[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

According to a survey from StandOutCV which surveyed 1,785 Americans, 55% of respondents admitted to lying on their resumes. How can organizations determine the authenticity of resumes? Unfortunately, identifying fraudulent resumes is a challenging task, and hiring a background check agency can be costly. This creates a disparity between larger companies that can afford to hire agencies and smaller companies that may struggle with unqualified candidates and high turnover rates.

To address this issue, we propose recording work history as verifiable credentials tied to an Atala DID. This approach enables candidates to securely share their verified work history, while hiring organizations can verify the authenticity of the work history and hire qualified candidates.

There are benefits for both hiring organizations and job applicants when using verifiable credentials (VCs) for work history. Here are some key advantages:

1. Trust and Verifiability: VCs provide a reliable way to prove an individual's work history, reducing the possibility of false claims and ensuring data credibility.
2. Efficiency: VCs streamline the hiring process by providing verified and trusted credentials, eliminating the need for employers to spend resources on verifying work history.
3. Data Privacy: As VCs are owned and controlled by the individual, they increase privacy and reduce the risk of personal data being mishandled or misused.
4. Interoperability: VCs can be shared across platforms, enabling verification of work history across different organizations and sectors.
5. Transparency: Using VCs makes the verification process more transparent by establishing what data has been verified and who issued the verification.
6. Digital Portability: VCs are easy to store, share, and access, which can be advantageous in the digital economy.
7. Reducing Fraud: VCs provide a verifiable digital record, which can reduce the possibility of resume fraud.
8. Security: VCs use cryptographic techniques for verification, making them secure and hard to tamper with.
9. Improved Job Mobility: VCs can ease the process of job hunting and changing careers, especially for people in gig economy jobs or with multiple short-term contracts.
10. Global Acceptance: VCs hold potential for global acceptance and recognition, making an individual's work experience easily verified and accepted across geographical boundaries.
11. Reducing Bias: The standardized nature of VCs can help reduce bias in the hiring process by basing decisions on verified facts rather than perceptions or potentially biased interpretations.

In summary, VCs for work history could revolutionize the way we share and verify work-related data, making processes more efficient, secure, and fair.

The project engages with a wide array of stakeholders, including job candidates, employers, and credential issuers. Our impact will be demonstrated through the adoption rate of our system, feedback from participants, and the reduction in fraudulent hiring cases.

This solution is crucial to Cardano as it leverages the Cardano blockchain's inherent security, transparency, and decentralization to solve a real-world issue. Moreover, our project aligns with Cardano's ethos of driving societal change through technology, showcasing the real-world application and utility of Cardano's blockchain technology.

We have already developed a system to record work history as verifiable credentials on Socious for jobs that were contracted and paid through the platform as part of our Fund 9 project (<https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/recognize-impact-through-dids>).

Product Demo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jTwgqlKj-Ypy_7XckFg0uDpMzdTPVzNj?usp=sharing

Step-by-step guide: <https://socious.notion.site/Socious-Mastery-Guide-ae3745be82ad4845b6e1521694fa5ed8?pvs=4>

However, jobs that were contracted outside of Socious or in the past were not within the scope of that project. This current project focuses on developing a feature that allows users to record their work history as verifiable credentials, even for jobs outside of Socious. If the user's work is for impact projects, they will additionally earn Impact Points. Individuals with a high number of impact points may receive benefits, including THANK tokens. More information about Impact Points and THANK tokens can be found here: <https://www.notion.so/Socious-Whitepaper-58fbe2c106f547898df42e409a00c73e?pvs=21>.

In addition to developing a feature (a pilot to commercial launch) to record work history as verifiable credentials, we plan to develop an Ecosystem Governance Framework (EGF) for Socious. For this, we will follow a Minimum Viable Ecosystem (MVE) approach. We will also convene regular meetings with stakeholders including issuers, holders, and verifiers, host a Governance Framework Workshop and publish a Governance Framework. Our stakeholders consist of previous hiring organizations as issuers, job seekers as holders, and potential hiring organizations as verifiers.

