Latest / Crypto Altruists: Real-World Stories of Social & Environmental Impact with Web3 / Episode 258 - Football & Financial Inclusion: How Crypto, Sport, and Community Are Empowering Women & Girls in Somaliland, with All In For Sport

Transcript

Episode 258 - Football & Financial Inclusion: How Crypto, Sport, and Community Are Empowering Women & Girls in Somaliland, with All In For Sport · Crypto Altruists: Real-World Stories of Social & Environmental Impact with Web3

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Today you'll discover how All In for Sport and Saraya are leveraging crypto to support women and girls playing sport in Smalliland, the story behind a routine grant payment that took six months to arrive, blocked and rerouted along the way, and what are revealed about the state of financial inclusion, how this project went beyond moving money to introduce governance and transparent treasury management, keeping power in community hands, and what it takes to get resources to communities the system has traditionally overlooked, and best practices for implementing Web3 initiatives in hard-to-reach areas.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Crypto Altruists, where we explore the intersections of Web3 and social good to the stories of impact-driven builders and offer actionable insights to empower your journey into the world of blockchain for good.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Drew Simon.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Now before we dive in, please remember that this is not financial or legal advice, and always do your own research on any of the projects or investment opportunities that we discuss.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to the CryptoAltruist Podcast, and thanks so much for joining us today.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to have you here.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: This episode uh is part two of an ongoing conversation, so let me set the stage before we dive in.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: A while back in episode 245, we sat down with the team at Super Benefit to explore their reimagining power series.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: That conversation was about the theory and the possibilities, how Web3 could be a tool for systems change, and how we might redistribute power rather than concentrate it.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: That conversation was about the theory and the possibilities, how Web3 could be a tool for systems change, how we might redistribute power rather than concentrate it, and how we can confront the uncomfortable history of development and philanthropy instead of repeating its mistakes in Web3.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: It was a rich, thought-provoking discussion, but it lived mostly in the realm of ideas.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: Today we get to see those ideas put into practice with the case study, a real-world test of what we discussed in that first conversation.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: And with that I'm excited to be joined by Shannon, Heenal, and Marv of All In for Sport to talk about their collaboration with Saraya, an organization that has spent over a decade creating space for women and girls to play sport in Somaliland.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: The project, titled the Six-Month Wire Transfer, is named after a very real experience.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: A routine grant payment that took six months to reach Saraya, was blocked, rerouted, and questioned every step of the way.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: And it grew into something much bigger than a payments experience.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: It became a test of whether Web3 tools could not only move money to a community the traditional financial system overlooks, but also shift power, introducing governance structures and transparent treasury management that keeps decision-making in the hands of the community itself.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: This is a story about financial exclusion, yes, but it's also a story about dignity, self-determination, and what it looks like to build with the community rather than for them.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: So let's dive in.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: Today I am so excited to be joined by our incredible friends from All In for Sports.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, this is kind of a part two to our conversation we did on the Reimagining Power series a while back.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so you'll recognize some of the folks in this conversation.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Marvin Heenel, great to have you back.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: And Shannon, you've been on the podcast before as well, a very long time ago.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: So welcome back as well.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: It is so great to have you all here for what will be a very inspiring conversation.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: So thanks for joining.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having us.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having us, Drew.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, always a pleasure to have you all on the podcast.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, last time we spoke, we chatted about the reimagining power series at kind of a higher level, did a bit of an intro to super benefit.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but maybe to lay the groundwork here, uh, since we kind of all are aware of the folks in the room here, maybe we can just kind of give a high-level intro of what all in for sports is for those folks that aren't, you know, as familiar, and then we can just dive into the conversation.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: So All In for Sport um came out, uh was kind of spun out of Crow's House Dow uh as a way to kind of look at the opportunity of Web3 and uh you know funding, governing, supporting grassroots sports communities.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, as we've grown and developed since, you know, we've been together since uh 2021, I believe.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Quite some time.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's uh, you know, we're really now exploring uh, you know, funding and governance models for grassroots sports in new ways.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So what we've um, you know, done the done the work with the Reimagining Power Project.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Our piece of the fly of that was um, you know, like a learning series where we really were taking the time to invite people from the sporting community, from the Web3 community, hosting a series of sessions where we really started digging into some of the bigger questions and the bigger opportunities that we saw for um for Web3 and whether that resonated with the people on the ground, the sporting community.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we kind of collected all of that information and then brought us to kind of a place where we're like, oh, okay, we start each time we kind of you know learned something new and it kind of opened, like kind of had this like light bulb moment of, oh, it's you know, it's not this, it's this.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that that was really um that combination of of exploration, questioning, you know, engagement that's really helped us get us get us to where we are now, um, which is part of the um uh tech 365 program, which is part of the International Olympic Committee's funding stream.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we're one of six, uh we're one of six innovators globally who's been funded by the International and Olympic Committee's Tech 365 program.