We are excited to present our request for a $10,000 grant to support the development of the Africa Blockchain Youth Ambassadors (ABYA) program. This innovative program will provide training in ZCash programming for 10 university students in Africa.
ABYA aims to create a pool of developers in the blockchain space by targeting students who are interested in pursuing a career in the field. The program will be implemented over a period of nine months and will include both virtual and physical components. The physical component will be hosted in Kenya and will include hands-on exercises and a capstone project to help the students hone their skills and knowledge.
The grant we are requesting will be used to cover the costs of developing the course, resources for the students, and the program itself. Through the program, ZCash will be playing a key role in increasing the adoption and skillset pool for blockchain, web3 and crypto in Africa.
We believe that the ABYA program will be a game-changer in the blockchain space in Africa. With your support, we can make it a reality and create a positive impact in the lives of the students and the African blockchain space.
Hi @paulmcolaka - Welcome to the forum, and thank you for submitting your grant proposal! We will review it in the upcoming weeks and reach out if we have any questions.
In the meantime, if you have any questions for us, you can post them to this thread or DM us at @ZcashGrants.
I would like to respond to the concerns raised by the ZCG as follows:
Brian expressed his overall concerns about ensuring that the persons creating this program would be knowledgeable and resourceful in developing something that will feed back positively on the Zcash ecosystem. When developing the program, we will use a lot of references from Zcash resources. For example for a start, we have the following structure:
ZCASH DEVELOPER COURSE 1. Course Overview 2. Prerequisites 3. Learning Outcomes 4. Introduction to Cryptocurrencies and Zcash • Introduction to blockchain technology • Overview of different types of cryptocurrencies • Introduction to Zcash and its features (e.g. privacy, decentralized governance) • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 2. Zcash Development Environment Setup • Setting up a Zcash development environment (e.g. installing dependencies, creating a wallet) • Introduction to the Zcash codebase and repository • Familiarizing oneself with the Zcash developer documentation • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 3. Zcash Protocol and Consensus • Overview of the Zcash consensus protocol and its implementation in the codebase • Understanding the role of miners and validators in the Zcash network • Exploring the Zcash block structure and transaction types • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 4. Zcash Privacy Features • Understanding the basics of zero-knowledge proofs and how they are used in Zcash • Exploring the different privacy-enhancing features of Zcash (e.g. shielded transactions, transparent transactions) • Working with the Zcash Sprout and Sapling protocols • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 5. Zcash Wallet Development • Introduction to Zcash wallet development and the different types of wallets available • Working with the Zcash API and interacting with the Zcash network • Developing a simple Zcash wallet using a library or framework (e.g. Electrum, BitcoinJS) • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 6. Zcash Smart Contracts and dApps • Introduction to smart contracts and their role in the Zcash ecosystem • Exploring the different tools and platforms available for developing dApps on Zcash (e.g. Zcash SDK, Zefi) • Building a simple dApp on the Zcash network • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 7. Zcash Governance and Community • Understanding the decentralized governance model of Zcash and the role of the Zcash Foundation • Exploring the Zcash community and its resources for developers (e.g. forums, meetups) • Participating in the Zcash open-source development process (e.g. submitting pull requests, participating in design discussions) • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 8. Advanced Topics in Zcash Development • Exploring advanced topics in Zcash development (e.g. developing custom consensus rules, integrating with other blockchain networks) • Working with Zcash plugins and extensions • Investigating the potential use cases for Zcash in different industries and applications • References • Quizzes • Practice exercises 9. Final Exam & Capstone Project
He stated that he was unfamiliar with this group’s experience with Zcash and was not confident they could develop a Zcash program appropriately. Even though we do not have experience developing a program that is specific to Zcash, a Beginner Bootcamp on Introduction to Blockchain, Web3 & Cryptocurrency. In addition, our approach is to work closely with the team from Zcash so that whatever we come up with, will be approved before we implement it.
You could start a profile on free2z and do some sample lessons/content to give people a feel for what you are doing, get started, and raise some ZEC per-article. This would be an ideal use case for free2z.
This is a profile i started to teach some math and programming to my kids to give you an idea of what it could look like.
@paulmcolaka, thank you for your submission. After consideration from @ZcashGrants, and sufficient time for the community to provide feedback on the forum, the committee has decided to reject this proposal.
The committee appreciates your grant submission efforts and encourages you to continue as an active member of the Zcash community going forward both here on the forum and the below avenues as well if you are interested.