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As a citizen in the regen web3 movement and the founder of Grassroots Economics Foundation, my work focuses on leveraging *Commitment Pooling*, a protocol rooted in indigenous mutual service traditions such as Rotational Labor Associations (ROLAs), now enhanced with decentralized ledgers like blockchain. This approach fosters a regenerative financial ecosystem where community coordination, ecological stewardship, and social equity are at the heart of economic activity.\n\n**Regenerative R&D Contributions:**\nMy primary contribution to regenerative finance is the development of *Commitment Pooling*, a protocol that curates and aggregates community commitments to facilitate the fair exchange of resources. Drawing inspiration from pre-monetary practices found in cultures globally, including Kenya\u2019s Mwerya tradition, Commitment Pooling has allowed communities to exchange labor and services using digital tokens formalized as *Community Asset Vouchers* (CAVs). These vouchers are integrated with blockchain technology and have facilitated over a million transactions.\n\nThrough my work with over 120 communities, including refugee groups and rural villages, I have supported local ecosystems by restoring over 2,800 acres of syntropic agroforestry. I aim to expand this to 1 million acres over the next five years, using decentralized systems to pool commitments, facilitating exchanges that transcend traditional monetary limitations.\n\n**Education and Growth Efforts:**\nEducation has always been central to my work. As part of Grassroots Economics, I\u2019ve developed training materials, simulation games, and hands-on workshops to empower community leaders and trainers. For over a decade, I\u2019ve focused on training \u201cGrassroots Economists,\u201d local champions who support their communities in developing and utilizing CAVs. These trainers ensure the sustainability of regenerative practices through workshops on ecosystem stewardship and decentralized finance (Developing Community Asset Vouchers and Commitment Pools).\n\nMy educational initiatives have led to over 140 village groups adopting regenerative practices, and we\u2019re on track to expand these practices exponentially by producing a new generation of trainers who support communities in creating their own local economies based on ecological sustainability.\n\n**Operational Support:**\nIn collaboration with the Grassroots Economics team, we built the *Sarafu.Network*, which supports Community Asset Vouchers and Commitment Pools through blockchain technology. This system allows communities without smartphones or internet access to use USSD/SMS platforms to manage their economic commitments. This ensures even the most marginalized groups have access to decentralized financial systems.\n\nBy creating systems that enable communities to issue their own digital vouchers (erc20 tokens) and link these to global liquidity pools and stable coins (such as cUSD), we ensure the sustainability of local economies. My work has allowed for the creation of systems that can seamlessly scale, connecting diverse bioregions to global regenerative finance systems.\n\n**Impact on Local Communities and Bioregions:**\nThrough the development and implementation of Commitment Pooling and CAVs, my work at Grassroots Economics has impacted over 14,000 individuals annually, helping restore degraded lands, improve food security, and foster social cohesion in rural and peri-urban regions of Kenya and beyond. Communities that had lost their traditional land management practices are now revitalized through a combination of digital technology and ancestral wisdom, leading to ecological, social, and economic regeneration.\n\nMy work has not only provided tangible benefits to local communities, such as increased food production and restored ecosystems, but has also fostered a larger global movement that connects indigenous practices with modern regenerative finance. I believe that by rebuilding our global \u201cKaya,\u201d a concept of communal living rooted in traditional Bantu culture, we can create a regenerative future for all.\n\n**Conclusion:**\nThe essence of my work is about reclaiming the ancient wisdom of resource pooling and applying it through modern decentralized technologies to build a resilient and regenerative world. My contributions to the Regen Web3 movement through *Commitment Pooling* are already having a profound impact on communities and ecosystems across East Africa and the globe. Through continued innovation, education, and operational support, I aim to scale this impact further to rebuild ecological and economic resilience on a global scale.\n\n**Join me**\nJoin me and Grassroots Economics Foundation in co-creating a regenerative future where communities thrive in harmony with nature, leveraging technology and ancestral practices to pool commitments, restore ecosystems, and build resilient local economies.\n\n**Links:**\n- [Grassroots Economics Foundation](https://grassecon.org)\n- [Sarafu.Network](https://sarafu.network)\n- [LinkedIn: Will Ruddick](https://www.linkedin.com/in/willruddick/)", "lastUpdated": 0, "projectGithub": "grassrootseconomics", "projectTwitter": "wor"}, "recipient": "0xba0FEE8490118FC4f46Bd0974D7BF93d0e2f1064"}}