TLDR
- NEAR Foundation has allocated $3,000 for piloting quadratic funding rounds on NEAR through Potlock’s BOS platform
- Applications are currently open for Africa Public Goods with matching of donations starting this Monday March 4th for 2 weeks
- Quadratic funding is when donations are amplified by unique donors where humanness will be using nada.bot
Original Article Announcing the Africa Public Goods Quadratic Funding Round | by PlugRel | Mar, 2024 | PotLock
Overview
NEAR Foundation is funding the first regional quadratic funding round on NEAR through Potlock’s decentralized platform on #BOS. Applications are live for the round, and the following Monday, March 11th, verified humans can donate to their favorite projects to get quadratically matched. This is a small test round to help raise awareness and bring more projects on board, as well as test new funding mechanisms for seeding regional development
Earnest, from NEAR Africa, will be the Chef for the Africa Funding Round, carefully reviewing and selecting to ensure diverse and impactful projects that meet up the criteria.
Goals of the Round
- Bolster adoption in Africa to NEAR technology
- Pilot the use of quadratic funding for regional expansion in developing nations
- Support the development of open-source software on NEAR.
- Onboard projects and users
- Highlight the undervalued work of Africa public goods
- Seed funding for projects that leverage Web3 to address local challenges in Africa
- Empower the African developer community
Why Africa
Africa is experiencing a surge in interest in Web3, with Nigeria spearheading the movement as the continent’s sixth-fastest-growing adopter worldwide. With over 1.6 million developers eager to take advantage of the innovative potential that NEAR offers, this tech-savvy continent has a rapidly growing developer community. Africa’s youthful population, brimming with entrepreneurial spirit, presents a unique opportunity to empower a generation ready to embrace new technologies. Africa is a rich source for both communities and startups that can directly transition into blockchain infra that can promote positive change and support the dynamic growth of the region. These projects can be found in early adopters like Rwanda with its central bank digital currency, or in bustling innovation hubs like Lagos, Nairobi, and Kigali. With internet penetration expected to reach 50% by 2025, Africa’s young population is poised to become a major force in shaping the future of technology, and NEAR has the opportunity to play a key role in this exciting journey…
NEAR-Powered Initiatives in Africa
Already, in Africa, a vibrant tech landscape is emerging on the NEAR Protocol, showcasing the continent’s immense potential. Notable projects and communities are driving innovation and collaboration. This includes Meteor Wallet, Co-Founded by a South African Web3Hedge. Kano is BOS: a Nigerian Dev Community, Chatafisha, a tanzania based platform leveraging NEAR NFTs to combat plastic pollution through carbon credits, ReFi Tanzania, the ReFI DAO node in Tanzania, .Colds Collective, an African community bridging the tech gap through blockchain education & solutions, NEAR Africa:, the NEAR regional hub, and African Blockchain Institute (ABI): a professional workforce bolstering blockchain adoption and innovation based in Rwanda, just to name a few.
Call for Projects
We are looking for Africa Public goods including Social Impact projects, Public Goods, NGOs / Non-Profits, Educational Initiatives / Open Communities, Climate, and De-Sci projects. You do not have to be building on NEAR in order to be eligible for this round, although NEAR is the technology that enables funding under the hood. By leveraging Potlock and quadratic funding as onboarding mechanisms for NGOs, developer communities, and open-source projects, we’d love to see impactful initiatives participate in the funding round. Examples of projects we love to see and encourage to apply are (these are just examples and does not mean other projects are not eligible)
- Green Pill Naija empowers communities through Web3 with quadratic funding
- Enyata provides technology solutions and a free 14-week program
- She Code Africa supports women in tech
- Devcareer aids African developers looking to enter the tech scene
- Tech4dev influences human capital
- I4G Alumni actively empowers African youth in the tech sector.
How You Can Get Started
Check out the round’s page where everything about the Quadratic funding round will live Potlock
How to Apply
To be eligible, you must sign up for PotLock registry. Check out how to do so in the docs. After you get approved you can then apply to Africa pot directly here
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How to Donate
When matched donations are directly, verified humans can donate to get their donations quadratically matched.
Here is how to verify as a human to get your donations matched
About PotLock
PotLock is an open source protocol, and the first public goods funding platform on NEAR Protocol. PotLock enables different funding strategies like direct donations with on-chain referrals and quadratic funding with more to come.
About the Round
The pot is live at potlock.org/africa-pot
Application Period: Live until Sunday Match 3rd
Matching Round: Monday, March 4th - March 17th
This is 1 of at least 5 rounds confirmed this season that can be found at potlock.org/funding-schedule
What is Quadratic Funding
Quadratic funding is a novel funding mechanism, where small donations are amplified from a funding pot, giving power back to the people to fund the public goods they care about.In this case your favorite creative public goods that you support in this round will get more of the $3,000 matching pool the more unique donations they get. To learn more about quadratic funding go to wtfisqf.com.
How to Get Involved
Join the PotLock community on telegram, follow us on twitter, linkedin, or NEAR Social to stay in touch or subscribe to our newsletter
Join the NEAR Africa Telegram and follow on twitter for more updates.
So many communities can benefit from this 