Proposal for the preview, amendment or ratification of a Proposed Charter for Africa DAO

Governance Africa DAO
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This proposal should have been published by the governors of Africa DAO, however, in an event where governors have informed the community that this is their first time of working in a DAO, and given that until February 26, 2022, governors didn’t deem it fit to communicate frequently with the community, this task has then fallen on committed experienced community members to shed more light and propose a charter for amendment, modification or ratification.

Please find below the proposed charter as modified from the charter of @HarmonyCommunityDAO

Proposed Harmony Africa DAO Charter

Contents

Introduction

General Principles

Governance

Charter ratification process

Charter amendment process

Harmony Africa DAO business process

HCIP Public Voting - Decision making process 4

Governor elections

Initial term

Subsequent Terms 5

Quarterly Governor Election Dates

Term Limits

Transition Period 6

Process for Removal of Council Governor 6 Vote of No Confidence 6

Self Removal from Council 7

Compensation

Annexes 8

Annexes are a separate fungible document to be modified by subsequent elected DAO council and attached separately

Introduction

The Harmony Harmony Dao (herein referred as Africa DAO) is the DAO that represents all of the African Harmony community.

Harmony’s Africa DAO mandate is to organically reinforce the Harmony African ecosystem, making it a key player on the African continent. Over time, the Harmony Africa DAO could even become redundant, having given way to multiple self-sustainable DAOs over Africa. In other words, Harmony’s Africa DAO will boost Harmony’s African ecosystem as it reaches cruising altitude.

The mandates are categorised below:

  1. Education

The first and main objective is to the technical understanding of Harmony among African developers. Due to Africa’s wide diversity of development stages, our activities will always span over a minimum of three countries to ensure the best possible exchange of knowledge. We believe the transfer of intra-African knowledge provides value for all.

Technical and non-technical trainings

The training will target advanced web2 developers who still do not use blockchain professionally, even if they are familiar with the technical concepts. The focus of the sessions will be to introduce them to the technology, including Harmony protocol. We intend to deliver these in person whenever possible and by a senior developer. At the end of the sessions, participants should be fluent enough to build on Harmony.

Trainings metrics:

  1. Number of participants who complete the training, including a final evaluation.

  2. Number of grant applications coming from African countries supported by the Africa DAO.

  3. Number of projects developed with Harmony.

However, while technical training represents a push factor in growing the ecosystems, a pull factor also needs to exist. In this sense, we anticipate organising more business-oriented training that targets business incubators and schools. In Uganda’s top tech incubator, only one incubated project relates to blockchain. There is room to change this by providing more general courses/talks in incubators, business schools, etc.

Meetups for the tech community

Meetups are fundamental to promote both Harmony’s spirit and understanding. We intend to organise a minimum of one monthly meet-up in each country. As the community grows, we will hold them in different cities.

Meetups for the tech community metrics: 1) Increased engagement with Harmony’s site from Africa. 2) Number of participants and the diversity of their background sectors, as well as their seniority positions.

  1. Public influence

At the Africa Harmony DAO we think it is crucial to spread the word on the benefits of Harmony -and blockchain at large- as we are still at a point where many key stakeholders such as regulators and journalists associate blockchain with crypto scams. It is vital to support them, train them and work with them so that they all understand the benefits that this technology may bring to their societies.

Seminars for journalists and decision makers.

Public influence metrics: 1) Number of participants and the diversity of their background sectors, as well as their seniority positions. 2) Number of positive publications of journalists who attended the training.

  1. Tech for good

For people to see how Harmony will create a long-lasting impact, words are not enough. In Africa, the sectors in which blockchain can contribute span from financial inclusion to the most basic public services to support the emergence of services. The Harmony Africa DAO will test out a number of potential solutions such as:

  • Remittances: one of the most positive externality uses is blockchain to facilitate value transfer across borders… In many African countries, up to 20% of total income comes from remittances. While many countries have attempted to address the problem, regulation and non-technological impediments prevent success of implemented solutions.NFT for biodiversity and conservation: After a horrendous jihadi attack killed eight French and Nigerien nationals at West Africa’s only remaining giraffe reserve, local youth wish to work with Nigerien rangers to deploy giraffe NFTs. The initiative would compensate for the lack of tourist income while giving the local youth an added sense of purpose. Similarly, we are exploring an NFT campaign to support the preservation of Uganda’s gorilla population while increasing government transparency.
  • NFT for creators: connecting young sub-Saharan artists (Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso) with international galleries through NFTs. It is important to note that employment opportunities are notoriously scarce in sub-Saharan Africa and that employment programs deployed by international organisations usually focus on basic skills such as sewing or cooking. The galleries would also act as mentors for the youth.
  • Land Registries: our local partners are currently discussing with the South African and local Kenyan governments to support their efforts to transfer their land registration records to the blockchain.
  • Value-tracing for farmers: increasing the profit of Kenyan coffee farmers through the design of traceability solutions that reach final consumers.

Tech for good projects metrics: Number of projects designed and implemented; Number of Harmony transactions derived from the projects.

  1. Conferences

Finally, if we want to build a native African ecosystem, let’s also bring people together. For this, the Harmony DAO proposes to support the organization of a large Ethereum conference in Kenya, where all of the above activities may be presented. Our final goal is to support African developers as they create their own DAOs. We believe that a large conference provides a prime opportunity to inspire and guide developers to do so.

General Principles

  • The Africa DAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization owned by active Harmony ONE holders across communities in Africa.

  • The Africa DAO is built on principles of active participation and accessibility.

  • The Africa DAO promotes the education and development of $ONE holders , its decentralised consciousness and culture.

  • The Africa DAO community members are the bearers and the only source of power in the Africa DAO.

  • The Africa DAO Community members exercise power directly through voting on governance proposals.

  • The right to determine and change the charter of the Africa DAO belongs exclusively to the Africa DAO community members.

Governance

  • Governance is designed to give a voice to the Africa DAO community holders and enable them to shape the future of their community.

  • Every Africa DAO member can choose to participate in governance directly on the Harmony talk forum and Snapshot site.

1. Charter Ratification process

Ratifying the Africa DAO charter requires 60% of the active members of the Africa DAO to agree to the final charter prior to submitting the ratification proposal to a vote. The charter will be posted on Africa DAO talk.harmony.one category as a HCIP proposal. The HCIP proposals will be broadcast on all channels for no less than 7 days prior to submitting the proposal to a vote on Africa DAO snapshot on snapshot.org

The ratification proposal requires a majority “Yes” vote in order to be considered ratified. Once ratified, the charter is non-fungible and will govern the Africa DAO in perpetuity.

2. Charter Amendment process

All amendments to the charter require 51% of all active members of the Africa DAO to agree to an amendment prior to submitting the amendment proposal to a vote. The charter amendment will be posted on Africa DAO talk.harmony.one category as a HCIP proposal. HCIPs defined in section 3 of this charter.

To ratify an amendment requires a majority “Yes” vote in order to be considered amended.

3. Africa DAO Business Processes

a. HCIP DAO initiatives

The HCIP proposals (as defined in section 4) will be broadcast on all channels with a corresponding thread on https://talk.harmony.one for no less than 7 days prior to submitting the proposal to a vote on Africa DAO talk.harmony.one category. The vote will be pending for 1 day before going live for a period of 5 days. To pass the HCIP proposals must receive a simple majority yes vote. All major funding proposals must go through the HCIP process in order for the initiative to be put into practice. In some instances, funding requirements for an initiative may be minimal and can be left to a majority vote by the current council if it falls within the approved discretionary budget defined under heading c of this section.

b. Simple Initiatives and Day to Day Operations

Simple initiatives not requiring use of Africa DAO funds will require a simple majority to approve in text through official communications channels such as talk.harmony.one or on telegram, whereby all members of the Africa DAO can view other member decisions. Defining the scope of these initiatives will be at the discretion of the Africa DAO.

c. Discretionary Budget

Each elected council may request a discretionary budget to have at its disposal each month to facilitate a quicker response to small initiatives that a majority of Council members agree will advance the mandates set forth within this document. To approve a discretionary budget, a council must submit a request for the funding by way of HCIP with the requested amount included. If approved, the funding shall be included as a fungible annex to the charter, allowing for funding amount to remain fluid.