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we've gotten granting um to do this work that we did with Saraya Sport.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and that's a great segue.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: First of all, thanks for the intro to All In for Sport.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been really cool seeing the project evolve since we last spoke many years ago about the work uh that you were doing.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, yeah, kudos to you for that.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, this partnership is really powerful.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: Saraya uh did some uh research prior to this, read the right write-up that you guys put together.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: Incredible organization.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, their team was not able to make it today.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: But maybe if it's okay, um, if you could just give a quick intro to what Saraya is, kind of how that partnership came to be.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I do I did want to kind of you know mention, and this has happened a couple of times now, um, you know, in speaking about the project, that I I I'm very aware of my um, you know, my the the opportunities that I have and um and that I have the opportunities to be in certain places at certain times.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I have the privilege of being able to travel freely.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And those are not things that are afforded necessarily to people that live in Somaliland.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I did want to recognize that I I know that a white girl talking about a project that's in Somalyland is uh is what it is.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the the women that we've met have just been so inspiring, so willing to work with us, so excited about this that I feel like I I I can only truly best represent them, represent them by telling the story and and sharing the work that we've been doing.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So um a bit of background is that we actually met uh Surreya Sports through the first cohort that we went through uh with Tech 365.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was uh it was kind of an exploration.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Heal, do you remember how many groups were in that initial I think it was 30 or something, wasn't it?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was a lot, it was a good big number.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was quite a few innovators that came into this the first kind of cohort, and then there was um, and then that's where we met Soraya because there was some uh community conversations and we got to kind of meet people um in breakout rooms and such um in the uh in the sessions.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um Savannah from Saraya Sport was really excited when we started talking about Web3 and and the opportunity, uh especially of uh like moving currency into Smollyland.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: That was a you know something that they've been ha had been struggling with quite a bit.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so um as like the phase two component, we we put together a consortium of uh us, love football, who has a lot of experience in uh community-based grassroots sports projects.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Bonito Football that was working on kind of a communication platform for getting uh, you know, just kind of talking about football, having it be kind of one resource for uh football for good.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but with the four of us, we put in a uh um, you know, um a pit to uh see if we could help Saraya Sport with the problem that they were having, which was um which was the six-month money transfer.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a great uh kind of intro there too.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna dive into that uh challenge that kind of led to this in a second as well.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and I know that Surreya, an incredible organization, did some research.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: They've been, you know, creating space for women and girls to play in Somaliland for uh over a decade now, I think, uh, which is incredible.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh grown to a community of uh over 300, I believe, uh is what I read, which is amazing as well.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: So why did this organization kind of really stick out as like uh a great opportunity to kind of test out the the stuff that you um researched in the reimagining power series?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, because that really in our last episode we discussed kind of the the core concepts around that, the theory behind it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: And now this is really we get to see it in practice.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: Why was this a good kind of opportunity in partnership to really test out some of these models in in in real life?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think good question.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I think part of it is that they had had this very real experience of this of this transfer, and this is a small group, and there's my background is in community development as well.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I've I lived four years in Guatemala, and I've seen how difficult it is for these groups to just survive.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, things that we take for granted, like being able to e-transfer or zell someone some money or PayPal or Stripe, these things have been around for decades now, and uh something as simple as sending some money from one account to another can actually be a really, really difficult.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then and and these small community groups are not getting lots of donations or lots of grants.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like missing, you know, one grant can make a big difference between being able to do your work for this whole community or not.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's like literally survival of your program or not, depending on whether this transfer can go through through some paper pusher is not signing the thing or pressing the right button to approve your thing.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they had had this very real experience of this of this money getting held up.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um, they were open to it, frankly.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: They were open to experimenting, and they said, We don't know Web3, we don't know crypto, we don't have a wallet, or maybe I have a wallet somewhere, but I don't use it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: But they were open, said, Oh, you know, we know that the traditional methods, the the ways of doing things that exist right now, don't work or don't work for everybody.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe they work for for the wealthy white majority in the world, but they don't work for all the people.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so they were just open, so we have to try something different.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And and then the beautiful thing as well, the really interesting thing is that Somaliland already uses digital currency, and they already have they already have their own kind of digital mobile money system that is it's nothing to do with Web3 or crypto or anything else, it's their own mobile money system that you don't even need a smartphone for.