NB: We have already completed the Atala PRISM Pioneer Program via Canvas, which bolsters our understanding and implementation of decentralized identities (DIDs) within our project.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Our proposed solution brings forth an innovative approach to verifying work history using Verifiable Credentials (VCs) tied to an Atala DID, addressing the problem of fraudulent resumes. This solution isn't just about the technology implementation but involves substantial coordination and stakeholder engagement efforts, in line with the challenge setting.

The unique aspect of our solution is twofold:

1. Technology: We leverage verifiable credentials for the secure, verifiable, and efficient recording of work history, reducing fraud, and making hiring processes more trustworthy and efficient.
2. Ecosystem Building: We engage with various stakeholders - from job seekers and employers to credential issuers - fostering conversations about interoperability, credential schemas, and technology gaps. This critical engagement process forms the core of our proposed project, echoing the importance of business coordination alongside technology development.

The proposed solution addresses the challenge in the following ways:

1. One question that the challenge aims to address is, "How to create incentives?" We believe that the prospect of getting hired is a good incentive for individuals to create an Atala PRISM DID and record their work history as verifiable credentials. Additionally, if they have any work experience with impact organizations, the ability to get their impact work verified, receive impact points, and enjoy all the benefits that come with impact points will further encourage them to create an Atala PRISM DID and join the Cardano ecosystem.
2. The challenge also aims to address the question, "How to unlock positive impact?" The proposed solution offers a dependable method for verifying an individual's work history. This reduces the likelihood of false claims, enabling organizations to hire people with the proper qualifications. Furthermore, Socious' impact score system motivates individuals to contribute their time and expertise to social and environmental impact initiatives, resulting in a positive impact.
3. The challenge also aims to address the question, "How to streamline coordination in a decentralized ecosystem?“ The proposed solution has the potential for global acceptance and recognition. It allows an individual's work experience to be easily verified and accepted across geographical boundaries, enabling coordination. VCs can be shared across platforms, making it possible to verify work history across different organizations and sectors.
4. The challenge lists the following as “**Key Metrics to measure”; we’ve added our actions below:**

• Complete the Atala PRISM Pioneer Program → Seira Yun, the CEO of Socious, has already participated in the Atala PRISM Pioneer Program via Canvas.
• Complete a Governance Framework workshop → We will be hosting a Governance Framework workshop.
• Establish or join a Governance Framework working group at Trust over IP, or another host organization. → Socious is a member organization of Trust over IP
• Identify stakeholders including issuers, holders, verifiers, policy makers, and their business requirements → We will be having regular meetings with stakeholders, such as issuers, holders, verifiers, and policy-makers and hear their business requirements.
• Establish a cadence of meetings and contribution and convene a home for parties to adopt and participate in the Ecosystem and Ecosystem Governance → we will establish a cadence of meetings with stakeholders.
• Progress towards publishing a Governance Framework → we will publish a Governance Framework at the end of this project.
• Develop a Proof of Concept, Pilot, or commercial launch → we complete the commercial launch of the product by the end of the project.

Number of newly created Atala PRISM DID addresses. -> By offering a feature to record work history as verifiable credentials and utilizing Socious' incentive mechanisms, we can attract more individuals to the Cardano ecosystem. Currently, we have over 3,800 registered users, many of whom had no prior experience with Cardano before joining Socious.

Our project aligns with the campaign brief by bridging technology development and business coordination, aiming for a more robust, trustworthy, and inclusive Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

The potential benefits to the Cardano ecosystem from our project are manifold. We're primarily focusing on enhancing the vibrancy of the ecosystem, boosting productivity, and fostering growth, both in the short and long term.

We are using both quantitative and qualitative measures to gauge the success of our project. Our primary quantitative measure is the number of registered users on our platform, Socious. Currently, Socious boasts over 3,800 registered users, many of whom are new to the Cardano ecosystem as developers. Our goal by the end of the project is to ramp up this figure to 10,000. We deem this target realistic considering the current growth trajectory of Socious and the significant value that the project adds to the platform and the wider Cardano ecosystem.

