Please describe your proposed solution.
Context
Nowadays we tend to introduce ourselves through a multitude of roles we have played or persona we have assumed either during our education journey or work experience. I am a math teacher, I am a singer …etc is what we hear very often. This has limited the perception of who we really are and we see it translated into the current implementations of SSI which are mainly based on the western world paradigm. In the traditional African view, we are a portion of the unique divine source experimenting itself in all fields of knowledge: Education, Agriculture, Physics and so on. We do not live, we are lived through and we come to this reality with a mission: a mission that defines our identity. This leaves no place for the ego and brings us to the table to re-open the debate about the very important notion of self sovereign identity.
Our proposed solution
Our approach is to leverage our personal initiatory experience in order to create both a content and a safe space, where we can debate and exchange responsibly around these complex notions. We hope through this action to share valuable information about a lost paradigm in such a way that we can spark deep interest in the community to reconsider the very important and key notion of identity / self sovereign identity through a different and more holistic paradigm.
Conversations Space:
Africa now has a town hall (ATH) which we believe is the right space to start this conversation. We plan on securing a breakout room in which we will regularly meet once every two weeks (at each ATH session) to discuss identity within the local African context. Subject matter experts will be invited throughout these conversations to provide attendees with deeper understanding of some complex notions. Concretely we will invite guest speakers once per month and use the other one or two meetings that month to discuss as a community the content brought up at the lecture. The subject matter experts we have identified are francophone, therefore we will offer professional translation (to English) for each of the main presentations.
Conversations content:
The main themes we anticipate are organized in three chapters that each focuses on one piece of the big puzzle. We also plan on introducing the conversation with an introduction to the solutions that are currently available so that we appropriately set the context for the debate.
Kongolo dia Ntente.
The goal here is to start with the cosmos, the universe and the environment in which we all live. We will be discussing its origin, components, what they mean symbolically and how they connect to each other. We will spent a great deal of time talking about their functional aspect. Specifically the following subjects will be introduced:
- Bumuntu (humans horizontal connections)
- Kintagulu dia Nza
- Disu-Mu au Masu-Mu (Re-incarnation, Soul, Past lives and Debts)
- Introduction to Kisono
- Ntinu
- Kisono dia Nza
- Kongo Cosmogony
- Introduction to colors
Kongolo dia Zole
Next we will move on with debates geared toward self. Our structure, the parts of our body and their meaning. We will spent sometime understanding the meaning and functions of cells in our body. The science behind our names, our bodies, where we come from, what we are made of and why we are here. We will inspect our vertical connection to the cosmos (unique divine source ) and our horizontal connection to the cosmos (to other human beings). This point will consist of the following topics:
- Biseliya Mysteries
- Muntu: a multidimensional being
- Kimuntu (humans vertical connections)
- Bi-Mwelo
Kongolo dia Ntatu
Lastly we will make the bridge between the cosmos structure and that of our body paying attention to what that entails. We will then analysed nature laws and principles . We will conclude this phase by providing potential outlets to those willing to deepen their understanding on these subjects. The topics for this point are:
- Principles, Laws of the Cosmos, ki-Ndoki: nature science
- Ki-Ndoki science
- Spiritual laws
- Ndosi (The meaning of our dreams)
- Munu kia Nsi - Munu dia Zulu
- The 5 common senses
- Hypnosis
- Astral trip
- Tatu techniques
Only after we cover all these topics, we can suggest a specific path and design for a MVP SSI / DID solution that fits the African context.
=>Click here for more information on our ongoing research work!
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
Equity and inclusion is the direction our proposal is aiming to follow with this challenge category. The fact that we are still in the early stages of SSI implementations gives us some open ground to explore other paradigms. This proposal is suggesting an entirely new direction to the notion of Identity and in so doing making sure we are promoting inclusion in our community.
Given that we are in the "Grow Africa, Grow Cardano" there could be any better place for such a project: The African perception of identity needs to be exposed.
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
The biggest challenge is the status-quo observed. Most Africans today perceive themselves through the lenses of the dominant western world paradigm and in so doing have a perception of the world that does not always align with their ancestral patterns of life.
We intend to mitigate that through an open and frank conversation, conducted through the African town hall that will allow us to analyze the notion of identity through ancestral African lenses.