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: You use their national currency, but you just use the phone, and so they don't really have cash.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so so so there's there's that kind of mental leap of digital currency is not difficult for people because that's what everybody's using there.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that was interesting.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're so we're you know, initially we thought there's gotta be there's that digital currency, and then there's like crypto.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's gotta be a way of kind of connecting these these digital worlds, but then then that proved a bit more challenging than than maybe we'd we'd hoped for.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and kind of going back to your original question, Drew.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think the thing for me that really drew me towards Surreas Sport is that they've they had done so much with so little.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so they had built like in a very difficult, um, you know, challenging uh, you know, they needed to be a bit secretive, they needed to be very um cognizant of uh traditions.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, how they how they built trust with their community and how they were able to grow over, you know, the 10-year period was really fast.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: The story of that was really fascinating to me of like they didn't have any marketing, they didn't do any outreach.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: They started with six women who wanted to play football and uh and they have this mantra of we come, we play, we go.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they did it every week.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that consistency that you know the that the community could then start to just believe and trust and know that if they couldn't make it one week in two weeks' time, they would still be there.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, they could they could show up.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't have they didn't have to explain why they didn't make it, they just were happy when they came.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's such a beautiful testament to the power of sport in in just like this foundational fabric of what it can do for communities.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I I mean we knew some of those, you know, the high level points about Saraya before the project, but you know, Marv, you did you did a lot of the blog post and writing for um for this project.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I it's touched my heart so deeply.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Marv, uh love to hear your thoughts on this and kind of like uh what this has meant to you and why you see this as such a great opportunity for a partnership.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, definitely.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, uh I I came on the program.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I'm while I'm not a member of Super Benefit, like a full-time member, like I am most definitely a friend of Super Benefit because we have a lot of allies in our uh in related organizations, and I just think that they're fantastic people who are really motivated by the right things.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when I was asked to come onto this, it was honestly a no-brainer because I really like these guys.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think they their hearts are always in the right place, they're incredibly effective at what they do.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: It was an honor to you know step in and help out where I could.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I was put in a great position to actually talk to the actual people on the ground doing the work.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, the the founders of Surreya, they're really into this, they're so passionate about this.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: I am a huge football fan, and to see the sport that I love, you know, being used as a tool to bring people together, it was amazing.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like you I I as a kid I subscribed to the FIFA magazine, um, and you could see all the impact that sport had in place.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I did have a little bit of an idea, but you know, actually talking to the people doing this, seeing the vision, seeing the plan for improving, you know, little friction points here and there, just solving that.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: It just felt really nice to be part of this whole process.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's been great.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the chance to talk to people, understand, oh, this is what's working, this is what's not working, this is kind of how we feel as people within this community doing this thing, just that personal input kind of really hammered down that yeah, I'm in the right place.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is this is fun, this is amazing.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: That's so cool.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, great way to start the conversation off.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, I love also reading the article, uh, yeah, and that it's really actually named after a real experience in the article itself.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: I just had it open here uh in the project is called the six-month wire transfer and what we're doing about it.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so that comes from that experience they talked about about the money being, you know, blocked, rerouted, questioned along the way, taking six months to get there, which is absolutely crazy.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so, you know, folks listening in um might hear this and assume it's more of like a payments pilot about getting money kind of from point A to point B, but I understand it's also much more than that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe you could share a little bit about the kind of the scope of the pilot and the outcomes that you were testing here.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that like um we like kind of back to what I was speaking about with some of the things that we explored through reimagining power, it explored a lot of the theory.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that this allowed us to put some of that theory into practical um, you know, work.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so um we started with like, okay, we know that they're having funding delays, and we know that using crypto, we we know based on other uh experiments and things and tests, and like we've known for a long time that you can move crypto crypto really easily.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't think smallly land was going to be um, you know, much much of an issue.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what it became was a much broader exploration of community ownership and governance, which we didn't expect within this particular project.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: We thought it was going to be a little bit more about just moving money and proving that out.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and the moving money uh ended up being actually the simplest part of it all.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the most difficult and challenging part, I think, was actually the off-ramping, the trust, the what do you do with the money after it's been moved?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: How do you, how, how do you recognize that?