The New Polkadot Ambassador Program and the Role of Head Ambassadors in the new Polkadot Open Gov design
With the redesign of Polkadot and OpenGov, the community's role is modified as well as the role of the ambassadors of the Polkadot ecosystem.
The Ambassador Program was created by Chris Hutchinson and Dan Reecer and has been developed since 2019. The objective from the beginning was to educate and to give visibility to the ecosystem, contribute in different areas, create and help improve the community, make it increasingly larger and with greater knowledge of the Polkadot ecosystem, and have ambassadors worldwide. Thus, the primary function of ambassadors is to educate and introduce new individuals and organizations to Polkadot, organize, exhibit, or present at ecosystem and industry events, facilitate the creation of partnerships with other ecosystems and projects, educate, add ambassadors to the ecosystem, and showcase all the innovations of the Polkadot ecosystem.
The Ambassador Program was managed by the Web3 Foundation and coordinated by Parity until January 2024. After several years, I believe the objective was achieved.
As it was mentioned earlier, the program was managed by the Web3 Foundation.
In the old Ambassador Program, there were different types of ambassadors in various categories: Global Head Ambassadors, Regional Head Ambassadors, Senior Ambassadors, Ambassadors, and Candidates. Additionally, there were community managers in different geographic regions. All decisions and ambassador selections were made off-chain, losing the necessary transparency in the ecosystem.
Starting from the redesign in 2024, the Ambassador Program - the second collective after the Fellowship - is an on-chain collective approved with Referendum 487: https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referenda/487 with the following characteristics:
Membership of 4 ranks: Head Ambassadors (HA), Senior Ambassadors (SA), Ambassadors (A), and Candidates ambassadors (CA). Each role has a specific function.
On-chain Designation and Maximum Number of Head Ambassadors: Head Ambassadors can only be appointed or removed via referendum by on-chain token holder voting. The program only allows up to 21 Head Ambassadors. Once the number is reached, to add a new Head Ambassador, another Head Ambassador must be replaced or removed, or a proposal must be made for all token holders to change the program.
Allocation of a Treasury: The Ambassador Program has an on-chain Treasury to pay salaries to Head Ambassadors, expenses, and establish incentives and expenses for activities and functions for the rest of the tracks. Funds will be required through on-chain voting in OpenGov.
Salary Allocation: Unlike the original Ambassador Program, this new collective includes incentives and allocates a salary for the Head Ambassador role.
Reporting: Head Ambassadors must present their work on-chain with governance control mechanisms. In turn, each rank Head Ambassadors, Senior Ambassadors, Ambassadors, and Candidates Ambassadors will have different voting power.
And what about the rest of the ambassadors:
Unlike what happens with the Head Ambassadors, senior ambassadors will be chosen by the Head Ambassadors, and ambassadors will be chosen by the Head Ambassadors and senior ambassadors. There is no on-chain voting or limit for ambassadors or senior ambassadors. Promotion occurs by tracks.
This means that previous ambassadors should be re-selected to continue their role and will not automatically become ambassadors in the new program.
The advantages are very clear as the Ambassador Program has become an on-chain collective, the second in the ecosystem after the Fellowship, which provides transparency and decentralization. Decisions are made by referendum, on-chain, the treasury is on-chain, and it also returns power to the community, token holders, and ambassadors with recognition and incentives for ambassadors.
The function of Head Ambassadors focuses on business development and also continues to connect ecosystem members, connect with organizations, entities, and individuals, educate the ecosystem, represent the Polkadot brand, contribute to the growth of the Polkadot ecosystem, promote Polkadot with both technical and non-technical approaches, with impact, and always under the concept of understanding the philosophy of Polkadot.
After the approval of the referendum, the fellowship is working on the implementation of the specific pallet that allows the selection of Head Ambassadors in an on-chain manner and the availability of a treasury. The pallet development will be completed in approximately three months (from the date of this article). Once the fellowship develops the pallet, all interested parties can submit their candidacies to be Head Ambassador. Likewise, to provide greater transparency, a special channel was created in the Polkadot Forum where candidates can promote their candidacies: https://forum.polkadot.network/t/head-ambassador-election-process-discussion/7231/12
We hope that everyone can apply and join to the Ambassador Program, the second collective in the Polkadot ecosystem.
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