Applicant background
Chief Nyamweya is Kenyan writer and illustrator best known for his masterfully ink-illustrated Graphic Novels. His work addresses history, science and most recently, the future of education in his latest book Art of Unlearning (2018). Chief was originally trained as a lawyer and chartered accountant before illustrating his first comic ‘Emergency (2010)’ about Kenya’s struggle for independence. He then went on to publish ‘Roba vs Poachers (2011-2014)’ with the Star Newspaper which highlighted the elephant poaching crisis in Africa. Chief went on to found one of Kenya’s first animation studios.
Anne Connelly is passionate about harnessing blockchain and decentralized technology to transform the lives of people in developing countries. She has been an active part of the global blockchain community since 2012, working with Decentral, Bunz and Ledger Labs in Canada, and ixo in South Africa. She previously worked with Doctors Without Borders Canada in Central African Republic and the DR Congo, and served on their board of directors. She was honoured as one of CBC’s 12 Young Leaders Changing Canada and one of the Fifty Most Inspirational Women in Technology in Canada.
Motivation and overview
Trust is a graphic novel and motion comic that shares the transformative power of cryptocurrencies. It tells the story of a young Kenyan woman who learns about crypto and blockchain and uses them to protect her community from cultural and ecological destruction, and ensure its citizens have access to privacy and self-sovereignty.
The goal of the project is to grow global crypto adoption in the locations where people’s lives will be most transformed by the impact. By telling a story that is culturally relevant, we can help our readers see a future that is free from the issues they experience in their daily lives, while also providing them with the tools to create that future. The book will directly cover the basics, and will also link to educational partners to help readers take the next step to becoming crypto users, entrepreneurs, and developers. The content promotes the mission of ZCash to support the development of privacy infrastructure for the public good. The more people building it and using it, the better our access to privacy infrastructure will be.
Our goal is to reach over 1 million young adults with the book.
Technical approach
We have been successful in raising funds to create the graphic novel. This grant application is specifically to fund the animation of the graphic novel into a full length motion comic. You can view a teaser of the animated version here. We will be distributing the graphic novel for free using a mobile first digital platform in both English and Swahili to enable maximum access. The motion comic will be shared on popular social media platforms including IGTV and will be pitched to local African content networks including Akili and SwitchTV. We have secured key educational partners including African Blockchain Institute, The Blockchain Academy, Blockgeeks, and Gitcoin Kernel to support the ongoing education of readers.
Execution risks
Our greatest risk is barriers in distribution and getting the book and motion comic out. To avoid this issue, we are focusing on digital products to avoid issues with physical distribution. We are also working with our funding and educational partners to increase the spread across social media.
Downsides
Downsides include that because we are focusing on digital and not the print version (unless we can get further funding) there will be a contingent of the population that will not be able to access it.
Evaluation plan
We will be tracking hits on the digital book and viewer numbers on the motion comic as well as tracking how many readers clicked through to further education for our partners.
Tasks and schedule
Link to milestones available in the primary application
Budget and justification
Our budget is $40,700 details available here. We are open to accepting support of any size. Each chapter costs approximately $5800. This project is blockchain agnostic. We have received funding from Interchain, Algorand, Cardano, Consensys, Gitcoin Grants, Conflux and more.
We would he honoured to have ZCash as a partner to help us in our goal of inspiring the next generation of African developers who will create the next generation of privacy infrastructure.