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: What what do you what are the what would the funders be looking for?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so that opened it opened up a lot more than we and and and I think that throughout the project, we struggled with um what's the deliverable on this grant versus what you know what is, you know, what do we want to explore?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so um we had to really kind of package it within like, okay, we think it's this, this, and this, we can deliver on that.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we already are now exploring uh phase two uh beyond what we kind of tested in this pilot and and experiment, and then what we learned, and then how we think we uh how we want to apply it in uh in the next project moving forward.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Heen or Marv, anything you want to add?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, yeah, just to add to that, I think initially when we started, it's been a real, it's been a real journey, even it's been, it's been a year.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, a year and a half since we've been working with Surreya and a year, I guess, as part of this, this actual formal engagement together.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think initially we thought it was payments, and we thought, okay, we're gonna have to onboard people to Web3.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna, you know, how do we get the community to understand wallets and use that?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then it it took a few months of going down that road until we realized that was actually the wrong question.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and um uh uh but that was a that was a good learning.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um but and and we did, you know, we did onboard the the Surreya core team members to to Web3 wallets, and we've used um and they were part of a multi- they're part of a multi-sig, and so that was a good experience.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: But actually realizing that there's quite a lot of friction and difficulty even at this point, and to and and concepts that maybe we take for granted or things that are just not not actually that straightforward.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it was it was great to be able to include Savannah and Asthma, especially in the in the governance of of the project.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And and just even even, for example, like when we make payments of contributors, know it's not just one person that that approves that transaction.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: You have to approve it too.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: We need three out of five signatures, and and that's actually quite a strange concept because I've you know I've been a part of non-profit boards, charities, and it's all about this everything, there's all these processes for that one person, and how do you hold that one person accountable and what's their role and all this?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and there's so much structure and hierarchy around it that actually that's not necessarily a good way of doing things, right?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, um, so the yeah, so we realize that it we realize in working with Saraya and uh sorry, we we realize in working with Savannah and Asthma that the web 3 wallets, uh you can you can explain these concepts and how to use, but it's still a big leak to do that.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it's not necessary for what we're trying to do.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was a big unlock when we when we when we uh realized that.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then we thought, well, what what if we've what if we said, okay, we're not gonna try, and then we even put together a guide of like an intro to web three, and then actually realized even this intro is just too dense for 16-year-old, 18-year-old, 25, you know, girls, girls, boys playing football in Somaliland to to really engage with.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's not necessary.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's you know, even when we translate into Somali, none of the apps are in Somali.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's the thing, you can't get MetaMask in Somali, you can't get uh you know safe in Somali, so that's a that's a big you know problem.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: People are yeah, so and and and so what is the what is the way and so we thought what what are things that people are already using, how people are already communicating, what's technology that that people are already familiar with?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, we found everyone has a cell phone there, and uh you know, almost everyone has a cell phone and and everyone has WhatsApp.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the the tools, the free communications tool that everybody uses.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: They have a group chat for their uh for their for their soccer program, you know, that's so it's like okay, well, everyone's already here using this tool.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so, well, okay, well, now what can we do with that?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: And what's some other challenges that that people have?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: And what and one of those things, and this is something we come across a lot in in the nonprofit world, uh, is this kind of break and we cover we do we cover this a lot in in reimagining power projects, is there's this kind of breakdown, there's this is not really good communication channels or uh visibility between what's happening on the ground and funders.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's like all these kind of steps in between that are kind of lossy and laggy and just messy.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: And often it's two years after something happens that the funder hears about it.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Really, often more, it can be more, but but two years is is probably typical that uh you.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Know on a one-year grant, by the time the work happens, and then you report on it and it gets to the funder, and the funder, you know, reviews it, it's two years or a year, and it's useless to have that information there, and unless you're just rubber stamping something or trying to make a funding decision based on something information that isn't relevant anymore.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what if we can close that gap?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And and and what if we can make it so that it's not the not it's not not the hierarchy of the organization delivering the program or the hierarchy of the organization above them uh that's deciding what's reported and what isn't and how it's reported.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: But what if it's actually people on the ground who are doing who are participating in the programs who are reporting that in real time using tools they already have.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And and so that's when we came up with this the that's where we came up with the idea for for this bot that would live in a WhatsApp group uh that that the that the girls are part of, and this bot will be able to record outcomes of things that that the that the girls are doing.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: So for example, they go and play football, and then they can take a picture of them playing, and they can message it to this bot in this group, and then it asks them questions, a couple questions about what they did, and they say, Do you want to save this?