4. HCIP Public Voting - Decision Making process

The Harmony Improvement Proposal (HCIP) Decision Making Process includes 3 main phases:

  • talk.harmony.one: Proposal Notification
  • Pending Snapshot proposal
  • Live Snapshot proposal

a. Talk.harmony.one: Proposal Notification

The Africa DAO council in agreement with community members will create a talk thread in the Africa DAO section. Proposals should be in standardized HCIP format with a title but should not include an HCIP number until it meets the gate requirements to move to a vote. A majority poll will be inserted into the thread and if a majority vote is established then the topic can be assigned a number and moved to a pending proposal on Snapshot. The duration of the forum post will be 1 week.

b. Pending Snapshot Proposal

Upon a majority vote received on a topic on the talk forum, an HCIP proposal will be initiated on Snapshot. It will be in pending status for 1 day and consist of a summary of the proposal and direct link to the thread on the talk forum.

c. Voting

Upon completion of the 1 day pending period the proposal will automatically become an active proposal for the community to vote on. The voting period shall last 5 days whereby the proposal must reach a majority vote of “Yes” in order to pass.

5. Governor Elections:

  • All Governors must be formally elected.
  • There will be 9 Governors elected per DAO term.

a. Initial Term

  • The initial council term was 3 months as per DAO operation guidelines from harmony.

b. Subsequent Terms

  • Upon completion of the first persistent council’s term, each council thereafter will serve a 3 month term in perpetuity.

c. Quarterly Governor Election Dates and Intervals

  • Governors will be responsible for arranging elections when it becomes time until future developments allow for a separate autonomous body to be responsible for carrying out elections. Such a change would require an HCIP proposal and an annex to be added to the charter. The initial post notifying members of the community will be posted on talk.harmony.one. Following the initial announcement for the elections, this information must be posted on common social media platforms and any future developments.

  • Governor Election via Africa DAO Governance every quarter (3 months).

  • Nominations start three weeks prior to the next election and will be open for two weeks. Information campaigns, including AMAs, will take place in the final week leading up to elections…

  • Elections will be completed 5 days before the end of the current council’s term.

  • Election mechanisms must be included as an annex to the charter and approved by way of an HCIP proposal.

d. Term Limits

  • No Governor may serve more than 12 consecutive months unless no candidate runs to fill the position.
    • The initial DAO Governors may run for election quarterly for 12 consecutive full months. A partial term for the initial DAO will not disqualify them from serving 12 full months.
    • Upon completion of a 12 month term, a candidate must abstain from participation on the council for a term no shorter than one quarter

e. Transition Period

  • After an election takes place, a transition period will happen for the duration of 48 Hours in which governors can assist with handing over material, handing over social accounts, etc. and any relevant information. The outgoing governors will be paid from the Africa DAO treasury for the hours they spend transitioning the new governors into their new positions.
  • Multisig – The handover of access to the Multi-Sig treasury must take place as soon as the new governors come on board; a meeting in which necessary DAO participants past and present must attend.
  • A register for the Multi-sig holders is to be shared with the Harmony Protocol/Harmony Foundation which includes the governor’s community name and signing wallet address. Details of the Governors are to be shared directly with the DAO members.

6. Process for Removal of Council Governor

a. Vote of No Confidence

  • In the unfortunate event that a Governor or governors is or are deemed unfit (questionable behaviour or unable to perform their duties for a variety of reasons), the other Governors may hold a vote to remove such current member.

  • 75% of the remaining Governors must vote yes to remove an active member.

  • The no confidence vote must be moved to a governance vote using the same process as a Charter Amendment listed in paragraph 2 of this document. The proposal must include a description of why the no confidence vote was necessary, but cannot include any personal health related reasons associated with the removed individual.

  • The open role will be filled by a special election held using the quarterly Africa Dao elections rules selecting the number of spots required to be replaced.

  • In the event a council has voted to remove a current governor, the individual being considered for removal will be removed from the multisig wallet pending the results of the community vote.

