WashikaDAO Protocol: Innovation Meets Tradition for Real-World Community Impact in Africa
In Tanzania, a groundbreaking initiative is reshaping the landscape of decentralized governance and community finance. NEDA Lab's WashikaDAO protocol — whose name derives from "Washikadau/Wadau" which means “Stakeholders” in Swahili — is bridging the gap between traditional community savings groups, governance and modern decentralized finance.
Built on the Celo blockchain by local developers working closely with the groups they seek to empower, this innovative protocol is transforming how underserved communities access financial services and participate in collective decision-making. At The Solar Foundation, we are exploring ways to collaborate with NEDA Labs and utilize the WashikaDAO protocol with our Solar Savings Circles. We believe that for communities across Sub-Saharan Africa, WashikaDAO isn't just another financial protocol, it's a powerful bridge to economic sovereignty, sustainable growth and community resilience.
The Power of Community Banking in East Africa
As I’ve written in a previous Solar Foundation blog, The Power of Community: Saving Circles Empower Women in Africa, community savings groups are common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and play a key role in the informal economy and social fabric. These traditional groups go by many names like Esusu, Village Community Banks (VICOBAs), Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) and Chamas. They have long served as crucial financial lifelines especially for rural women. In Tanzania, the savings groups can be composed of women, women and men, youth, etc. and they operate through a traditional model known as "Mchezo" (meaning "game" in Swahili), where community members pool their resources and take turns accessing the collected funds for family needs or business operations.
Local savings groups throughout Africa face significant challenges including lack of transparency, limited access to formal financial services, high transaction costs and inefficient lending processes. The founders of WashikaDAO protocol seek to address these challenges by leveraging blockchain technology while preserving the community-driven essence of these traditional savings groups. Their aim is to help group members easily coordinate decision making and grow their pooled funds so that participants can achieve economic sovereignty, increase financial competence, build community resilience and gain access to alternative forms of financing.
Innovation Meets Tradition
WashikaDAO's approach is uniquely powerful because it doesn't attempt to replace existing community practices; instead, it enhances them through technology. The protocol is built on Celo, a mobile-first blockchain platform, making it well suited for African communities where mobile phones are the primary gateway to financial services.
Key features of the WashikaDAO protocol include:
- Transparent Governance: All decisions and transactions are recorded on the blockchain, ensuring complete transparency and accountability
- Automated Savings Management: Savings in the DAO earn interest which adds value to the funds in the community pool. Members can open savings accounts that are securely managed by smart contracts
- Decentralized Governance and Peer-to-Peer Lending: Members can propose and vote on changes to the protocol, interest rates, loan terms, etc. All members have a voice in the decision-making process
- User-Friendly Design: The platform maps blockchain wallets to mobile phone numbers and national IDs, making it accessible to users regardless of their technical expertise
- Bilingual Support: All tools and resources will be available in both English and Swahili
Empowering Women Through Financial Innovation & Training
NEDA Labs has already demonstrated the transformative potential of community-focused financial innovation. Their community currency pilots in Mburahati, Dar es Salaam, have enabled women to launch over 10 small businesses and save thousands of dollars within their community using the NYOTA currency for local exchange.
WashikaDAO builds on this success by placing local, traditional savings groups at the center of its design. Regular educational sessions and toolkits cover crucial topics like savings practices, record-keeping, digital assets and governance, ensuring that participants have the knowledge they need to make informed financial decisions.
The Role of Stablecoins in Financial Inclusion
One of WashikaDAO's key benefits is its use of stablecoins. These digital assets provide communities with a reliable store of value and enable transactions at significantly lower fees compared to traditional banking services. By leveraging stablecoins, the WashikaDAO protocol offers:
- Protection against currency volatility
- Affordable cross-border transactions
- Seamless integration with existing mobile money systems
- Access to global decentralized finance opportunities
Looking Forward
NEDA Labs recently launched its WashikaDAO v1 on Celo, and is currently collaborating with a local NGO called JUKUMU to pilot the project with 20 women in Mburahati, Tanzania. This pilot aims to test out governing 1000$ deposited into their pool which will be used for a variety of proposals, micro-lending, staking rewards as well as off-ramp to fiat / Mpesa tests.
Once the protocol is tested and translated into English, we are looking to collaborate on our Solar Savings Circle pilots in Nigeria, Uganda and beyond. Our aim is to provide women with a sustainable way to access clean solar energy and productive appliances that help advance progress toward SDG7, and empower more women and their families to achieve energy independence, financial sovereignty and climate resilience.
Through continued research, community engagement and technological innovation, NEDA Labs and WashikaDAO are proving that the path to economic empowerment doesn't require abandoning traditional practices — it requires enhancing them with the right tools and support. By combining the strength of traditional community savings groups with the efficiency of blockchain technology, the WashikaDAO protocol is creating a future where local savings groups can grow their funds, easily and transparently make proposals and decisions, and enable rural African communities to achieve greater well-being and prosperity.