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they say yes, and then it saves it on-chain um um as a as an EAS attestation.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh with metadata on IPFS, and so it we were just you know all these tools, things are already there, but no one thoughts of saying, Oh, well, what can we do to make this easier for people?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the idea is that you and then you can of and then and you can message this bot in Somali.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be in English, that's the thing, it'd be in any language.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you can speak any language to this bot, it can record this outcome, put it on chain, put it on a website as well, so then that could be shared with the funder in real time.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the funder can know within minutes of something happening that it happened, and then it's on chain forever.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we designed that as a kind of a as an experiment, but also with the hope that that maybe that can be useful to other people.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something we're kind of exploring now, is that who else might that this be useful to?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: And how can we make it more useful?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's all simple tools, uh simple, it's like Legos, isn't it?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's putting these things together, these parts that already exist that and that we wouldn't have been able to do a year ago because you couldn't make bots that easily.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was harder, much harder to make custom things.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And now, you know, luckily with the the technology tools we have, it's much easier to make these kind of custom things to do whatever what we want them to do.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: I that's such a cool, like just example there of the importance of like, you know, working with communities where they're at with the tools that they're already using, right?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: And that's incredible that you're able to take something that they've been using, you know, as a community and it works.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: So no need to change that.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: But just thinking of, you mentioned the Legos of ways that we can kind of like integrate it into these, you know, new technologies or integrate the new technologies into these tools they've been using uh to rather than like replace them, more just to kind of like enhance and and and support the work that they're already doing, which is great.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: And you also mentioned earlier around how they've had mobile money for a very long time in Somali lands.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, you know, this idea of like digital finance, you know, isn't something new to them.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: So um talk to me like more about this and kind of the importance of like working with these communities and the tools that they already have, as opposed to kind of going in and saying, hey, we need to change everything up.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that like, you know, the um the the issue that they had is kind of like multifaceted, right?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So they they had a practical problem of not of you know capital flow not coming in.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it was delayed when it came, it was, you know, they they lost a bunch in in, you know, um in conversions.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they were having, you know, and and I think with the intermediaries and compliance issues, they were just really struggling.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was like the problem that they brought to us, right?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then what we, you know, as we started talking to them and understanding like some of the things that we understand globally, uh, you know, and I I live in Canada, so you know, we have trust in our financial institutions.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: They simply do not there.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that is more common than we realize.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know early on when I talked to you, Drew, we talked about this opportunity to bank the unbanked.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, for me, it felt uh a bit altruistic.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't think I really understood the complications that came around with that.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: The thing that was really fascinating is that, you know, assuming that the banks are the ones that are trusted is not necessarily um how it is.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so what mechanisms have communities developed over the years to circumvent this?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that again, you know, Trujino's point of how we discovered that they use the WhatsApp group and how we discovered um, you know, uh this new opportunity forward was talking to the communities themselves.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it was always something that we've said is that the communities know what they need best.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: We just need to give them the tools and the support and get out of the way.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a perfect example of that.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Prabhupada, you know, the development of this bot is like one piece of this bigger puzzle that I think that we're trying to look at when it comes to how do you develop trust and uh within within uh you know systems, so governance, financial uh community, like what does that look like from the grassroots level?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, it you know, it's not it's not um a lack of trust within the community, because when you talk to the girls and you learn, uh, like they had a fascinating governance system that they had already developed themselves.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so really I was like, oh, okay, we don't, we don't need to have every single girl with a wallet because they already trust Savannah and Asthma and they already have their own way that they within their community that they vote on how to move road resources or how to to how they want to set up their games or how they or practices or whatever.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just build it around that.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's that's incredible.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I love what you mentioned there too, just around like the need to kind of like, you know, work with them and and give them the tools to kind of really run the show as opposed to imposing something on them.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: And you mentioned some there too, around how they had these decentralized governance structures already that you know that worked for them.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's so powerful powerful going into these communities.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I've seen so many examples and stories around these communities that have been using these decentralized structures forever, and it's you know, this is not something new to them, and we often say like, oh, Web3 is creating these decentralized, you know, in a lot of places they've existed, and it's a matter of how do we then use these tools, you know, to enhance them.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: And we'll be right back after this brief announcement.