On the qualitative side, we intend to use user feedback and testimonials to measure the level of satisfaction and the perceived value of our platform within the Cardano ecosystem. We will continuously engage with our users, seeking their opinions on the benefits, improvements, and overall impact of our platform on their interaction with the Cardano ecosystem.

As for the project’s benefits to the Cardano ecosystem, they are three-fold:

1. Attracting New Users: By employing incentivization structures, our project aims to draw external individuals to the Cardano ecosystem, offering benefits such as secure verification of work history and impact scores.
2. Unlocking Positive Impact: Our solution furnishes a reliable way to verify work history, mitigating false claims, and facilitating the hiring of suitably qualified candidates. Further, Socious' impact score motivates individuals to engage in social and environmental initiatives, thereby contributing to a positive impact on a broader scale.
3. Streamlining Decentralized Coordination: Our proposed solution facilitates the seamless verification and recognition of an individual's work experience across global boundaries, enhancing coordination. Verifiable Credentials (VCs) can be shared across platforms, verifying work history across varied organizations and sectors, fostering global acceptance.

Our innovation will markedly improve Cardano's productivity and growth. In the immediate term, members of the Cardano community can leverage our platform to document their work history as verifiable credentials, securely sharing their employment records. This practice also enables employers within the Cardano ecosystem to mitigate the risk of hiring unqualified individuals.

In the long run, our innovation will entice more individuals to create Atala PRISM DIDs, driven by the unique incentive mechanisms of Impact Score and THANK tokens. These tokens will not only increase engagement but also spur more contributions to the Cardano ecosystem, driving its productivity and growth in the process.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

We plan to spread the project's outputs during and after its completion. While building, we provide monthly and milestone reports, and present in two Town Hall meetings every two weeks: the Eastern Town Hall and the Pacific Town Hall. We regularly attend these town hall meetings to provide project updates and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. While we are based in Japan, which naturally aligns our schedules more closely with these two Town Halls, we make efforts to reach beyond these forums. At significant moments, such as the completion of a project phase, we expand our participation to include other town halls, overcoming time zone challenges to do so. We greatly value these occasions as they present an opportunity to share our accomplishments and engage in beneficial discussions with a wider audience.

We will share the projects’s outputs, impact and opportunities with the community members. The links to our close-out report and video will be publicly available on Youtube. We will also share information on our website and social media. Because we are a gig marketplace, gig opportunities for Cardano developers will be listed on our Socious platform.

Since Socious is an open source project, our code base is public on our GitHub page and Cardano developers are encouraged to fork and use it for other projects.

We will be analyze the results of this pilot project to further our research and development activities.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Our team is aptly suited and equipped to successfully deliver this project. We possess the requisite capabilities that uniquely position us to execute this project to high standards of trust and accountability.

As outlined in the section "Who is in the project team and what are their roles?", our team is composed of seven full-time members, each bringing considerable experience in developing Dapps. To supplement our core team, we maintain a reserve of skilled freelancers, ready to contribute at short notice. Our talent marketplace, Socious, is a hub for over 3,800 individuals, many of whom could potentially assist in this project, if required.

Our ability to deliver is not just theoretical but backed by a track record. We have successfully completed five distinct Catalyst projects funded in Fund 9, all within the projected timelines and budget. These accomplishments bear testament to our capabilities and our commitment to deliver projects as proposed.

