Pilot Round: On-Chain Quadratic Voting and Funding Pool for Togo, West Africa

Updated September 17, 2024

Hello everyone 👋,

For those visiting from Quirkies for our special Togo Water campaign, check out this dedicated page. Thank you! 🙏

FYI, we're excited to share that in the past year we have successfully created an initial prototype of our open-source web app and run our first round!

Over 120 people from Togo signed up for the web app using their local mobile phone number. We had 30 proposals submitted for regenerative public goods and poverty alleviation projects. This occurred in and around the capital city of Lomé and surrounding villages.

43 people participated in the quadratic voting process. Each person had 10 vote credits to apply to one or more of the 30 projects. The square root of their votes applied to each project was then tallied together to reveal the highest-ranked projects according to their local preferences.

The main idea of our open-source web app is to allow local people to submit proposals, in their own language (They speak French and Ewe), to suggest solutions for local problems. In addition to transparent, on-chain voting to determine community preference, money from a funding pool provided by our global community is then used to fund each project - from top to bottom in ranking order - until the funding runs out.

We successfully raised $60k+ USD earmarked to go directly to Togo for these projects! We are now in the process of actively funding the following six projects:

Technology Education Center

Cumulative Vote Weight: 28.08 !!

Through Laurent's leadership, plans are underway to establish an educational center aimed at equipping local adults with essential technology skills. Recognizing the growing need for tech proficiency as the regional economy evolves, this initiative will provide targeted training to help older adults secure tech-related jobs and continue their education from home, empowering them to meet the demands of the modern workplace.

Regarding the video updates below (we are still working on the subtitle translations), one of our staff members in Togo - Jacques - wrote:

Here is, in summary, what is said in the videos:

Laurent asks the question "What do you do in life?" to some students with whom he has worked.

⁠⁠The 1st says that he is a welder-smasher; the 2nd that he is a mason and the 3rd says that she is a merchant.

The advantages of their learning at Laurent’s center: they had the chance to learn to speak French thanks to the center; write quotes to customers who could not speak EWE, thus avoiding the cheating of anybody who was going to help them; discuss with the children in French at home etc... In short, they are grateful for the creation of this center that helps them so much.

Youth Professional Training for Textile and Apparel Manufacturing

Cumulative Vote Weight: 25.95

Togo has an unemployment rate of 55%. This proposal is aimed to help bring jobs and job training to the region in the market of textile and apparel manufacturing. Many young individuals, after dropping out of school, face financial barriers to professional training, hindering community and national development. The solution proposed by this project provides access to sewing machines - and covered training costs - for young people to foster self-sufficiency and contribute to community development in the area.

Community Library

Cumulative Vote Weight: 17.10

The community has voiced their support for a new initiative led by Jacques to establish a library in a region currently lacking educational resources. Recognizing the shift among children towards social media, this library aims to reignite their interest in reading through engaging activities and periodic contests. This project promises to be a beacon for learning, offering children the chance to explore the vast worlds contained within books and enhance their educational experiences.

Solar-Powered Clean Water Access

Cumulative Vote Weight: 12.67

The community has chosen to tackle the pressing issue of water access through a sustainable solution led by Jacques. A new project will introduce a water well equipped with a solar pump, designed to provide reliable and clean water to a local school and the surrounding village communities that currently rely on unreliable and unsanitary sources. This project will drastically improve the health of many individuals by reducing the incidence of waterborne diseases and other issues related to unsafe water.

New Equipment for an Elementary School

Cumulative Vote Weight: 10.30

Led by Kodjo Dodzi, this project focuses on updating the equipment at CS La Citadelle, a private elementary school. By improving the school's facilities, this project aims to enhance the educational environment for both teachers and students, enabling more effective teaching and learning experiences. This support is crucial for empowering young teachers who are beginning their careers and striving to make a positive impact in their community.

Health Clinic Equipment Upgrade

Cumulative Vote Weight: 6.38

Led by Laurent, the community has voted to address the pressing healthcare challenges by upgrading necessary clinic equipment. With only one doctor per 25,000 people - and where existing facilities lack essential tools - this initiative is set to significantly enhance healthcare delivery and ensure the clinic can offer better care and support to the population. This project is a critical step toward meeting the urgent medical needs of the community.

Two Additional Projects to Fund

In addition to the six projects above, which exhaused the $60k we raised for the pilot round, we are ALSO trying to raise funds for two additional runner-up projects that would be amazing to see built:

Project # 7: A well for clean water access for the village of KLIKAME, near the pinapple demonstration farm our staff is involved with (and our western staff/board members visited last summer).

Project # 8: A well for clean water access for an orphanage in AMOUZOU-KOPE.

If you would be interested in donating to help us with these two projects, please visit this dedicated campaign page - which has a lot more detail - and ALSO feel free to jump in our Discord server to say hello. Thanks! 🙏