TribalDAOs = Indigenous Economic Sovereignty
PROJECT
Part of: Mātou Collective
Fiscal Host: Gift Collective
Māori do not have a DAO launch blueprint to create culturally appropriate on-chain organisations to manage TribalDIDs, Treasury, DePIN & RWA infrastructure
About
Our research will deliver the basis for an entity from which we will be able to demonstrate the value of Cardano and its technologies customising them to serve the specific needs of Māori and Pacific people to govern identity, data and finance infrastructure.
Aiming at launching a kin to Project Catalyst in the future, our endeavors encapsulate the essence of local governance and sovereignty.
Success will contribute to the global discourse on Cardano's utility, its identity, and data sovereignty solutions, and its social mission; "Making the world better for all".
This proposal centres on creating the optimal DAO launch blueprint to facilitate ongoing development of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), data availability, and finance protocols. These include TribalDIDs, Project Catalyst funding, and yumi.ai regenerative financing (Refi) stacks. The DAO will enable tribes to govern and sustain their development.
We will document our process and share our learnings to open up partnership opportunities, particularly with other East, Southeast Asian, Oceanic and Pacific Island peoples represented in the Eastern Town Hall and Pacific Town Hall.
This research is crucial to create an entity through which sustainable incentives are aligned, localised self-healing and evolving systems to serve the Māori economy can be implemented and enduring partnerships can be entered into.
Background
The Āhau and TribalDIDs open-source technology projects already in motion stand as a compelling, self-starting, self-determining use cases.
We have created traction, demand and have delivered a proof of concept, working alongside Project Catalyst community members, the AtalaPRISM tribe (who announced the launch of Open Enterprise Lab as part of Hyperledger Foundation 5/12/23 enabling our project to move forward, and many experts in Aotearoa.
We are already fielding partnership enquiries and user requests due to the provision of immediate benefit to our Māori community through:
- Cultural Resonance and Sovereignty: Āhau, a registry and archiving software for the Māori community in Aotearoa (New Zealand), is deeply rooted in cultural identity. It emphasises self-sovereign identity (SSI) for Māori individuals and tribes, enabling them to manage their digital identities independently. This approach aligns with the principles of tribal sovereignty and self-determination, crucial in indigenous communities worldwide.
- Integration of Traditional and Modern Systems: Work done on the TribalDIDs project, has delivered new services to integrate into Āhau, based on centuries-old, context-specific family and tribal governance methods, with modern DID ecosystems. This integration respects and preserves cultural heritage while leveraging AtalaPRISM's contemporary technological advancements.
- Potential for Broader Impact: While focused on the Māori community, the principles and technology developed through Āhau/TribalDIDs has implications for indigenous people globally and the land they steward, establishing their own culturally-resonant, legally-compliant, and technologically-advanced economic systems. For example indigenous leaders from Tonga, Samoa, Columbia and Brazil have already approached our team.
- Demonstration of Practical and Ethical Blockchain Use: TribalDIDs serves as a practical example of how blockchain can be used ethically and effectively to address real-world issues, particularly in the context of identity management and cultural preservation.
Focus Area: Polycentric Society
- Ensuring fair and just governance and maintaining the integrity of the Indigenous tribal ecosystem
An entity is needed to provide a structure for efficient operation, risk management, sustainable research, development, innovation and continuous evolution, tailored to meet the long-term goals of our project and the broader needs of the Māori community. This proposal focuses on researching and creating the launch plan for that entity essential for nurturing and sustaining our evolving ecosystem.
To deliver a concept, we will research a range of polycentric society-enabling structures, such as Māori Incorporations to ensure fair and just governance and maintain the integrity of the Indigenous tribal ecosystem.
Engagement of Stakeholders
- Holistic approach to problem-solving by engaging stakeholders from multiple sectors
- Consultations with legal and business experts, analysis of successful enterprises, and evaluation of organisational structures
- Team comprising experts from various fields from academic institutions, business associations, Blockchain, Computer-science academia and other professional services
By collaborating with academic institutions, business associations, technology partners and with support of New Zealand government departments we aim to create an entity capable of accepting grants, donations, and investment and fulfilling the demands, obligations and responsibilities as a vital utility in the digital economy should.
Goal: Readiness to create a first TribalDAO for Māori in Aotearoa
- A prototype for a culturally appropriate institution
- Ensuring the entity will support efficient operation, risk management, sustainable growth, and continuous evolution
- Tailored to meet the long-term goals of the project and the broader needs of the Māori community
The entity will serve as the backbone for the development phase of our ecosystem, leading up to the point where the system of protocols becomes self-sustaining.
Our research approach will ensure that the entity is culturally attuned and able to facilitate a smooth transition to a self-sustaining model.
Our team
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