The Fund 9 projects we’ve completed are as follows:

1. Recognize Impact through DIDs <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/recognize-impact-through-dids>
2. Atala Integration with Milkomeda <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/atala-integration-with-milkomeda>
3. Decentralized Escrow for Remote Job <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-developer-ecosystem/decentralized-escrow-for-remote-job>
4. Impact lending for the unbanked <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/impact-lending-for-the-unbanked>
5. Scoring Social/Environmental Impact <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-catalyst-natives-x-cardashift-demonstrating-and-monetizing-impact/scoring-socialenvironmental-impact>

The trustworthiness in our fund management processes is grounded in our serious adherence to legal and financial compliance. Each transaction conducted is meticulously documented with tangible evidence and audited internally for accuracy. To bolster our commitment to financial transparency, we have established collaborations with external accounting firms that assure compliance. Our Japanese entity works with Tatsumi Accounting Firm (https://kessan-online.jp/company), while our Singaporean entity partners with BBCIncorp (https://bbcincorp.com/offshore/accounting-and-auditing).

Additionally, we liaise with an external law firm, Enlighten Law Group (https://www.enlightenlaw.com/), to ensure full legal compliance. This meticulous, multilayered approach to fund management reflects our dedication to maintaining high levels of trust and accountability.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The goals of the project is develop the “work history as verifiable credentials” feature on the Socious app (https://socious.io/app) so that the users can perform the following functions on the app.

• As an organization, I can issue a work certificate as a verifiable credential.
• As a talent, I can receive a work certificate as a verifiable credential.
• As a talent, I can add verified work certificates to my profile.
• As a talent, I can share my verified work certificates with potential employers.

Our Technical Approach:

We use several technologies to develop the functions mentioned above. We use Atala PRISM DID to receive non-transferrable verifiable credentials (i.e., impact points) to determine who will be eligible to serve as judges on the panel. Socious is already integrated with ProofSpace which supports Atala PRISM DID. For identity verification and KYC-AML, we use Veriff which is fully integrated with ProofSpace; our users can use passports and other IDs to verify their identity. For the escrow mechanism, we use Milkomeda, Cardano’s side chain, and Solidity/EVM for smart contracts. We use React for the frontend technology and Capacitor to deploy the app to App Store and Playstore. Our backend technology is Javascript, and we use a MySQL database on AWS. For Agile tools, we use GitHub and Notion. For design tools, we use Figma and Miro.

We believe that our approach is feasible as we have used these technologies and tools in the past, delivering successful projects including the five Catalyst projects in Fund 9.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

We have six milestones, including the final milestone, and we plan to complete the entire project within 12 months from the start.

Milestone 1

Title: Market and Technical Research

Outputs

Milestone 1 includes the following key activities:

• Conduct a literature review of the issue.
• Perform a market analysis.
• Conduct a competitor analysis.
• Conduct interviews with stakeholders and analyze them (recording dates and timestamps).
• Conduct research on technical aspects of the project.
• Develop a detailed plan of action for the project.
• Draft a technical and market research paper summarizing the findings above.

Acceptance criteria

The market and technical research paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.

Evidence of Milestone completion

Community members can access the market and technical research paper to find the following content:

• Literature review
• Market analysis
• Competitor analysis
• Interviews with stakeholders and their analysis (including dates and timestamps)
• Technical aspects of the project
• Detailed action plans for the project

Expected timeline for the delivery

Month 2

Cost

51,143 ADA ($14,320)

% Completion

14%

Milestone 2

Title: UI/UX Research

Outputs

Milestone 2 includes the following key activities:

1. Based on the market and research paper, brainstorm and Ideate
2. Create prototypes for user research
3. Conduct user research using the prototypes
4. Compile and analyse the findings
5. Iterate design and repeat Step 3 and 4.
6. Finalize the UI/UX design
7. Consult with the developers to decide on the technical architecture based on the design

These steps will results in a finalized UI/UX Research Paper.

Acceptance criteria

The UI/UX Research Paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.

Evidence of Milestone completion

Community members can access the UI/UX research paper.

Expected timeline for the delivery

Month 4

Cost

60,286 ADA ($16,880)

% Completion

32%

Milestone 3

Title: UI/UX Design

Outputs

Milestone 3 includes the following key activities:

1. Complete the production-ready design in Figma.
2. Film a video walk-through of the design.

These steps will result in a finalized, production-ready UI/UX design in Figma, along with a video walk-through.

