Tāne Hauora Trial

A new approach to resourcing our communities

The Tāne Hauora Trial is a safe to fail experiment to test whether a new, Web 3 inspired, technology enabled community decision making approach can improve or disrupt the established community grant funding model. Over the next few months we’ll be working with the Tāne Hauora community group to develop a community grant funding model that gives them the power to decide where grant money should be spent. During the trial we will be exploring how Web 3/DAO governance and voting patterns can help place-based communities coordinate resources (e.g. multi-proposal, quadratic and real time vote streaming systems). We are greatful for the support from the Westpac Government Innovation Fund, Sport NZ, Callaghan Innovation and Creative HQ to help make this possible.

The new funding model

The video above gives a high level over view of how the new model is intended to work. Giving communities more power to decide when and how resources are allocated is the core tenant of the new model. This process will be facilitated by a digital decision making tool and other support, allowing the community to collectively decide how to allocate resources towards issues that are relevant to them. This process will draw from a range of established community coordination approaches as well as emerging techniques for resource allocation that are gaining popularity in decentralised Web 3 communities. Concepts such as conviction voting and quadratic voting will allow community members new ways to signal preferences and reach consensus. The new funding model is expected to bring the following key benefits:

Benefits for the community:

  • Increased autonomy/self determination
  • Reduced reporting
  • Increased participation in community initiatives
  • Flexibility to fund what the communities actually need

Benefits for the funders:

  • Greater insight in to the needs of hard to reach communities
  • Increased transparency (via digitisation)
  • Reduced administrative cost
  • Increased effectiveness of funding.

Timeline

  • February 2023 - April 2023: The project team will work closely with the community to co-design the specifics of the new funding model. Alongside this a development team will build the software.
  • May 2023: The trial is expected to start (length will depend on total funds raised)

Scalability/impact

As a digital infrastructure this funding/grant model has the ability to scale and have a significant positive impact on a range of communities all around the world. This project is also about more than just funding. Through this approach we believe we can empower communities and use it as a vehicle for creating new participatory democracy systems.

How you can help/get involved

We are still looking for another $100K to expand the trial further. We are keen to connect with philanthropic, corporate, or government funding sources who want to get involved. Want to make a contribution right now? Learn how here.

We are also looking for additional communities to run parallel trials. If you're interested in learning more about this project or can connect us to others who maybe able to help please get in touch!

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