• 28:49
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• 28:53
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• 28:55
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• 29:03
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• 29:10
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• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: So with that, thank you for your time, and now let's get back to the episode.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that this connects to a very important theme from our first episode around, you know, confronting the uncomfortable truth and uh around uh philanthropy and kind of the colonial ties to philanthropy as well, and you know, the importance of keeping decision making in the power of the hands of the community.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, I'm curious, like, as you approach this collaboration, um, how did you make sure that you were planning with that in mind?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and also like, what advice do you have for other folks going into communities that have traditionally been excluded, underserved, oppressed, and making sure that we're not repeating these, you know, mistakes of the past?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that, you know, traditionally philanthropy links money with power.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the people that make the decisions have the power.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: And who and so I think that, you know, what we're really understanding is like it's it's a shift.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how can we how can we build in mechanisms where the activity by the community is actually what unlocks capital?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so the work is being done.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what is is the precipice for that money to be unlocked rather than applying and applying for a grant, writing something, being being an established not-for-profit.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like for me, those things are secondary to the fact that the work and the community and the belief in what the community is doing should be number one.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's been a big learning for me.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, it like it's so funny because we tried to like get um Saray into Termverse.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: We tried to get, you know, like so onboarding them onto that, onboarding them into wallets, onboarding them all these things.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, you know what?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what are they already using?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is becoming really complicated.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's the problem with a lot of web 3 projects, to be really honest, is I think it got in the way of itself.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what people that were developing in web 3 felt like, oh, well, now web three means that we don't use anything anymore from web two, that we're building a new future for it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I don't see it that way.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I see it as like, don't break what's already working.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: And just like how can we build on upon that?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: Hino, Marv, anything to add?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we I guess we were fortunate that we were able to build this relationship for for several months through this IOC incubator program uh with with uh with with the folks from Saraya.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um but uh yeah, I would say to people as well to go in with to listen, to go in and listen.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think I think we came in and it was difficult because we had again like this funding that we got for this program was a little bit kind of it's it's traditional type funding, like we got a grant, which we you know which was amazing to get, we're very grateful for, but it was like okay, now you have 12 months to do this work.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, okay, we're gonna couple months to plan it, and it's like, oh my gosh, we've got to start, gotta start moving.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and so it in a way we we did take the time initially to to try and really get to understand one another and to understand the work we're doing together.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that that that there's the process to to take that, and so it's a real process of discovery and and not assuming, and but I feel like even in that point, maybe there was a bit of a power power thing because we we were like the there was I I think we had to get past that, get past that assumption of a power dynamic, if that makes sense, because people are so used to being work being done to them or decisions made being made for them, and you know, we were the ones that came in as the kind of the Western white guys.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I call I consider myself a white person in this situation where I sound like a white guy, but um the the that they were kind of looking to us, and then we were they were looking to us as the experts, and then we were looking to them as the the as the as the experts, the ones who actually know what's going on.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: So then we kind of then we realized that actually with the different experience and expertise that we bring, um, is that we're never going to understand their community like a fraction that they do, and that and and and our the best thing that we can do from our side is rather than trying to push the latest tech or what we think is a cool tool on them, is to try and really listen and see web two, web three tools tools, web two tools, web one, and and manual tools.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: And some of that I know and actually now realizing, actually realize this more and more, is that a lot of these tools that we're building in web in the web in web three are to overcome problems that maybe don't exist in other places.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like we don't have maybe like we talk about decentralized, we talk about like trustless and stuff, which is important, but then other places if you have trust, then maybe you don't need to build trustless systems because you already have trustful systems, you know, and and or if you you know you don't maybe don't need like sophisticated decision-making mechanics if you have ancient systems of decision making that just work because they've evolved over time.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: So to try and understand where we can bring those where where we can fit in, I think is so important.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it's equally where we where we can't fit in and where we're actually we're regressing by trying to introduce more tech or what we think is a uh a more advanced way of doing things.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we're actually regressing a natural, beautiful order that's already developed or systems that are in place for particular reasons.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: So so I think there's that that was that kind of humility that that came as well to to to to realize that.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: With all for sport, I think too, the reason that this the work that we've been doing seems to resonate with communities isn't because of crypto, because oftentimes we don't talk about us being a project that's exploring crypto.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um what we're speaking about is resonating with communities because they see that it helps to solve the problems that there's that they're coming up against.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're really excited and keen to work with us.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's the biggest thing that we're learning is that as long as we continue to help solve real world problems and using the technology to to do that, then we're we're on the right path.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I love also just like, you know, that you're thinking about these, like what could be the unintended consequences as well.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: And like, you know, thinking of this concept of like almost do no harm that we talk a lot about in the development world too, and you know, recognizing that just because we're going in with this tech solution, they might not need it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it might not solve the problem that we think it solves, right?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: And really understanding the the needs of the community.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, I know this is really fascinating.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: Marv, anything that kind of stood out for you in terms of lessons before we uh wrap up this part of the conversation or kind of like takeaways or advice for others working in similar contexts?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: So uh basically my first little bit was just talking to people constantly, just understanding where are we, what what do you hope to achieve from this project?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh how where have we come from?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what how did this start?
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: And like to pick up on what He knows said, like a lot of these interpersonal trust dynamics already existed.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: We just kind of needed to slot in, augment what was good, remove the friction where it existed, but the clarity of vision that uh Savannah and Asthma were bringing to the table, it was like there, it was fully formed, you know.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it was very much a case of okay, uh, you have an objective.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what is preventing you from getting to this objective?
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anything that we can do to smooth something over here out?
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: Because basically, I even say 99% of the thing was set, no, like kind of 100% of the vision was set.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: They knew exactly what they wanted to do, they wanted to expand into other sports, they wanted to really increase the footprint of like wellness and health through physical activity in a place where they felt that there could be a few benefits to be had over here by just channeling their passions.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it wasn't like they were reinventing the wheel, they weren't setting people down to like force education and lifestyle changes upon them.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: It was organic, it was fun, it was something that people did for the sense of enjoyment and community, and from then it just snowballed into something that was really fulfilling for all involved.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that was it was the the perfect example of what grassroots activities and grassroots community building could actually result in.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it was a fantastic project just to see, you know, this whole thing unfolding into something that I thought was now going to have a bit of a global footprint, a global impact.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: How do we take what's working really well here and just bring it to more people?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_03: Great advice all around.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_03: This is a master class on, you know, really what we were talking about last episode in you know, the conversation around me, imagining powers, making sure that we go into these communities from a mindset of, you know, learning from them and you know, helping them do what they already do well and just you know find ways to integrate these tools that make sense, not to replace things that they've been doing successfully for a long time.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: So the importance of listening, absolutely.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, no, no, great advice all around.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, before we kind of discuss kind of next steps and the outcomes, I'm curious, like for folks that um are really resonating with this that want to learn more, what's the best place for them to go to learn more about this collaboration, to learn more about all in for sports and kind of the work that you're doing?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: I would say our website, allinforsport.org.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it has links to our blog, links to our socials.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that that would be the best landing, landing spot for people to go to.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then also um uh superbenefit.org um also has a lot of um of the information um and work that super benefit has been doing.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we'll make sure to include all that, of course, in the uh show notes, all the links to all the relevant places, as well as this awesome article, uh the six-month wire transfer and what we're doing about it.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, which did a great job kind of like highlighting the the story behind this and the context behind this.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Hino, did you have something you want to add?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say there's several other there's uh thanks for thanks for plugging the blog.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's several other blogs that Marv has written as well that we haven't yet published.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: So let's try and get, we'll try and get those published.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um so hopeful uh hopefully they'll be out by the time your your listeners hear this.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and one other link if folks are interested in the the bots that I was talking about and uh the attestations and that the that protocol is called Parebo Protocol, Perebo Protocol.org.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we can drop that link in the notes as well.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's really cool because that's a really neat use case that like of connecting in the dots between like yeah, just things people have been doing and web3, right?
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: And um yeah, that's that's really cool.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and creating in a way where it's also not creating more work for these groups that are already overtaxed and doing as much as they can with limited resources.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's a really cool protocol.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll definitely link to that uh for folks that are interested in learning more.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, as we near the end of this conversation, I'm curious, like um, you know, looking back on the first kind of phase of this project, what did success look, what does success look like?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: What have been the impacts?
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, what are you building next?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: What can listeners look forward to in terms of the next steps for this partnership?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that we, you know, we were working on the governance tooling, uh, the community voting.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was really exciting actually for the the bot that that uh Heeneland Rather made, how much the women embraced it.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: They named it, they really loved um interacting with it.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so those were all great, really great signals from the ground that there's something, you know, here that could work, not just in in, you know, in Smalliland, but other places.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um moving the money was interesting and easy.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Off-ramping the money was very, very difficult in Smalyland.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was one of the biggest challenges that we had.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what does trust look like on the off-ramping side is something I think that we're really curious to explore.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have a project coming up where we are working on um um something called SportFi, which is uh using stablecoin yields uh to be distributed to communities and watching uh what they do with that those funds once they're deposited.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're we're uh we've partnered with Women Win, uh, which is a women's fund.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have three groups that have been identified as recipients of this yield.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh the money will go in the fund, uh, the yields will be distributed through smart contracts.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we know, you know, how that community governs how we can use the bots and impact attestations and further develop some signals from the community of what's happening with those funds, I think will be incredibly important for women win um as a funder.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's a really great partnership and and pilot that we're doing next.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's incredible.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, it's it's this is the thing I love about these types of projects as well, is like, you know, you go in with kind of like one idea in mind of a of a challenge that you want to work with the community on, but then it can grow into so many more things as you, you know, see other challenges or other use cases or, you know, so like seeing all these other things that you're working with, like SportFi and stuff like that and the governance stuff, like it's so cool how it's you know what started as maybe primarily like a payment kind of or cash transfer pilot has grown into something so so much more, which is really cool.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's amazing.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, can't wait to learn more about that.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Hino, Marv, anything else that stood out for you that you want to share in terms of kind of like uh the successes you've seen and kind of what you're excited for next for this project before we wrap things up?