The Figma file will be published and made available for community review. Similarly, the video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.

Acceptance criteria

The production-ready UI/UX design is finalized, published and is accessible to the community for review.

The finalized production-ready design will be handed over to the engineering team. “Production-ready” means that it doesn’t need more work from designers and is ready for the engineering team to turn the design into code.

The video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.

Evidence of Milestone completion

The Figma files and the video walk-through are publicly available and community members are able to review them.

Expected timeline for the delivery

Month 6

Cost

32,857 ADA ($9,200)

% Completion

41%

Milestone 4

Title: Backend and Blockchain Development

Outputs

Milestone 4 involves the following key activities:

• Sprint planning, which includes meetings with the Product Manager, designers, and developers. This includes writing tickets with specifications, assigning story points, and more.
• Backend development
• Blockchain development
• Unit testing
• Manual testing
• Bug fixes
• Deployment
• Documentation

These steps will allow us to develop the feature and make the GitHub repository (public) available to the community member.

Acceptance criteria

The community members can review the source code which will be available on GitHub (open source)

Evidence of Milestone completion

Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)

Expected timeline for the delivery

Month 8

Cost

55,714 ADA ($14,400)

% Completion

57%

Milestone 5

Title: Frontend Development

Outputs

Milestone 5 involves the following key activities:

• Sprint planning, which includes meetings with the Product Manager, designers, and developers. This includes writing tickets with specifications, assigning story points, and more.
• Frontend development
• Unit testing
• Integration testing
• Manual testing
• End-to-end testing
• Bug fixes
• Deployment
• Documentation
• Film a product demo video

These steps will allow us to deploy the "Work History as Verifiable Credentials" feature and produce a product demo video.

Acceptance criteria

Users can go through the “work history as verifiable credentials” feature on the Socious app. They include the following functions:

• As an organization, I can issue a work certificate as a verifiable credentials.
• As a talent, I can receive a work certificate as a verifiable credentials
• As a talent, I can add verified work certificates to my profile.
• As a talent, I can share my verified work certificates with potential employers.

1. The source code will be available on GitHub (open source)
2. These features will be published and available for the community members to go through the flow on the Socious app.
3. We will film a walk-through of these functions and publish the video on Youtube so that community members can access it.

NB: The aforementioned functions are subject to change, depending on the result of research in this project.

Evidence of Milestone completion

1. Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
2. Community members can view the video walk-through of these functions on Youtube.

Expected timeline for the delivery

Month 10

Cost

94,517 ADA ($26,480)

% Completion

83%

Final Milestone

Title: Marketing, user testing, Governance Framework and final report

Outputs

Final Milestone involves the following key activities:

• Marketing to a specific target audience
• Onboard users as beta testers
• Conduct user acceptance testing
• Analyze users’ feedback
• Bug fixes if necessary
• Prepare and host a Governance Framework Workshop
• Draft a Governance Framework
• Draft a project close-out report
• Record a close-out video

These steps will produce the following deliverables:

• Governance Framework Workshop
• Governance Framework
• Close-out report
• Close-out video

Acceptance criteria

• Governance Framework Workshop is hosted.
• Governance Framework is published and available to the community members.
• Project close-out report is submitted.
• Project close-out video is submitted.

Evidence of Milestone completion

• Evidence (e.g., pictures, number of participants, etc.) of Governance Frame Workshop is submitted and available to the community.
• Community members can access the Governance Framework on Notion
• Community members can access and review the project close-out report.
• The project close-out video is published on Youtube for the community to review.

Expected timeline for the delivery

Month 12

Cost

59,143 ADA ($16,560)

% Completion

100%

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Milestone 1

Title: Market and Technical Research

Outputs and Deliverables

Milestone 1 includes the following outputs:

• Conduct a literature review of the issue.
• Perform a market analysis.
• Conduct a competitor analysis.
• Conduct interviews with stakeholders and analyze them (recording dates and timestamps).
• Conduct research on technical aspects of the project.
• Develop a detailed plan of action for the project.
• Draft a technical and market research paper summarizing the findings above.

