Please describe your proposed solution

We are addressing the challenge of inefficient service delivery and coordination among providers who need to assess and verify eligibility for services across different organisations. Currently, eligibility assessments are often duplicated or delayed because there’s no easy way to share these assessments in a trusted, streamlined manner. This creates inefficiencies and unnecessary burdens on both service providers and the community members they support.

Our solution is to issue Verifiable Credentials (VCs) that allow a service provider to assess someone’s eligibility for services and securely share this information across organisations. By using VCs, the “paper-trail” of eligibility remains with the individual or family, giving them the autonomy to present verified eligibility to other service providers. This saves time, reduces duplicated assessments, and gives the community member greater control over their data and access to services. Our solution will need to work for the community where they are, so will likely be mobile-friendly. Exactly the form of that will be revealed through the design / architecture phases.

Our approach builds on our proven experience working with Indigenous communities in New Zealand and takes a phased, safe approach by first focusing on simple use cases like service eligibility. Starting with K’aute Pasifika, we will issue and verify eligibility credentials within at least two of their internal service providers and engage an external provider to trial cross-organizational verification. This will empower the community to control their own service eligibility data, save time for providers, and create a scalable model that can be replicated across other communities.

UPDATE: we’re able to confirm the following partners for cross-organization verification:

• terunanga.org.nz - a Maori healthcare organisation
• waikatowomensrefuge.co.nz - a domestic violence support service

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Our project will grow awareness and usage of Verifiable Credentials (VCs) in New Zealand, introducing Pasifika (Polynesian) communities to the Cardano ecosystem. By empowering K’aute Pasifika to streamline service delivery using VCs, we will showcase their potential to solve real-world challenges. As communities gain experience with VCs, they will explore more impactful use cases, such as immigration or accessing banking, further expanding the utility of Cardano.

We will measure impact through:

• Qualitative feedback from K’aute Pasifika members.
• Metrics about usage of any application deployed
• Time savings and improved efficiency for service providers.

Our outputs will be shared openly via GitHub, blog posts, case studies, and video presentations, helping introduce Cardano to new communities and encouraging further VC adoption.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Our team has successfully delivered several Project Catalyst grants and has worked directly with Indigenous (Māori) communities in New Zealand for over six years. While Pasifika communities are different, our focus on genuine partnership and co-developing tools with communities uniquely qualifies us for this work. We are currently engaged in a data sovereignty project with K’aute Pasifika, building a strong foundation for collaboration.

With 20 years working in the Waikato region, K’aute Pasifika has a strong reputation with the community they serve. Their deep experience, organisational relationships, and decades of service delivery mean they intimately know the systems we are aiming to improve with Verifiable Credentials. Their reputation within their community, and with neighbouring organisations means it has been no trouble to find people interested in participating in this project. They are an ideal partner for this project.

To validate feasibility, we will:

• Leverage our ongoing work with K’aute Pasifika to ensure alignment with their needs.
• Apply lessons learned from our experience with VCs in Indigenous communities to this new context.

Focus on accessible, mobile-friendly solutions that fit the community’s technical capacities.Our history of responsible fund management and successful delivery of past projects demonstrates our ability to manage resources effectively and deliver on our promises with accountability.

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: Milestone 1:

Requirements Gathering and Initial Prototype Design (months 1-2)

• Milestone Outputs: Research report on K’aute Pasifika community's technical capacity (device access, literacy, etc.). Initial design for mobile-friendly VC issuance and verification prototype.
• Acceptance Criteria: Completion of research, validated by feedback from K’aute Pasifika service providers.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Research report document and design prototype submitted with provider feedback.

Milestone 2: Milestone 2:

Prototype Development and Testing (months 3-4)

• Milestone Outputs: A working prototype for issuing and verifying eligibility credentials, with initial user testing.
• Acceptance Criteria: Successful deployment and testing of the prototype with K’aute Pasifika providers, incorporating initial feedback.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Prototype demonstration video and summary report detailing feedback from service providers and community members.

Milestone 3: Milestone 3:

External Provider Collaboration (month 5-6)

• Milestone Outputs: Collaboration with an external provider willing to trial the Verifiable Credentials system for cross-organizational verification.
• Acceptance Criteria: External provider successfully integrated into the VC system and verified trial with positive feedback.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Signed agreement or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with external provider and summary of trial outcomes.

Final Milestone: Milestone 4:

Final Report and Project Close-out (month 7)

• Milestone Outputs: Final report on project outcomes, lessons learned, and next steps. Project close-out video.
• Acceptance Criteria: Completed final report and close-out video summarizing project outcomes and plans for scaling.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Submission of the final report and close-out video to the Project Catalyst community.

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

For the past five years our team has been successfully building and delivering community designed technologies. Below are our team members that are leading this project:

Ben Tairea

As Product Owner of the project solution, Ben will play a pivotal role in driving the development and success of the project. Ben will be responsible for ensuring the product meets the needs of both the development team and the diverse communities it aims to serve.

