Digital -> IRL Impact
We create transparent streams of impact between digital communities and real-life communities
Current Project: On-Chain Quadratic Voting and Funding Pool for Togo, West Africa
Updated April 27, 2024
Hello everyone đź‘‹,
We have successfully created an initial prototype of our open-source web app and run our first round!
Over 100 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, 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.
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.
About Impact Stream
Overall, our mission is to create transparent, on-chain, and accountable impact between digital and IRL communities. We also want to "decentralize" international development and poverty alleviation by allowing local people to solve local problems. Blockchains have ushered in new technology that allows anyone to observe verifiable transactions between known or anonymous people. Our goal is to level-up NGOs into web3; helping them leverage on-chain capabilities, operate transparently, and empower the people they serve to generate local, sustainable development.
When you give money to a traditional non-profit, you rarely have a way of knowing where exactly your money goes. You don’t how much goes to overhead and/or how much goes to the cause you care about. With Impact Stream, we encourage as many transactions as possible to occur on-chain to promote transparency. We envision this method becoming the gold standard for ethical non-profits around the globe. Our hope is to partner with digital communities - and especially web3 communities - who want to make an impact for the good of our planet and the flourishing of humanity.
What is Quadratic Voting?
Quadratic Voting (QV) is a democratic decision-making system designed to more accurately reflect the strength of individuals' preferences on various issues compared to traditional voting methods. Under this system, voters are allocated a fixed number of credits, which they can use to cast votes on a range of proposals. The cost of each additional vote for a particular option increases quadratically, meaning the second vote costs more credits than the first, the third vote even more, and so on. This mechanism encourages voters to truly weigh their preferences, allowing them to express not just which options they favor but how strongly they feel about them. Quadratic Voting aims to minimize the influence of majority power while amplifying minority voices, providing a more nuanced and equitable assessment of collective priorities.
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