Ethereum Foundation Introduces Cohort 4 of the Next Billion Fellows

The
Ethereum
Foundation
has
announced
the
fourth
cohort
of
its
Next
Billion
Fellowship
Program,
featuring
seven
remarkable
individuals
from
diverse
backgrounds.
These
fellows
are
set
to
drive
innovative
projects
aimed
at
improving
communities
globally,
according
to
the

Ethereum
Foundation
Blog.

The
Next
Billion
Fellows
Cohort
4

David
Uzochukwu
leads
an
initiative
focusing
on
enhancing
Ethereum’s
decentralization
by
educating
the
African
community
on
running
Ethereum
nodes.
His
project
addresses
barriers
such
as
unstable
internet
access
and
power
outages
to
promote
inclusivity.

Guo
Liu
co-founded

Matters
Town,
a
censorship-resistant
publication
platform.
Liu’s
project
merges
advertisement
protocols
with
Harberger
tax
and
quadratic
funding
to
support
high-quality
open-access
content.

Lefteris
Arapakis
created
the
social
enterprise

Enaleia,
which
aims
to
reduce
marine
plastic
pollution.
Arapakis
plans
to
implement
a
system
on
Ethereum
to
trace
recycled
marine
plastic,
starting
in
Greece
and
expanding
across
the
Mediterranean.

Mercedes
“Meche”
Rodriguez
Simon
is
researching
web3
solutions
to
support
human
rights
organizations
in
Venezuela.
A
key
member
of
Ethereum
Venezuela,
Simon
aims
to
address
the
country’s
political
and
humanitarian
crises.

Rebecca
Mqamelo
collaborates
with

Grassroots
Economics
on
integrating





EVM-based
local
currencies
with
traditional
economic
practices
in
Africa.
Her
research
compares
community
currency
models
backed
by
government
bodies
and
those
based
on
future
production
capacity
commitments.

Tomislav
“Tomo”
Mamić
is
working
on
the

Municipal
Quadratic
Funding
Initiative
(MUQA).
This
project
aims
to
help
cities
use
Quadratic
Voting
and
Quadratic
Funding
for
public
project
funding,
with
a
pilot
in
Split,
Croatia,
focusing
on
culture
and
green
spaces.

An
anonymous
fellow
is
developing
a
platform
to
digitize
production
records
and
farm
metadata,
creating
on-chain
reputation
scores.
This
initiative
aims
to
provide
affordable
working
capital
to
smallholder
farmers
and
cooperatives
by
standardizing
farmer
data
for
interoperability.

What’s
Next?

Over
the
next
six
months,
each
fellow
will
advance
their
projects,
sharing
progress
at
Devcon
7
in
Southeast
Asia
from
November
12-15.
Updates
can
be
followed
on

@EFNextBillion.
Financial
support
for
attending
Devcon
is
available
through
the
Devcon
SEA
Scholars
Program,
with
applications
open
until
July
7,
2024.

Image
source:
Shutterstock