Trust Graphic Novel & Motion Comic

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.

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Can you elaborate a bit more about how this project relates to Zcash or it’s ecosystem directly?

ZOMG has the requirement that:

This slice of the Dev Fund is intended to fund independent teams entering the Zcash ecosystem, to perform major ongoing development (or other work) for the public good of the Zcash ecosystem

It seems that your project is general coverage of blockchain technology, and promotion of cryptocurrencies but not Zcash directly or it’s privacy features, is that correct?

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Hi Shawn, thanks for your question. The book will take readers from zero to one. Essentially focusing on youth who know little to nothing about crypto/blockchain and making them aware of the importance of privacy and the role that blockchain and crypto play in building that infrastructure. It will be general, however if we receive funding from Zcash, we will ensure the logo is in the book. Depending on the funding level, we can have a character highlighted who is specifically using Zcash. Where the real benefit for Zcash is in the next step. We are partnered with education providers across the contintent where we will funnel readers to take the next steps for their education. Zcash itself can be one of those providers. A generation of young future developers will understand privacy and how crypto can help and then see Zcash on our list of recommended learning and training resources. ZCash’s priority as of today is to grow user adoption, and the greatest way to increase adoption of ZCash is to increase awareness as a relevant and trustworthy project to get involved with. As a crypto industry, we can keep fighting over slices of the same pie of existing users, or we can work together to grow the pie. One of the goals I love most about Zcash is the goal of ‘cooperation with other cryptocurrencies’. This book - and the education and awareness it creates in underresourced markets - is a great example of how Zcash can work together with the communities from Algorand, Cardano, Ethereum, Conflux and more to lift up the whole sector by bringing more developers, more users, and more entrepreneurs into the space. Thanks!

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@ZcashGrants discussed this proposal at the December 23, 2020 meeting and have come to the following decision:

We have decided to reject the proposal. The proposal isn’t Zcash specific enough. It is generic to cryptocurrency and blockchain. @AnneConnelly let us know in her comment in this thread that it would be general with some inclusion of Zcash elements like the logo which doesn’t meet our standards for a marketing material grants. It would be great to have someone come forward and pitch a grant that involves making a Zcash centric video or other marketing material that can explain Zcash to a wider audience, but this proposal doesn’t propose that or anything Zcash specific enough for us to fund. This decision is not a reflection or judgement on the ability for your team to perform the milestones outlined in the grant or the project as a whole.

Some specific sentiments from the ZOMG group are listed below from the notes taken on 12-23-20.

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Thanks for taking the time to consider our proposal - I hope we can work together in the future.

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