:title:Looking Back at 40,000 Blockchain Transactions
:author:Caroline Dama
:date:Jul 12, 2019
:slug:looking-back
:summary:So far, after roughly 6 months of piloting we've witnessed 40,000 blockchain transactions! So what does that actually mean?
So far, after roughly 6 months of piloting we've witnessed 40,000 blockchain transactions! So what does that actually mean?
4,065 Kenyans representing families living below the poverty line have traded 3,263,081 Kenyan Shillings worth of goods and services (about 30,000 USD) with each other - ensuring more stable trade than with the often scarce Kenyan Shillings. Using their community currencies, like Miyani-Pesa on the Sarafu network, people have supported themselves and bought from each other:
(Chart shows enrollment in our pilot programs. Each user is given, free of charge, 400 Community Currency Tokens with which to trade.)
Most if not at all of these purchases would not have happened otherwise. We're encouraged by community members embracing community currencies to access resources that would otherwise go underutilized, and taking the opportunity to save their valuable Kenyan Shillings. This translates to children staying in school, families being better nourished, workers earning a reliable income, and so much more.
What are we looking forward to:
* Open source code and systems that allow any community to create their own medium of exchange to supplement scarce national currencies and create resilient markets.
* Voting systems to help communities manage their currencies, raise local taxes and support social services.
* Connection to stable tokens that allow people to support community currencies that build thriving economies as a new form of Cash Transfer Programming.
* Responding to the worldwide refugee crisis through Refugee Inclusive Community Currencies that help regions develop credit and employ refugees.
* Working with internal savings and loaning women's groups, which are key hubs in the community.
What we need to get there:
* Developers to build an open and full stack solution.
* Supporters and partners to help fund these solutions and spread the information through online courses and resource centers.
* Researchers to analyse data to improve our systems and help spread these concepts.
* Volunteers to work in Kenyan communities to explain and expand on these programs.
Community currencies are well-named, in that it takes an entire network of people to make them work. Our thanks go to the community members, ambassadors, volunteers, staff, supporters, and partners who have contributed their time and belief to get us to 40,000 transactions. If you'd like to get involved reach out to us. Here's to the next 40,000 - 80,000 - 100,000!
