[DRAFT] Creation of Celo Governance Guild
Authors: @0xj4an-work (0xj4an-Work), @Wade (Wade)
Funding Request: 55,000 cUSD (28,000 cUSD | 2025 H1 + 27,00 cUSD | 2025 H2)
Summary
This proposal seeks funding for the continuation and enhancement of the Celo Governance Guild program (formerly known as CGP Editors) for Celo Governance operations.
Brief History
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.
Motivation
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.
Enhanced Responsibility and Accountability
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.
The Role of Celo Guardians and the Importance of Independence
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.
Current Status
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.
Timeline and milestones
Celo Governance Guild Operations Scope
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Schedule Planning Governance Calls
- Schedule Planning Governance Call in Google Meet
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Host and attend Planning Governance Calls
- Host and attend Planning Governance Call in Google Meet
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Schedule Governance Calls
- Schedule Governance Call in Google Meet.
- Post Forum Post in Governance Call Category in the Celo Forum.
- Open a GitHub Issue in the Celo Governance Repository.
- Schedule Governance Call in Lemonade to avoid bots or unauthorized people to join.
- This also allows us to build a Subscription List.
- Schedule Governance Call in Discord pointing to Lemonade to increase visibility.
- Schedule CGP deadlines (last 6 hours) for submitting votes on Celo Signal calendar, and the general voting period.
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Collect proposals for the next Call
- Keep track of the Forum Post in the Governance Proposals Category in the Celo Forum and give feedback to the new proposals.
- Keep track of the Forum Post in the Governance Call Category in the Celo Forum and answer people’s requests to present in the next call.
- Keep track of the GitHub Issue in the Celo Governance Repository and answer people’s requests to present in the next call.
- Keep updated to the GitHub Issue in the Celo Governance Repository with every new addition to the agenda.
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Host Governance Calls
- The host of each Governance Call is randomly assigned between the Celo Guardians, depending on the availability of each one.
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Draft the Celo Signal Newsletter
- Every Friday, there is a need to draft the Governance Chapter of the Celo Signal Newsletter.
- Adding and removing links to necessary CGPs.
- Raise awareness about upcoming proposals and work to drive voter turnout.
- Every Friday, there is a need to draft the Governance Chapter of the Celo Signal Newsletter.
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Update the GitHub Repository after the Call
- Add the Record of the call and the notes of the call to the GitHub Issue.
- Close the issue.
- Update the table inside the readme.md file in the Celo Governance Repository with the last call.
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Review and approve PRs
- Review Pull Request in terms of following the CGP Template, and technical good way of presenting the CGP from the community in the Celo Governance Repository.
- Approve Pull Request from the community if it fits and solve all the reviews from the Celo Guardians in the Celo Governance Repository.
- Merge Pull Request from the community in the Celo Governance Repository when they get at least two (2) approvals from the Celo Guardians.
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Provide Forum support and input
- Provide initial feedback and guidance to proposals on the Celo Forum.
- Point proposers to the right documents and guides to help them better understand Celo Governance.
- Take notes on areas where Celo governance could be improved and share these documents with other Guardians.
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Help with OnChain Proposals Submissions
- Help proposers to submit their proposals OnChain.
Payment Terms
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.
2025 H1
| 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 |
2025 H2
| 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 and one member from the Celo Foundation in guarantee of good working conditions.
Multisign Address (Threshold 2/3):
0xc733285e8e4db433d4cd641f99C46Bf108DCb54F
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Signers:
- 0xj4an-work: 0xFEF5A1A2b3754A2F53161EaaAcb3EB889F004d4a
- 0xgoldo: 0x4592a742ccac4eb671bac3b89edec7189a315ebc
- zoz: 0xC685cCEcFEa58D10d0ca1a058bb0B37032a7a310
Team:
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.
Additional support/resources: