Sarafu Network

From Local Area Network
Sarafu Network
What it is: Community vouchers and commitment pools from Kenya, now carried on as Cosmo-Local Credit
Run by: Grassroots Economics Foundation
Founded:
Status: Active
Licence:
Join or copy: Create a voucher or join a commitment pool through the Cosmo-Local Credit App at cosmolocal.credit

Sarafu Network is a platform from Grassroots Economics in Kenya where communities issue vouchers for their goods and services and put them into shared pools to swap with each other.

What it does

  • A member creates a voucher that stands for a future commitment, for example a gift card for a product or service.
  • Vouchers go into shared pools, so communities can swap goods and services through them.
  • Grassroots Economics calls this commitment pooling: "A protocol and practice for routing promises, settlement, and mutual support through shared pools." The vouchers are called Community Asset Vouchers.
  • The Grassroots Economics site reports 188 active commitment pools and 745 active vouchers on the Celo blockchain.

Move to Cosmo-Local Credit

The Grassroots Economics documentation says the service "formerly presented as Sarafu Network transitioned to Cosmo-Local Credit." The current app is at cosmolocal.credit. The documentation warns that not every old Sarafu account, voucher, pool or balance moved across or is still available. The Grassroots Economics "Get involved" page still points communities to sarafu.network to start a pool.

Who runs it

  • Grassroots Economics is a non-profit registered in Kenya. It says it has supported community economies since 2010. It is based in Kilifi.
  • The CLC history page says the Grassroots Economics Foundation built and ran the old Sarafu Network and now operates the CLC App.
  • The Foundation does not issue the vouchers people create, and it does not run their pools. Each issuer and each Pool Steward answers for their own commitments and rules.

Join or copy it

  • Read the CLC getting-started guide. You must be 18 or over. Before you use a pool, check its steward, admitted vouchers, fees and credit limit.
  • Grassroots Economics offers new Pool Stewards a free consultation, training for organisers, platform access at no cost and ongoing support. See Get involved.
  • Field guides for creating vouchers and running operations are at docs.grassecon.org.
  • To copy or build on it: the site says "All our code is open-source." The code is on GitHub at grassrootseconomics and cosmolocalcredit. Check the licence in each repository.

See also

Sources

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