At the end of these outputs, we deliver a technical and market research paper summarizing the findings above

Intended outcomes

The market and technical research paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.

How we measure the project’s progress

We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached below.

Community members can access the market and technical research paper to find the following content:

• Literature review
• Market analysis
• Competitor analysis
• Interviews with stakeholders and their analysis (including dates and timestamps)
• Technical aspects of the project
• Detailed action plans for the project

Milestone 2

Title: UI/UX Research

Outputs and deliverables

Milestone 2 includes the following key activities:

1. Based on the market and research paper, brainstorm and Ideate
2. Create prototypes for user research
3. Conduct user research using the prototypes
4. Compile and analyse the findings
5. Iterate design and repeat Step 3 and 4.
6. Finalize the UI/UX design
7. Consult with the developers to decide on the technical architecture based on the design
8. Draft a UI/UX Research Paper

These steps will results in a finalized UI/UX Research Paper.

Intended outcomes

The UI/UX Research Paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review.

How we measure the project’s progress

We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.

Community members can access the UI/UX research paper.

Milestone 3

Title: UI/UX Design

Outputs and deliverables

Milestone 3 includes the following key activities:

1. Complete the production-ready design in Figma.
2. Film a video walk-through of the design.

These steps will result in a finalized, production-ready UI/UX design in Figma, along with a video walk-through.

The Figma file will be published and made available for community review. Similarly, the video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.

Intended outcomes

• The production-ready UI/UX design is finalized, published and is accessible to the community for review.
• The finalized production-ready design will be handed over to the engineering team. “Production-ready” means that it doesn’t need more work from designers and is ready for the engineering team to turn the design into code.
• The video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.

How we measure the project’s progress

We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.

The Figma files and the video walk-through are publicly available and community members are able to review them.

Milestone 4

Title: Backend and Blockchain Development

Outputs and deliverables

Milestone 4 involves the following key activities:

• Sprint planning, which includes meetings with the Product Manager, designers, and developers. This includes writing tickets with specifications, assigning story points, and more.
• Backend development
• Blockchain development
• Unit testing
• Manual testing
• Bug fixes
• Deployment
• Documentation

These steps will allow us to develop the feature and make the GitHub repository (public) available to the community member.

Intended outcomes

The community members can review the source code which will be available on GitHub (open source)

How we measure the project’s progress

We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.

Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)

Milestone 5

Title: Frontend Development

Outputs and deliverables

Milestone 5 involves the following key activities:

• Sprint planning, which includes meetings with the Product Manager, designers, and developers. This includes writing tickets with specifications, assigning story points, and more.
• Frontend development
• Unit testing
• Integration testing
• Manual testing
• End-to-end testing
• Bug fixes
• Deployment
• Documentation
• Film a product demo video

These steps will allow us to deploy the "work history as verifiable credentials" feature and produce a product demo video.

Intended outcomes

Users can go through the “work history as verifiable credentials” feature on the Socious app. They include the following functions:

• As an organization, I can issue a work certificate as a verifiable credentials.
• As a talent, I can receive a work certificate as a verifiable credentials
• As a talent, I can add verified work certificates to my profile.
• As a talent, I can share my verified work certificates with potential employers.

1. The source code will be available on GitHub (open source)
2. These features will be published and available for the community members to go through the flow on the Socious app.
3. We will film a walk-through of these functions and publish the video on Youtube so that community members can access it.

NB: The aforementioned functions are subject to change, depending on the result of research in this project.

How we measure the project’s progress

We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.

1. Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
2. Community members can view the video walk-through of these functions on Youtube.

