The University of Geneva (UNIGE) that lead the Crowd4SDG project, also chaired the consortium of the operational research group for the Youth Agency Marketplace platform called Yoma. UNIGE proposed Donate Water to the consortium with the aim of exploring reward schemes and motivational structures for data collection based on blockchain based tokens. The Yoma platform addresses young people in Africa offering various opportunities in upskilling and earning rewards for completing various tasks related to their educational pathway. The Yoma platform also aims to offer impact based challenges, creating additional income streams for African youth.

The Donate Water initiative was conceived as an impact based Citizen Science project on clean water supply, which relied on data contributions from individuals residing in Nigerian communities. Its set up was fit to explore various reward mechanisms in course of the Yoma Operational Research. Form there the wheel of innovation started spinning. The five partners of the token research team of Yoma OR consisted of the University of Geneva, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Caliberco, a blockchain technology specializing consulting agency and the Austrian Blockchain Center (ABC Research) and RLabs. They agreed to support the Donate Water team in the development and testing of a mobile phone application while the Donate water team agreed to implement a micro-rewards-based data collection mechanism using blockchain technology. The results would then be used for the further development of the Yoma platform.

As part of the Crowd4SDG Project, the Gen-Z platform Goodwall collaborated with the University of Geneva to promote opportunities. Moreover, Goodwall agreed to function as a conduit for Donate Water in order to reach a substantial number of young Nigerians. They proposed to administer three challenges featuring varying reward systems. The objective of these challenges was to investigate the impact of reward mechanisms on the contributions made by participants. During these challenges, Yoma, the Youth Agency Marketplace, served as an amplifier and was keen to observe the outcomes, as the marketplace aimed to enhance its reward system using the digital token Zlto.

The first challenge, known as Donate Water NG1 (Oct-Nov 2023), utilized the well-established reward system of the Goodwall platform to create a competition among participants. The top 20 contributors were tasked with collecting as much data as possible and also submitting a video expressing their views on the challenge. The winners of the competition were awarded $50 each. The Donate Water mobile app showcased the validated data submissions and total submission count of each participant. Validation occurred in the backend dashboard by the team members of Donate Water, who reviewed the submissions, rejected or confirmed entries of each participant. The challenge lasted for three weeks, and contributions were moderately high due to the sensitive topic of water supply. The results were collected and analyzed to enhance the validation process.

The second challenge, referred to as Donate Water NG2 (Nov-Dec 2023), introduced a novel reward system for both Goodwall and the Donate Water community. Rather than recognizing the top contributors with the highest number of validated contributions, each validated contribution was rewarded with a token. These tokens could be claimed through the Yoma platform, which issued one Suregift voucher worth 500 Naira for each token earned. The objective of the reward design was to establish a redemption value that corresponded with the lowest value of the Suregift vouchers available in the Suregift store. The redemption process was handled by the Yoma platform management and initiated immediately following the conclusion of the second challenge on Goodwall. The second challenge, which lasted for three weeks, resulted in an increase in contributions.

The third challenge, Donate Water NG3 (May 2024), connected the tokens which were featured in the Donate Water mobile app to blockchain based tokens. Participants of the third challenge could now transfer the tokens into their blockchain based wallet and redeem them in a voucher store. The reward for 1 token was again 1 Suregift voucher now worth 1.000 Naira (due to inflation in Nigeria the lowest value of Suregift vouchers changed.) Due to communication difficulties between the Yoma platform team, responsible for the distribution of Suregift vouchers, and the Suregift store, the challenge had to be postponed and the total number of vouchers was limited. Consequently, instead of the expected 5,000 vouchers, which would have equated to 5,000 tokens earned for validated data contributions, the team was forced to commence the third challenge with only 3,500 vouchers, thereby reducing the token pool. Despite these constraints, the NG3 challenge exceeded all expectations and depleted the entire token pool within just the first three days of the challenge.

The NG3 challenge persisted due to the inclusion of a supplementary feature that requested videos addressing questions about the goal of the Donate Water project and soliciting the opinions of participants concerning the token reward mechanism and the redemption process. The top twenty videos were eligible for a cash prize of $50. Although the token rewards elicited more than 1,000 submissions within the initial three days, the video challenge only garnered about 70 submissions. Upon analyzing both the numbers and the feedback provided in the videos, it became evident that participants favored the reward by single submission mechanism, while simultaneously proposing technical improvements for the app. The token appeared to have a high level of acceptance among participants, who primarily commented on the design of the redemption process and the use of vouchers in exchange for tokens.

The token research team gained valuable insights into the token journey design. Polygon's deployment as a Layer 2 solution has exhibited dependability and resistance to interference in the development and programming of smart contracts. The blockchain was selected due to its widespread adoption, compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and relatively low transaction costs. In designing the token model, transaction costs must be considered as a primary element of the system configuration, as they are typically covered by the issuing wallet. This implies that users who wish to send tokens to the voucher store must possess cryptocurrency in addition to the tokens they have earned. The cost of these transactions can diminish the value of the tokens and the rewards earned. Therefore, the token design team devised a solution involving a bundling system, which collects transactions and covers costs at regular intervals. As a result, the transaction costs are covered by the system instead of the issuing wallet.

