Grant proposal: Unlock East Africa - Ecosystem Growth Initiative

Description:

Unlock East Africa focuses on increasing Unlock Protocol adoption across East Africa, starting with Rwanda. Africa is buzzing with new Web3 communities and numerous emerging projects, and is a prime target for Unlock's innovative ticketing, membership and subscription offerings. This initiative aims to educate developers, creators, and entrepreneurs first about Ethereum, and takes a step further to illustrate Unlock Protocol as an prime example of an application built on Ethereum, and demonstrate some of its use cases such as ticketing, memberships, rewards, and loyalty programs in a practical manner. This approach will not only educate but also familiarize participants with Unlock's distinctive features as they go through different experiences in real time. The project involves 7 workshops designed to cater to both technical and non-technical audience, with sustained weekly events over the span of 3 months in order to facilitate a sense of community. We round off with a hackathon to usher new developers into the ecosystem and provide an opportunity for builders to create innovative solutions to local challenges using power of Ethereum and Unlock Protocol. Through this grant, we aim to instigate Unlock's adoption at ground level in East Africa, building toward a powerful ripple effect across the entire continent's blooming Web3 communities.

Completion Time: 3 Months

Team: Danny Thomx (myself), an experienced blockchain developer and educator. Also partnering with on-ground entities like ALX Rwanda.

Milestones:

Month 1: Pre-Event Preparation

Objectives:

1. Secure venue and date for the non-technical workshop, technical workshop, and the hackathon
2. Design workshops curriculum and hackathon scope
3. Initiate promotions and engagement drive for workshops and hackathon attendees

Main Tasks:

• Book flights and accommodation
• Identify and secure venues
• Develop the programme for the workshops and hackathon
• Initiate marketing and promotional activities

Deliverables:

• Secured venue and dates for events
• Ready workshop curriculum and hackathon programme
• Create and schedule promotional activities

Month 2: Execution of the Non-Technical Workshop

Objectives:

• Conducting the non-technical workshop
• Encourage participation in subsequent events
• Collect feedback and initiate improvements for future events
• Airdrop phase 1 (Initial UDT distribution)

Main Tasks:

• Finalize event logistics for the non-technical workshop
• Execute promotional activities
• Execute the non-technical workshop

Deliverables:

• Successful organization and completion of the non-technical workshops
• Feedback from attendees evaluated and plans to adjust future workshops

Month 3: Execution of the Technical Workshop and Hackathon

Objectives:

• Execute the technical workshop
• Conduct the hackathon
• Airdrop phase 2 (Final UDT distribution)
• Gather feedback and debrief on event successes and areas of improvement

Main Tasks:

• Finalize event logistics for the technical workshop and hackathon
• Continue promotional activities
• Execute the technical workshop
• Execute the hackathon

Deliverables:

• Successful completion of the technical workshop and hackathon
• Analysis of feedback from all events for future improvements

Requested Grant Amount:

Other amount, or not requesting UDT

Anything Else You Should Know:

Total execution cost of the initiative is ~$10,000, I have secured a grant of $5000 from the Ethereum Foundation to cover the execution costs. Support from the Unlock Protocol DAO would ensure the successful initiation and execution of the project. Furthermore, 20% (200 UDT) of the total requested UDT amount (1000 UDT) will be airdropped to the community through various community activations to further decentralize Unlock DAO governance and increase participation in governance processes.

Requested grant amount: $3000 in ARB - Upfront (covers travel, and accommodation costs.) 1000 UDT

Milestone: Month 1 deliverables - 300 UDT. Milestone: Month 2 deliverables - 300 UDT. Milestone: Month 3 deliverables - 400 UDT

Total UDT Amount: 1000 UDT

Is Your Work Open Source: Yes, all project-related materials and outcomes would be Open Source.