Final Milestone

Title: Marketing, user testing, data analysis and final report

Outputs and deliverables

Final Milestone involves the following key activities:

• Marketing to a specific target audience
• Onboard users as beta testers
• Conduct user acceptance testing
• Analyze of users’ feedback
• Bug fixes if necessary
• Prepare and host a Governance Framework Workshop
• Draft a Governance Framework
• Draft a project close-out report
• Record a close-out video

These steps will produce the following deliverables:

• Governance Framework Workshop
• Governance Framework
• Close-out report
• Close-out video

Intended outcomes

The following items will be completed:

• Governance Framework Workshop is hosted.
• Governance Framework is published and available to the community members.
• Project close-out report is submitted.
• Project close-out video is submitted.

How we measure the project’s progress

• We use Notion's project management function to track the progress of our projects. We organize our work into different projects, tasks, and sprints, and this tool allows us to measure our progress. An example is attached above.
• Community members can access and review the following deliverables:

1. Evidence (e.g., pictures, number of participants, etc.) of Governance Frame Workshop is submitted and available to the community.
2. Community members can access the Governance Framework on Notion
3. Community members can access and review the project close-out report.
4. The project close-out video is published on Youtube for the community to review.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Please find below a detailed breakdown of our budget, including the number of people and hours allocated to each task. We have calculated the cost at $40 per person per hour. The base conversion rate for USD-ADA is 0.28.*

Executive summary:

Total Cost: 353,714 ADA ($97,840)

Milestone 1: 51,143 ADA ($14,320)

Milestone 2: 60,286 ADA ($16,880)

Milestone 3: 32,857 ADA ($9,200)

Milestone 4: 55,714 ADA ($14,400)

Milestone 5: 94,571 ADA ($26,480)

Final Milestone: 59,143 ADA ($16,560)

Please find the details of the breakdown here:

<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dpVBcenpzZcvSPn35ypwOOUCZT3wtlR9nCW-eSRIIOw/edit?usp=sharing>

*We've adopted the USD-ADA conversion rate of $0.28 which is the rate at the time of the proposal submission deadline.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Socious (https://socious.io) is a fast-growing impact startup that provides a talent marketplace, making impact work accessible and transparent. We connect purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching. We use blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.

Socious is supported by 500Global, Microsoft, and Milkomeda Foundation. Our platform lists over 70k jobs, 23k organizations, and has 3.8k registered talents. Our team consists of experts in impact measurement, finance, data science, and blockchain development.

Socious has extensive experience in the Cardano ecosystem, having successfully completed five Catalyst-funded projects in Fund 9.

• Seira Yun

Title: Founder and CEO

Role: Product Ownership, Project Management, Research

Linkedin:

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/seirayun/>

Bio: Seira Yun is the Founder and CEO of Socious.io, a talent marketplace that makes impact work accessible and transparent. Socious connects purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching, and uses blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.

Seira is a serial impact entrepreneur with years of experience in the sector. He has led teams within the ICRC, UNHCR, and social ventures. Drawing from personal experiences as a migrant, an autistic person, and a proud pansexual queer, Seira is driven to make the world a better place through social innovation. As a full-stack developer with a Master's in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge, he enjoys blending technology with purpose. Seira is also an impact angel investor, a member of Hustle Fund's Angel Squad, and a mentor for 4WARD.VC's Climate Accelerator. When not working, he enjoys shooting hoops, running, reading, spending quality time with the kids, or embracing the adventure of getting lost during travels. He is also a long-term member of the Cardano community; he’s won and managed five Catalyst projects and has participated in Atala PRISM Pioneer Program.

• Minh Douangprachanh

Title: Lead Designer

Role: Design

LinkedIn:

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-douang/>

Bio: With more than a decade of experience specializing in product design, Minh is a multidisciplinary artist who has always believed art has a language of its own. As a neurodiverse individual, Minh is passionate about helping people and creating sustainable and inclusive solutions.