  • Self-dealing, violations of good faith and questionable character will not be tolerated. Ultimately, this DAO represents an enfranchisement of the Harmony community to contribute to the direction and growth of the Harmony blockchain project.

  • In an event where elected governors are deemed unfit (due to questionable behaviours, conspiracy, sabotage of mandates or inability to perform their duties) the community members shall hold a vote of no confidence on the governors through a HCIP proposal on Africa DAO talk.harmony.one category detailing reasons why such vote is being held. The vote of no confidence shall have a voting section on Africa DAO talk.harmony.one category where all active community members shall vote on a “yes or no”. This provision takes into account that community members may not have access to DAO snapshot admin access.

b. Self Removal from Council

  • If a governor(s) decides to step down from the council, the open role(s) will be filled by a special election held using the quarterly Africa DAO elections rules selecting the number of spots required to be replaced.

7. Compensation

  • Each persistent council will determine the compensation structure for their term and ratify it within the first two weeks of being elected. An amendment will be added as an annex by the first persistent council of their payment structure for future councils to reference.

  • Compensation is not to exceed the budget of the treasury.

  • It is incumbent upon the DAO to maintain the treasury funds in perpetuity.

  • Proposals for treasury funding mechanisms of the DAO are to be decided upon by the current council by way of poll in the primary Africa DAO channel of communication (talk.harmony.one)

  • All previous council’s funding mechanisms will remain in place unless voted on by the current council to be removed.

8. Annexes

Annexes are fungible items that can be added to, removed from, or edited within the charter. Each change or addition must be approved by way of an HCIP proposal.

  1. Election Mechanisms

  • Multiple choice vote

  • Elections will be held via Snapshot

  • Holders will choose at least 5 (up to 9) candidates for the DAO

  • Election results during the active voting will be hidden until results are final

  • Voters will have a minimum of 100 ONE in wallet (staked or unstaked)

  • Votes are final once cast and cannot be changed.

  • The top 9 candidates with the most votes are elected to the council.

  • In an event that a governor is found guilty of inducing voter apathy financially or otherwise as a candidate , article (6a) will be invoked on the individual.

  • Only Active Holders are eligible to contest for election.

Active holders refer to :

  1. Africa DAO community members with a minimum of 3 months membership via registration and active participation.

  2. Dreamers passionate to serve , uphold & key into the mandates of the Africa DAO.

  3. Holders of $one with active participation in the Africa DAO’s programs.

  4. One without questionable character.

  5. Holders of $one who would not induce voter apathy in any form; be it financially, through gifts et al.

  6. Compensation

  • Governors will receive compensation for the month’s work on the last day of the month.
  • Payment will be in $one and be proportional to the USD value of work hours as at 11:59 pm preceding the date of payment.
  • Funding will be requested from the DAO grant to replace payroll and any other expenses incurred by the DAO in the previous month until the Africa DAO secures funding mechanisms to become self-sustaining.

  1. Discretionary Budget

Guidelines regarding discretionary fund payments which will be adhered to stated below:

  • A hard cap of 5000 USD (equivalent in ONE) per month will be set for discretionary fund payments.
  • Governors will only use discretionary fund payments for small transactions and will aim to spend less than 500 USD (equivalent in ONE) per month if used at all
  • These funds will be kept in the Multisig wallet with the Africa DAO’s funds in case it’s needed.
  • All transactions will be made transparent through a PDF listing of individual payments along with Multisig address and transaction ID. When payments are made the rate of the current price of harmony will be displayed along with payment information.
  • All significant payments will be made through the HCIP proposal process.
  • The governors will not pay themselves through this method for work performed.
  • Governors will only use discretionary funds for contributors when necessary and will not be used as a go-to payment method.
  • When the implementation of an easier way to make payments to contributors becomes available to the DAO, this will be reviewed and potentially removed.
  • All discretionary fund expenses will require a simple majority vote of approval by Africa DAO governors.

END.

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Please do leave your comments on further modification, amendment or your acceptance of this charter. From the responses and votes, this charter will either be amended or moved for further ratification.

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