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: I I would just say it's super cool to see like people doing cool things all over the world.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess the most important, I guess the thing I'm most excited about is how we share these learnings.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I just love the work that you're doing, Drew, to to uh uh put put the word out there and and to to really keep it going over the years.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I would just encourage anybody listening who's even the slightest bit curious about this to reach out to us because this is that's the best way, honestly.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: We don't do we're just head down building, uh connecting.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: We don't necessarily have the time to tell the stories that we would like to tell.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: I know Marv Marv is a great storyteller, but even Marv writes these blogs and then we don't publish them.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: So um then uh, you know, so just so so the best thing anyway, just please like reach out to us.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like we'd love to talk about this, just even just to jump, jump on a quick call.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: If there's anything that we can do, if there's other use cases, what we're doing, if there's other learnings, if there's other tools we could combine with.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's other synergies out there, there's other funding, there's other communities.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're super open.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, all we want to do is create these tools and systems, processes that that benefit people, that helps us to reimagine power, to break down some of the barriers between humans and allow all beings everywhere to flourish.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, well, thank you so much.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know what, Marv, do you want to bring us home, finish on a final note of inspiration?
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, sure.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the world cop's on right now, and I just think that it's a great time to talk about the impact this world can have.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're looking at all the advertising, all the money being pumped into this on the biggest stage, but a little goes a long way in other parts of the world.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think by drawing attention to the good work that people are doing, that they're you know bootstrapping their own activities, they're doing this grassroots-based stuff, just a little bit more that we can, you know, with with the passion that the sport is currently channeling, you've direct some of that towards the places that can, you know, can really move the needle, that'll be helpful.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I'd really encourage you to check out the Surreya Sport website, see everything that they're doing.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: If football, especially right now, is inspiring you, that there are a lot of places where you can actually make a difference and help out.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, if you have any time or money to spare, I'd really encourage you to check that out.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: Great points all around.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: I also want to give a shout-out to uh Savannah and Azma who weren't able to join but are doing incredible work uh for Surreya.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: So make sure to link to that organization so you can see what they're doing, follow along, support them, help spread the word.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_03: Really incredible organization and uh just like a great, great pilot of really like, you know, exploring how Web3 can have an impact in some of the most traditionally underserved areas of the world.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: And it's really just amazing the work that you're doing, you know, working alongside them, working with what they're already doing well, learning from the community practices they've been uh and customs they've built over centuries, decades, however long it's been.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so kudos to you.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's really amazing the work that you're doing.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so honored to have the opportunity to share it, and I can't wait to see what you do next.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll have to do an update episode on this uh as well a bit later on.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_03: But for now, uh thank you so much for everything you've shared.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's been a real honor.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having us, Jay.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for the opportunity, Sure.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for having us, Drew.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_03: And that was Shannon Heenal and Marv of Allen for sport.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_03: A few things really stood out to me in this conversation.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: First, the six-month wire transfer that gives this project its name.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's such a clear, tangible illustration of a problem that's easy to talk about in the abstract, but devastating in practice.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: A woman-led grassroots organization doing essential work, treated as a gap on the map, forced to wait half a year for money that was already theirs.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not just a minor inconvenience.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's a window into how the global financial system quietly decides who counts and who doesn't.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: Second, the fact that this was never really about payments.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_03: It would have been easy to stop at Let's Move Money Faster, but this project went further, introducing governance and transparent treasury management so that power stayed with Saraya and their community, not with distant funders.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's the harder, more meaningful work, and it connects directly to the themes we explored back in episode 245, confronting the uncomfortable history of development and philanthropy work, and making sure we don't repeat it in Web3.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: And third, the reminder that the communities we talk about helping are almost always already doing remarkable things.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: Saraya built a thriving community of hundreds of women and girls long before any of these tools entered the picture.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_03: The question was never whether they needed quote unquote saving, it was whether systems could be built that honor the work that they're already doing.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_03: So for listeners inspired by this and wanting to support the work of All Infour Sport, or learn more, we've included all the relevant links in the show notes.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_03: A huge thank you to the All Infosport team for sharing this story, and to everyone working to get resources to communities the system has overlooked.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: And that wraps up today's episode of Crypto Ultruist.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for tuning in.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: If you're inspired to explore more stories at the intersection of Web3 and Social Impact, be sure to visit AzitCryptoulturist.com for articles, resources, and more.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: And if you love what you heard, it wouldn't mean the world if you could rate with you and subscribe to the podcast.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: Your support is huge in helping us reach more listeners like you and keeping the platform going strong.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to having you back for the next episode.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_03: Until then, let's keep showing the world the good of crypto.