It has been a week plus since an announcement was made between IOHK and the Government of Ethopia to bring digital identity to 5million of its teachers/students. At the same time, it was updated that there were discussions to bring mobile connectivity and financial idential to 100m users in Tanzania. Understandably, this are huge news and represents a huge milestone for the Cardano ecosystem! The full and condensed version of this Africa Special are linked as below.
Announcement 1 - Ethopia
The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Ethopia has confirmed a deal with IOHK to bring digital identity to 5million of its secondary school students and 700,000 teachers, using an app developed by the MOE and powered Atala Prism based on Cardano blockchain. It would take time to complete the full onboarding of all users. The first year will be spent registering all teachers and some students while the second year will be spent registering the remaining bulk of all 5million students.
The deal represents a huge milestone for both Africa and the Cardano ecosystem. With the mass adoption and issuance of digital identity, all students in Ethopia would have access to verified education records, which would help them in their future career progression. In addition, this allows for a different evaluation of the strengths of each student and teachers, using a long term data-driven approach.
Announcement 2 - Partnership with World Mobile
World Mobil and the Cardano ecosystem shares similar philosophies and mission, banking the unbanked.
To connect the unconnected, World mobile is building a decentralised telecoms infrastructure to provde low cost, sustainable and efficient internet to the remote villages, while Cardano will add these users to the blockchain via Atala Prism, to provide them an online identity to financial freedom.
Announcement 3 - Partnership with Save The Children
Save the children is a non-profit organisation focused on improving the lives of children through better healthcare, education and economic opportunity.
COTI is developing a blockchain-based payment gateway to accept donations.
Conclusion & Huat thoughts
The Africa Special is undoubtedly a huge massive step for the Cardano blockchain. With new partnerships with Governments, non-profit organisation, other private developers who share similar ideals, Cardano has once again proven that it has been taking the correct steps towards its fundamental mission of banking the unbanked / providing equal economic opportunies to all.
Through mass adoption of the blockchain and these partnerships, the Cardano ecosystem is set to grow further as the next alternative blockchain globally.
It is indeed exciting times ahead, and we are proud to be a small part of the community. Can’t wait for the next special!