Celo Governance Seasons, a conversation about Governance Evolution ahead of Cel2 Migration 🍃

[SEEDGov]

Hey! This is our first post—happy to introduce ourselves. Check out our delegate thread here!

After reviewing the post, a few questions came to mind.

@annaalexa

For example, raising the threshold deposit for submitting a proposal from 1,000 to 10,000 CELO has reduced spam

The current threshold seems to be relatively low, which could be worth reflecting on. Moving toward a more permissioned model, like OP’s approach—where only proposals meeting specific pre-approval requirements on the forum can be published by the Foundation—might be an option to consider. We understand that the intention may have been to encourage accessibility. However, as the ecosystem continues to mature, it might be worth exploring adjustments to ensure long-term effectiveness and alignment with the community’s goals. The core idea behind this suggests starting governance with a structured approach to ensure stability, so that when it matures, the Foundation can gradually hand over more responsibilities to the Celo community.

@annaalexa

with Seasonal Governance we would move to a 6-month cadence aligning closely with the Optimism Collective.

Based on our experience in the Optimism Collective, we believe that structuring governance into six-month seasons is an effective way to create cadence and stability. This timeframe strikes a balance—long enough to set meaningful goals yet short enough to allow for regular adjustments. Additionally, the ability to iterate each season provides a valuable opportunity to assess efficiency, refine processes, and implement improvements as needed. Another key benefit is greater predictability, making it easier for delegates to plan ahead, track proposal timelines, and stay actively engaged in governance.

Aligning timelines is also helpful for Celo delegates to stay informed about what’s happening in Optimism with slightly less effort. However, if voting periods were to overlap significantly, with active votes occurring simultaneously in both ecosystems, it might present some logistical challenges. This it could specially become challenging if both DAOs experience high activity at the same time.

@annaalexa

For this reason, we propose that we begin with Season 0 from January 2025 - June 2025. The intent for this season will be to lay down the groundwork and begin to transition some of the programs to this cadence so that we can experiment and be ready to fully roll out Governance 2.0 in H2 after the CEL2 migration.

This approach makes a lot of sense. Taking six months to carefully plan and execute is a thoughtful decision. We’re excited to see the experiments that are coming up.

@annaalexa

While aligning with Optimism’s seasonal intents makes sense to contribute to the growing Superchain economy and ecosystem

From this, we understand that the intents or north stars will align with what OP defines as its seasonal Intent. It’s not necessarily identical but rather something very similar or oriented toward the same goal. Is that correct?

@annaalexa

we propose that governance votes to approve budgets for initiatives, and for those budgets to be managed by diverse and experienced councils with members from the Celo community.

@annaalexa

Governance will approve a budget for these that includes an operational budget and a program budget to allocate to the initiatives.

Who would propose the budgets? It’s natural that during Season 0 they would be proposed by the Foundation. That said, we believe that the ability to vote on budgets helps promote transparency and supports greater decentralization. It also encourages a critical perspective on how funds are allocated. Also, accountability is an important factor to consider. Will there be a structure in place to oversee how these funds are managed?

@annaalexa

Governance Evolution Feedback Committee, a core group of members who will give feedback and shape the direction of this governance transition. To volunteer to be part of this committee, please raise your hand in the comments below and indicate that you would like to be involved.

As part of the Collective Feedback Commission for Season 7, selected by the Optimism Foundation (as seen here), we’re eager to contribute our experience and insights. Having been delegates since the early days of Optimism’s governance, we’ve closely followed its evolution and believe we can add meaningful value to this committee. We look forward to collaborating and helping refine governance processes through constructive feedback.