Professional Experience:

• Proven experience as the Product Owner with Ahau since 2017
• Strong familiarity with AtalaPrism and Cardano as the core contributor to the ssb-atalaprism module
• Strong understanding of decentralised identity concepts, verifiable credentials, and related technologies, serving as chair of Digital Identity NZ 2019-23 and Member of the Identity Product Advisory Group for New Zealand Government (current)
• Clear understanding of user base and product vision as Earth Defenders Toolkit Community Steward since 2022

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and communicate a clear product vision aligned with the goals of the project.
• Curate and manage the product backlog, ensuring it reflects project priorities.
• Champion user-centric design principles, working closely with UI/UX designers to implement feedback and improve usability.
• Collaborate with QA teams to establish and maintain quality standards, participating in testing processes.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans, defining tasks, timelines, and dependencies.
• Track project timelines, identifying and addressing potential delays, and ensuring the timely delivery of milestones.
• Facilitate clear communication between project stakeholders, ensuring everyone is informed about project progress and changes.
• Work closely with the project's financial team to manage and monitor the budget, ensuring resources are allocated efficiently.

Engie Matene

Is our community liaison for the project leading our co-development approach between the product development team and the communities we aim to serve. Engie will be responsible for developing an engaged communities user base, fostering collaboration, addressing concerns, and ensuring a positive and inclusive experience.

Personal experience:

• Strong understanding of community registrations as lead research and community engagement for TribalDID's = Indigenous sovereignty project since Nov 22
• Secretary for Te Riingi Marae (Marae Trustee)
• Delivery Experience Developer for TradeMe & Flick Electric
• Strong technical understanding and community product development working as a community software developer since 2017
• Founder of He Tāngata Tech - Community Tech Support for rural, remote and indigenous communities of Te Tai Tokerau, Aotearoa, NZ

Key Responsibilities:

• Actively engage with potential user communities to build strong relationships.
• Gather and synthesize user feedback, ensuring the community's voice is heard and considered in project development.
• Address community concerns, inquiries, and issues promptly, working closely with the development team to find resolutions.
• Act as the bridge between development teams, community stakeholders, and other relevant parties.
• Be an advocate for the community within the development team, ensuring their needs and perspectives are considered in decision-making processes.

Mix Irving

As the senior developer for the project Mix is a key player in the design, development, and implementation of our decentralised identity solution on the Cardano blockchain. His expertise will drive technical excellence, innovation, and the successful delivery of a robust and scalable open-source product.

Personal Experience:

• Core developer for Loomio governance tool
• Key contributor to Dark Crystal v1
• Core developer and community organiser of Scuttlebutt
• Lead developer for Āhau
• Founder of commons.garden
• a new project working to build a stronger p2p commons, sharing learning, fostering collaborations

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership within the development team, guiding the implementation of decentralised identity solutions.
• Lead blockchain development efforts, particularly on the Cardano and AtalaPrism platform, ensuring secure and efficient integration
• Enforce coding standards and best practices to maintain high-quality, maintainable, and efficient code.
• Implement robust security measures, including encryption and secure key management, to ensure the integrity of the decentralised identity system.

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Development Team (60% - ₳90,000):

• Salaries and compensation for developers, and technical team members.
• Software development tools and licences.

Feature design (10% - ₳15,000):

• Compensation for solution architecture services, development team and stakeholder input costs

Project management (7% - ₳10,500):

• Compensation for project management resource responsible for reporting and communications

Documentation (5% - ₳7,500)

• Technical writers for creating comprehensive documentation.

Community engagement (15% - ₳22,500)

• Facilitation for stakeholder feedback, user testing and onboarding event

Contingency (3% - ₳4,500):

• A reserve fund for unexpected expenses or scope changes.

The budget will be regularly revisited throughout the duration of the project with shared responsibility between the project leads to ensure that funds are allocated optimally and to accommodate any emerging needs or changes in scope. Additionally, maintaining a detailed and transparent record of expenditures will aid in effective budget management throughout the project lifecycle.

Mātou (Āhau Platform/TribalDIDs): will be leading this project, but we’re collaborating with K’aute Pasifika (kautepasifika.co.nz/) who are a health provider interested in implementing VCs as part of their work.

K’aute Pasifika is a charitable trust based in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton and has been providing health, education, employment and social services to all individuals, families and communities, regardless of ethnicity for 20 years. Their dedication of Pacific models of care, and putting power (and data) in the hands of their people is where Matou and K’aute Pasifika have come together.

Identus Tools: We rely on the Identus ecosystem for compatibility with Verifiable Credentials and secure voting mechanisms, enabling both online and offline functionality. We are also working with the developers who maintain: Hyperledger Identus who supply the underlying identity infrastructure supporting secure issuance and verification of DIDs and VCs, ensuring compatibility with global standards (e.g. W3C).

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project represents the first phase of a broader plan to explore the use of Verifiable Credentials (VCs) within service delivery. As a pilot, it will surface critical learnings, identify limitations, and uncover adaptations needed for wider implementation. If successful, we envision expanding this work into more complex areas like immigration and banking.

Further, by developing open-source tools, we aim to replicate this solution across multiple communities in New Zealand and internationally, making it a scalable model. The costs reflect the level of expertise required to build this foundational phase, ensuring value for money as it lays the groundwork for broader adoption of VCs in real-world applications.