Shaila Agha on the Intersection of Traditional Chama Governance and Web3

Interview at https://www.newamerica.org/insights/the-cycles-of-regenerative-governance-in-kenya/

Conducted by Hollie Russon Gilman, Sarah Jacob, et al. for 'New America'.

Description

"Chamas, also known as Village Savings and Loan Associations, are self-governing savings and investment groups that play a foundational role in grassroots economic development across Kenya. The more than 300,000 registered Chamas nationwide serve as powerful vehicles for financial empowerment, particularly among women, providing access to savings, credit, and investment opportunities.

Hollie Russon Gilman and Sarah Jacob spoke with Shaila Agha, a climate justice activist and fintech expert, to explore the innovative intersection of traditional Chama governance structures and emerging Web3 technologies. Through her leadership of Chama DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)—a blockchain-based pilot program researching how integration of emerging blockchain-based tools can enhance transparency, accountability, and access to climate finance for these groups—Agha’s initiative merges community-centered design, decentralized tools, and ecological finance to support local resilience in the face of climate change.

Agha supports this project through her work as a program officer with the Regen Foundation, a nonprofit global ecological monitoring and regeneration platform that harnesses the power of blockchain technology and local communities to tackle the climate crisis. Regen Foundation focuses on building capacity at the grassroots level so communities can govern and compute locally, rather than applying a predefined technical or market model. The organization is also releasing a new book, Ecological Institutions: Law, Economics, and Technology in a More-Than-Human World, as a toolkit for regenerative governance."