This proposal seeks funding for the continuation and enhancement of the Celo Governance Guild program (formerly known as CGP Editors) for Celo Governance operations.
Since the Celo Mainnet genesis and the deployment of the original core contracts, Celo Governance has been a community-governed initiative. While voting involves various stakeholders interacting with these core contracts, there is a middle layer of neutral administration that helps inform stakeholders by coordinating effective communication, thereby increasing the governance process's effectiveness and efficiency.
Historically, these tasks have been performed mostly by volunteers aligned with the ecosystem through various initiatives. Guidance was initially provided by foundation employees, but this is decreasing by design to promote progressive decentralization.
Recently, the Celo Governance Guardians trial under the Celo Public Goods Program recognized that work within a decentralized protocol should be compensated.
The CeloPG programs have been instrumental in driving transparency and efficiency within the Celo ecosystem. As participants and guardians, we want to share our experience and propose improvements for the future.
Receiving payment for our roles as guardians has significantly impacted our sense of responsibility and commitment. This formal recognition made our work feel more official and emphasized the importance of our tasks. Compensation empowered us to approach each proposal with heightened diligence and precision. Knowing we were compensated motivated us to uphold the highest standards and rigorously ensure each proposal met the necessary criteria.
Celo Guardians are high-level board advisors of Celo Community Governance. Their role is crucial for unbiased judgment and maintaining the ecosystem's integrity. Therefore, it's vital to ensure a clear separation of powers to avoid conflicts of interest. Governance, which relies on unbiased decision-making, should not be funded directly by the initiatives it oversees.
To address this, we propose the creation of a Celo Guardians Guild. This guild would manage its own treasury and governance process, ensuring independence and impartiality. Effectively, this would remove Celo Governance as a line item that the CeloPG Operations budget currently oversees, maintaining a clear separation between governance and operational funding. This structure would uphold the governance process's integrity while continuing to support the essential work carried out by CeloPG.
While at this present time, It may not be an issue due to the history of the current Guardians helping with Governance due to the mission alignment that comes from volunteering to these positions initially with no compensation. But this is to future-proof against culture creep, as either the current Guardians either decide to finish their term or are asked to move on. Once new members join without the initial context, the lines start to gray and a clear conflict of interest emerges.
Compensation not only validated our efforts but also enhanced the overall effectiveness and integrity of the CeloPG programs. Moving forward, establishing an independent Celo Guardians Guild will further strengthen our governance framework, ensuring unbiased and effective oversight for the benefit of the entire Celo ecosystem.
The program seeks separation while acknowledging the great work CeloPG has done. In alignment with the Celo Foundation’s strategic push towards decentralization, we believe the time is now to have stakeholders operate in parallel rather than in a hierarchy. This will not be a segregated entity, but one that collaborates closely with other stakeholders, including the CeloPG. The requested funding will re-establish and scale the Celo Governance Guild’s efforts to cover increased community governance activity.
Schedule Planning Governance Calls
Host and attend Planning Governance Calls
Schedule Governance Calls
Collect proposals for the next Call
Host Governance Calls
Draft the Celo Signal Newsletter
Update the GitHub Repository after the Call
Review and approve PRs
Provide Forum support and input
Help with OnChain Proposals Submissions
Two payments (One each semester) with the total budget of 55,000 cUSD that will cover Celo Governance Guild compensation, training, and community engagement initiatives. Payments will be distributed monthly, with performance-based reviews to ensure the program's objectives are met effectively.
| Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celo Governance Guild Lead | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 12,000 |
| Celo Guardian 1 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 7,500 |
| Celo Guardian 2 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 7,500 |
| Celo Guardian Advisor (No compensation) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Celo Governance Guild Legal Entity Incorporation | 1,000 | - | - | - | - | - | 1,000 |
| Total | 5,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 28,000 |
| Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celo Governance Guild Lead | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 12,000 |
| Celo Guardian 1 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 7,500 |
| Celo Guardian 2 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 7,500 |
| Celo Guardian Advisor (No compensation) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 27,000 |
The Celo Governance Guardians compensation is calculated based on a weekly working effort of 10 hours denominated in $cUSD
The Budget will be managed in a Multi Sign designed to have three members part of the proposal.
0xc733285e8e4db433d4cd641f99C46Bf108DCb54F
Signers:
Led by 0xj4an-work (@0xj4an-work), the team includes experienced contributors like Wade (@0xzoz), who has played multiple roles in the Celo community, from Validator to Steward of Prezenti (Celo’s community-run grant initiative), and Goldo (@0xGoldo), who has been actively involved in governance for the past few years and take also part as an active Moderator of the Celo Communities Guild.
The team will receive guidance from @ericnakagawa and @annaalexa from the Celo Foundation.
Unique Transaction Approval of 55.000 cUSD to Multisign 0xc733285e8e4db433d4cd641f99C46Bf108DCb54F
28,000 cUSD in January to cover Operations 2025 H1 and the second 27,000 cUSD in July to cover Operations 2025 H2
[
{
"contract":"StableToken",
"address":"0x765DE816845861e75A25fCA122bb6898B8B1282a",
"function":"approve",
"args":[
"0xc733285e8e4db433d4cd641f99C46Bf108DCb54F",
"55000000000000000000000"
],
"value":"0"
}
]
A human readable version of this proposal can be found using the following command (on-chain ID determined after submission):
$ celocli governance:show --proposalID 195 --node https://forno.celo.org
This proposal does not deploy or upgrade contracts or change network parameters so represent minimal risk to the network.