. This feedback will provide valuable insights into the potential impact and user acceptance of the concept.
- Level of user engagement and participation in the PoC project. We’ll track the number of active participants, their contributions to discussions, and their involvement in testing or providing feedback. Increased engagement will indicate interest in and potential value in the concept.
- Support and buy-in from key stakeholders such as organisations, institutions, or regulatory bodies in terms of their willingness to provide resources, or endorse the PoC project. Stakeholder support is crucial to the project's potential scalability and future adoption.
- Technical feasibility and performance of the PoC project, such as system response time, scalability, and compatibility with existing infrastructure. This will help us determine whether the concept can be successfully implemented in a production environment.
- Evolution over the course of the project, including progress made in refining the concept, resolving technical challenges, and addressing user feedback. This iterative process helps validate the potential and lay the groundwork for future development and deployment.
- Level of adoption outside of the Āhau project itself. While focused on the effort in Aotearoa, by Māori, this work has implications for other indigenous communities with whom we are in contact with.
Overall this multi-community effort should shine a light on Cardano as the preferred blockchain for its rich governance and support of societal change.
Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?
Our outputs from a completed Proof of Concept (PoC) project can be disseminated via:
- Documentation and reports, including objectives, methodologies, key findings, and lessons learned, are published on the project partners' websites and available for download.
- Stakeholder engagement with those who participate in the PoC project or have a vested interest in the topic (developers, organisations, regulatory bodies, industry associations, and potential users) through targeted workshops/webinars to share the project's outputs and engage in discussions to gather feedback and insights.
- Industry conferences, seminars, and events to present the PoC project's findings and impact by submitting abstracts or proposals for presentations and demonstrations to relevant conferences.
- Publish articles, blog posts, or whitepapers in relevant forums, groups, or social media discussions.
By effectively sharing the project's outputs, Āhau, Yūmi, 2shakes and Continnuum Loop aim to activate opportunities, such as:
- Partnership and Funding Opportunities for further development or scaling.
- Collaborative Projects with other organisations, research institutions, or government entities to explore and expand the concept's applications and impact.
- Industry Influence and Recognition to elevate the project team's visibility and establish them as thought leaders in the field, leading to invitations for further collaboration, speaking engagements, or participation in industry initiatives.
- User Adoption and Market Demand to generate interest and demand among potential users.
- Policy and Regulatory Impact through influence on policy discussions and regulatory frameworks and foster a supportive environment for the project's implementation.