The Maasai people lease their land to conservancies to earn an income, which preserves the land for wildlife conservation. The land is in turn licensed to tourism operators who generate revenue through eco-tourism. In the face of lost and uncertain lease income, individual conservancy landowners may be forced to sell and/or convert their parcels of land to agriculture, effectively destroying one of the most promising and innovative conservation strategies in Africa. In the Maasai Mara, landowners, wildlife, and tourism depend on one another for survival. The impact of COVID-19 has brought tourism to a standstill, jeopardizing the revenue previously realized, and threatening to bring the ecosystem down.
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An international program of support for this delicate ecosystem has been established with international organisations providing funds to ease the stress lost income in the ecosystem. Donors are however worried that the funds disbursed might not get to the intended beneficiaries.
In this competition, you are invited to submit proposals for a DeFi application that can serve as a payment system for the Maasai Mara tourism sector. The top 8 proposals will be invited to a physical hackathon in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, and the overall winners will receive prizes, as well as access to funding, startup accelerator programmes, mentorship and other resources to build out their solution. Please note this is not a machine learning hackathon, it is the first phase of a larger hackathon hosted by Mara. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications are built on top of blockchain platforms, and aim to provide financial services that are typically provided by centralized institutions such as banks, lenders, or insurance companies. You should build applications that ensure parties in the Maasai Mara ecosystem can have visibility into the disbursement process and ensure the intended beneficiaries are credited. Your solution should be able to serve anyone, anywhere, no matter how remote. This includes serving areas of low internet penetration and low smartphone adoption. The solution must Offer transparency to all relevant stakeholders, Use low-tech payment confirmation technology like USSD, MPESA and Identity, Must adhere to best practices including KYC/AML policies & Use the blockchain of your choice.
Location:
AfricaBenefits
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners stand a chance to win both cash and in-kind prizes.
- $100,000 in prizes (cash in USDC, and in-kind).
- Acceptance into Antler’s Nairobi incubation program.
- Access to follow-up funding from Mara and partners.
- Mentorship from Mara and partners.
- Developer Badges for everyone that completes a successfully submitted app or web service.
- Access to partner companies looking to hire developers.
- Access to partner companies with project managers with experience building or managing blockchain applications.
Eligibilities
The Hackathon is open to:
- Individuals who are at least the age of majority where they reside as of the time of entry (“Eligible Individuals”);
- Teams of Eligible Individuals (“Teams”) – Participants should form their own teams through the Zindi discussion forum; and
- Organizations (including corporations, not-for-profit corporations and other nonprofit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other legal entities) that exist and have been organized or incorporated at the time of entry.
(the above are collectively, “Entrants”)
If a Team or Organization is entering the Hackathon, they must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Representative”) to represent, act, and enter a Submission, on their behalf.
By entering a Submission on behalf of a Team or Organization you represent and warrant that you are the Representative authorized to act on behalf of your Team or Organization.
Eligible Regions: All the countries except Individuals who are residents of, or Organizations domiciled in, a country, state, province or territory where the local law prohibits participating or receiving a prize in the HackathonApplication Process
Stage 1
Join the Mara Discord and Telegram channels to start engaging with fellow builders and creators.
Stage 2
Register the team on Zindi. Participation in the hackathon is dependent on completing Stage 1. Only registered members of Discord & Telegram can participate in the hackathon. Each individual must fill out this https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mv8336HFiEza43Nu1o2yD5kcPfnfWusfZjMu6DjF_X4/edit
Stage 3
Every team that has successfully registered will be required to take a short practical test on HackerRank for the first level of shortlisting.
Guidelines:
- The link to take the test will be on the Zindi discussion forum after you have joined the competition
- The nominated member of the team proceeds to take the Hackarank Test on behalf of the team
- Team scores are added up and the top teams are contacted to proceed to the next stage
Stage 4
The shortlisted teams will be required to send in their ideas for the hackathon. This is a team effort and will ensure that the team discusses the hackathon and think of innovative solutions to be built during the hackathon. This is the second stage of shortlisting.
Guidelines:
- Submit a proposal of what solution you would like to build/prototype during the physical hack.
- The proposal describing the idea you would be working on can be submitted as PDF or Powerpoint presentation.
Stage 5
After the second stage of shortlisting, the top 8 teams will be invited to come to Kenya for the hackathon. The invitation will be sent on the 15th of August, 2022.
- Venue: Ishara, MasaiMara
- Date: 17th – 26th September 2022
- Time: 9 AM – 6 PM Daily
The teams will be required to build solutions on the Mara Testnet as well as using partner APIs and the top 3 solutions based on the following set of criteria will win the prizes;
- Originality/creativity
- Innovation
- Analytical skills
- Strategic thinking
- Practical implementation
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Application Deadline: August 9, 2022
Application ClosedOfficial link
