DAO Grant Program - Accountability Committee

by 0x858343382132b9ab46c857a7d52fdbafc039f784 (Zino)

Linked Draft Proposal

Framework for New Committee who decides when to revoke grants -Updated proposal

Summary

This Governance proposal aims to create the structure and guidelines for the Accountability Committee

Abstract

The Accountability Committee will have the sole responsibility to order the revocation of a Grant provided by the Decentraland DAO. This Committee is important to decentralize the decision-making process of determining which grants should be revoked and to take care of the DAO treasury. The path to revoke a vesting contract would be the following:

1. Any Community Member has the possibility to submit a request through a form to initiate the revision of a case whenever the grantee is suspected of not complying with the terms and conditions and the Grants Framework.
2. The Grant Support Squad will request the grantee to respond to the concerns raised and if the concerns continue, they will send the arguments for the Accountability Committee to evaluate the case. This triggers a preventive revocation or a pause to the Vesting Contract.
3. The Accountability Committee will study each case and will have the opportunity to request extra information regarding the case presented, and has the responsibility to provide a resolution to the community, which may be to revoke a Grant vesting contract as a final action; to resume a Grant vesting contract of a previously revoked or paused contract no older than six months; to revoke and create again the Grant vesting contract with a new proposed schedule.
4. Any of the outcomes will be executed by the DAO committee.

The Accountability Committee will be constituted by 5 members and 2 substitutes. This committee selected by the Decentraland DAO Community is expected to be in office for twelve (12) months and the members could be re-elected only for one consecutive period. Each committee member will be compensated with 200 USD in MANA per Grant case analyzed, paid by the DAO treasury and executed by the DAO committee once the verdict has been posted on the Grant Proposal page

Motivation

This Accountability Committee would give an opportunity to the grantees to argue with an objective third party not involved in the “revocation process” and would mitigate the “centralized power” of the DAO Committee to judge the case, and execute the decision.

Specification

Here is the complete framework document. Below, you may find its main points:

Initial setup of the Committee:

1. There will be an open application period in the forum (like the community has done in the past and is doing with the new DAO Committee member). Applications will be submitted by the prospects as posts on the forum and applicants should answer the questions mentioned on the complete framework.

2. The Grant Support Squad interviews the candidates and makes a final selection of 5 members and 2 substitutes. For the creation of this committee and its renewals, the final selection will be presented to the community in a poll.

3. There will be a final poll for the community to vote to accept or decline this selection. This process will be repeated when the committee is renewed.

Adding a new member: Once this committee is created, the process for adding a new committee member if there is a vacancy will include these 3 stages:

1. An Open Call is published in the forum in charge of the Grant Support Squad,
2. The committee in office interviews the candidates for the vacant position and makes a final selection of the potential member from the applicants,
3. and the community votes in a poll for the best fit.

To remove a member:

Following the DAO Committee framework, the DAO should add a REMOVE COMMITTEE MEMBER proposal category with the required parameters mentioned in the complete framework document.

• A member could be removed by an Internal decision of the Committee members.
• A member could be removed by the community creating a proposal, and a simple majority vote would be needed to make it effective.

Procedure

• The Accountability Committee starts to act when there is a formal request from any community member through a form. The Grant Support Squad will request the grantee to respond to the concerns raised within 4 days.
• After that, The Grant Support Squad will send, in the course of 4 days, the arguments for the Accountability Committee to evaluate the case. This triggers a preventive revocation or a pause to the Vesting Contract, later to be executed by the DAO committee.
• Then, the Accountability Committee has 6 days to discuss the case among the 5 members.
• During the period of 6 days, the Accountability Committee has the ability to request further information to the Grant Support Squad or the Grantee about the case presented, not exceeding 30 days. After that, the Accountability Committee has 5 days to publish the final resolution.

Conflicts of interest.

Any member of the Accountability Committee should be prevented from participating in a case according to the cases that are mentioned in the complete framework document - art. 7

Execution

• The Accountability Committee will reach the final decision by a simple majority.
• The final decision of the Accountability Committee should be clear and public on the grant’s page and the grant’s discord channel. This will contain the committee’s arguments.

Impacts

1. Taking care of the DAO treasury (measured in money recovered to the DAO treasury).
2. Decentralizing decision-making of Grant revocations (from 2 actors to 3 actors).
3. Diversifying and deepening governance involvement of DAO community into Committees (specific spaces for debate concrete grant cases, with compensations to attract and maintain actors who are acquiring new levels of responsibility for their time invested in the DAO)

Implementation Pathways

1. Open application period in the forum (like the community has done in the past here and here),

2. The Grant Support Squad interviews the candidates and makes a final selection of 5 members and 2 substitutes

3)The Grant Support Squad will publish a final poll for the community to accept or decline this selection.

4. The Grants Support Squad will ask the Accountability Committee Members their wallet addresses, and ask the dApp governance squad to create a specific token to vote on the newly created Snapshot Space.

5. The Grants Support Squad will publish the Accountability Committee framework with its members in the DAO documentation.

Conclusion

This Governance proposal will bring light into the revocation process, clarity to those involved in it, and opportunity for community members to participate in decisions regarding ongoing projects funded by the DAO. It also gives a fair chance for the grantees to provide their arguments to an objective third party not involved in the aforementioned process, and last but not least, it will lessen the “centralized power” of the DAO Committee to judge the case, and execute the decision.

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO