As a global public resource, technology must be open, accessible, and dedicated to advancing the greater good. The Next Billion Fellowship program is a testament to this vision: to capture the stories of communities where lives are changing for the better. Today we are proud to feature seven people with incredible stories to share. Their stories give us a glimpse into their diverse contexts and possible futures—futures that uplift humanity, though we cannot fully predict them. Inspired by the stories of the Next Billion Fellows, we hope to imagine a future where open protocols of human coordination are leveraged as public goods for billions of people.
Next Generation Billion Fellow Group 4
David Uzochukwu He is leading an initiative focused on strengthening the decentralization of Ethereum by training communities in Africa how to run Ethereum nodes. Exploring barriers and possible solutions, such as lack of reliable internet access and power outages, the project seeks to make visible the considerations needed for decentralization and inclusion.
Liu Guo Serves as co-founder of Freedom of Information. Matters TownDigital space and censorship-resistant publishing platform. His project aims to support high-quality open access content by merging advertising protocols with the Harberger tax and secondary funding.
Lefteris arapakis Growing up in a family of fishermen, he soon understood that fishermen collect a lot of plastic from the ocean. He established a ‘social enterprise’. EnaleiaStarting in Greece and expanding to the rest of the Mediterranean, it focuses on reducing marine plastic pollution. As part of the fellowship, Lefteris will implement a system that enables traceability of recycled marine plastics on Ethereum.
Mercedes “Meche” Rodriguez Simon We are conducting practical research on how web3 solutions can be used to support human rights organizations in Venezuela. A dedicated human rights activist and a key member of Ethereum Venezuela, Meche aims to use his knowledge to solve the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
Rebecca Mkamelo Exploring how to integrate EVM-based local currencies with traditional economic practices in Africa. her research Grassroots economicsWe compare two different community currency models: a traditional digital voucher backed by a government agency, and one where communities pool their future productive capacity.
Tomislav “Tomo” Mamic I’m working on it Local Government Secondary Funding Initiative (MUQA)is a project designed to help cities allocate funds to public projects using Quadratic Voting (QV) and Quadratic Funding (QF) mechanisms. His pilot in the city of Split, Croatia, will experiment with QF in the fields of culture and green space, with the goal of introducing transparency, efficiency and citizen participation in public resource management.
Fellows who want to stay Anonymous now We are developing a platform that digitizes production records and farm metadata to generate on-chain reputation scores. Our goal is to standardize farmer data for interoperability, providing low-cost working capital to smallholder farmers and cooperatives.
What are your future plans?
Over the next six months, each fellow will pursue a small project that works towards a larger goal in their story. The fellows will share their progress at Devcon 7 in Southeast Asia, November 12-15. Follow @EFNextBillion See here for updates. Do you need financial assistance to attend Devcon? Check out the Devcon SEA Scholars Program Apply by July 7, 2024!