• Ehsan Mahmoudi

Title: Senior Backend Engineer

Role: Backend/Blockchain/AI Engineering

LinkedIn:

<https://linkedin.com/in/ehsan-mahmoudi-611123b8/>

Bio: More than 8 years of experience in Python and Machine Learning as well as extensive experience in blockchain development. Ehsan has worked for global startups including Rechat, AEC, and Navaak.

• Sajad Abbasi

Title: Senior Frontend Developer

Role: Frontend Development

LinkedIn:

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/sajad-abbasi-39485696/>

Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 10+ years of experience.

• Sanaz Mahmoudi

Title: Frontend Developer

Role: Frontend Development

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanaz-mahmoudi/

Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 4+ years of experience.

• Azin Zare

Title: QA Engineer

Role: Quality Assurance

LinkedIn:

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/azin-zare-355a27179/>

Bio: An experienced QA engineer with 9+ years of experience.

• Madi Lommen

Title: Partnerships Lead

Role: Project Management, Research

LinkedIn:

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/madi-lommen-394940b0/>

Bio: Madi has 10+ years experience in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and partnership building. Madi is passionate about interdisciplinary learning / problem-solving that leverages entrepreneurship and multilingual teamwork for community development. In recent years, she founded Madibanani Co. to champion refugee youth, designed a data collection program on the Jordan-Syrian border, and coordinated military-like training for Emergency & Disaster volunteers of La Cruz Roja (Red Cross) in Ecuador. After completing a thesis on medieval Arabic poetry at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, she worked with a network of angel investors scaling women-led SMEs tackling poverty in Southeast Asia. She has experience working in four languages (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese) and has lived in Singapore, Jordan, Ecuador, the UK, South Africa, the USA, and Japan.

• Raphael Hode

Title: Design Advisor

Role Design Direction

LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelhode/>

Bio: Raphael is a Strategic Designer with a passion for social innovation and sustainability. After a few years in advertising agencies in Paris, Raphael moved to Tokyo in 2015 and joined Designit, a global strategic design firm. At Designit Raphael worked on growing a team and helping some of Japan’s most ambitious companies make innovation happen, leading him to endorse a variety of roles across UX design, service design, business design, and strategy.

In parallel, he has been passionately engaging in activities related to sustainability and social innovation: giving talks and workshops, mentoring early-stage social founders, and eventually co-founding a social venture. Today, he spends most of his time working with incredible social entrepreneurs to help them define, design, and launch visionary products that contribute to creating a more sustainable society.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The proposed project holds immense potential to further the Cardano ecosystem, and while there are significant costs involved, they are justified in their allocation, and as such, represent excellent value for money.

To start, the impact of our Socious initiative is already apparent, with 3,700 individuals already introduced to the Cardano ecosystem. The current project not only aims to maintain this trend but to accelerate it further. This will help to expand the user base and, consequently, the value of the Cardano network, providing a high return on investment.

Addressing the labor costs, we have optimized our budget based on industry standards and geographical considerations. According to ZipRecruiter data, the average salaries for product designers, developers, and product managers are $72, $68, and $65 per hour, respectively. However, we have managed to budget the hourly salaries at a more cost-effective rate of $40, without compromising the quality of the work or expertise of the individuals involved.

This is made possible by leveraging our network of professionals who are both passionate about our mission and have agreed to work at rates that allow us to provide value to the Cardano ecosystem. As a result, our operational costs are significantly reduced while maintaining the necessary high standards of quality and professionalism.

Furthermore, the project budget was not created in isolation. It was meticulously crafted based on our extensive experience with similar projects in the past. This has given us a clear understanding of the human resources and hours necessary to successfully implement this project, resulting in a reliable, accurate budget.

For a comprehensive breakdown of the project costs, please refer to the following document: <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dpVBcenpzZcvSPn35ypwOOUCZT3wtlR9nCW-eSRIIOw/edit?usp=sharing>

In conclusion, every dollar spent on this project is a targeted investment towards expanding the Cardano ecosystem, enhancing the utility of Cardano, and providing exceptional value for all stakeholders.