The issuance of tokens, alongside their transfer to users and the corresponding redemption process linked to a voucher store, presents a safe and accountable system for platforms that implement reward processes. The micro rewards token has been designed to be issued upon a single submission instead of creating competitive scenarios for young people. This helps to increase contributions and measure impact by creating a tamper-proof accountancy system within the allocation of funds to designated recipients. The Donate Water field experiment has demonstrated that a micro reward system can boost contributions within target groups. However, its successful integration into the Yoma platform requires a set of measures that pertain to project design as well as a careful platform management setup.

The results as well as the technical design of the token economic system will be published shortly. For further inquiries please contact organisation@caliberco.at

This is exactly what our engagement with the UNICEF Yoma project has created. We can now offer you proof of the impact of your donation, citing the number of contributions, the number of participants, and the number of locations registered within the challenge. How we can do it? Keep reading!  

Our two-year engagement within the UNICEF Yoma project is coming to an end. We still need to look at the latest results of our tokenized reward process for the Yoma platform. However, as we intend to present a series of articles showcasing the various aspects of our participation in the project, it’s time to unfold the project piece by piece.

Yoma, short for Youth Agency Marketplace, is dedicated to empowering marginalized youth in the Global South by providing access to education and income opportunities. African youth face numerous obstacles while attempting to enter the job market. These challenges include a lack of comprehensive education and continuous learning opportunities. Even those who can afford higher education often find that their skills do not align with the demands of their chosen job market after graduating from college and university.  

As a result, many have turned to various online platforms that offer micro-jobs, such as data collection and organizational tasks. These microgigs offer the opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to meet market demands. However, the microgig economy provides more than just upskilling. It also offers income to cover the essential living costs of young people and their families.  

Yoma's standout feature is its reward system, which is built on a digital currency called Zlto. The brainchild of RLabs, a nonprofit and educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, Zlto, was developed by young coders as a local currency for communities where cash jobs were difficult to obtain. It is an algorithm-based system that generates tokens reflecting time and engagement levels. These tokens can be converted into vouchers for a variety of uses from education to local goods and services. Zlto also offers SaaS functions, managing projects for sponsors, and providing cashless rewards for project participants.  

When Zlto was chosen for Yoma, the benefits were clear. Projects on the Yoma platform allocated a set amount of money to registered participants, who could then exchange their tokens on a platform marketplace. The user experience was straightforward: register, pick a project, complete the task, receive a reward, and trade tokens for goods in the marketplace. However, Zlto is not automated and has a limited scalability. Although it worked well locally, creating an impact in many South African regions, Yoma needed something more scalable, compliant, and transparent for its multicountry operation.  

Caliberco partnered with the Austrian Blockchain Center (ABC Research) for this project. The goal was to develop an MVP for the platform reward process based on the polygon blockchain. This token should mirror the features of the off-chain token Zlto, while offering additional benefits to platform stakeholders.   The new token, run by the name Yoma token, follows a simple mechanism: it is rewarded upon the validation of the project contribution and can be exchanged into vouchers. During its journey, the token transaction fees are managed with a bundler to keep costs away from users.  

Here's how the token journey works:  

When a budget is assigned to a project, an equivalent number of tokens are generated in the project wallet.  
Once a task is completed (or validated), the project wallet transfers tokens to the user's wallet.  
The user wallet then interacts with the voucher store. The tokens are converted into vouchers and are subsequently burnt.  
Although it might seem straightforward and unassuming, this process provides significant benefits to all key players in the system.  

Users manage and own their tokens stored in their own wallets. The rewards they earn are theirs; they can track transactions and see if their contributions have been appropriately rewarded according to the project setup.  

For project managers, tokens work as a record-keeping system, and the number of tokens created corresponds to the available vouchers. The transferred tokens reveal the wallet addresses involved and identify the user count in the project, along with their level of participation. The number of tokens converted provides precise information about preferred voucher offers and thus user needs. Above all, the token system emphasizes project management accountability.  

For investors, the tokenized reward system provides transparency. The number of transactions between the project wallet and user wallets within a certain period, as well as the number of created tokens versus the tokens converted in the voucher store, serves as concrete evidence that the invested funds have reached the intended target groups.  

We are confident of paving the way for transparent funding. We invite investors and funding entities to adopt our token-based reward system in upcoming projects. Moreover, we encourage non-profit partners to integrate this methodology into their workflows.  

The transparency and traceability of funds forms the cornerstone of trust. Yoma Operational Research has not just shown us the path; it has built its foundation.

Credit first picture: Unsplash, Santi Vedri