Project Catalyst is an experiment in collaboration and innovation for the Cardano blockchain network. The format of Project Catalyst is a series of funding rounds, wherein:

1. Challenges are presented
2. Anyone in the world may propose solutions. 
3. Proposal Assessors (also anyone in the world) rate & review the proposals
4. The Cardano community votes for the solutions they like. 
5. Winning proposals receive funding to deliver their solutions. 

As a project, the lofty aspiration is to reach “The highest level of human collaboration” 

Funding for Project Catalyst is provided by the Cardano Treasury, which collects a small fraction of network transaction fees, and uses them to fund development projects – including Project Catalyst.

“Quality Control” for Project Catalyst is provided through a decentralized network of PAID “volunteers”:

• Proposal Assessors (PAs): Anyone in the world can sign up to read and review proposals on a 5-star scale, and get paid to do it! These ratings and reviews provided by PAs help voters wade through thousands of proposals and decide where to cast their votes. Their feedback also helps proposers strengthen their proposals in future rounds!
• Veteran Proposal Assessors (VPAs): PA ratings are VERY influential at voting time, so it’s important to run “quality control” on them as well! That’s where VPAs come it. After serving as a PA for several rounds, someone can qualify to “Review the reviewers”. VPAs will catch PAs who are copy/pasting, trolling, or doing lazy work. Bad reviews are thrown out – they won’t show up to voters, and they won’t get paid. VPAs also get paid for their work.
• Catalyst Circle: The Catalyst Circle is a small group of representatives from the Cardano ecosystem, who are elected by the community, and try to sense problems from their various perspectives. This is usually a paid, short-term position.

This training course is about how to jump onto the first rung of this ladder: serving as a Proposal Assessor. 

Proposal Assessors are paid in ADA, in accordance with the quantity and quality of their work. Official payment amounts are hard to predict and calculate, but in general they are structured in a way that makes the work “worthwhile” to people from nearly any part of the world who put in time and effort. Depending on personal goals and circumstances, PAs may keep their ADA as a long-term investment in their Cardano wallet, or they may “cash it out” into their local fiat currency to buy groceries and pay rent. 

To be a Proposal Assessor, you don’t have to own ADA. You don’t have to be a Proposer or a Cardano Voter. There is no particular education, degree, or technical background required; in fact, diversity of background knowledge is a benefit to the project! 

All that is not to say it’s a low-skilled position. Proposal Assessors should be able to:

• Read and write in English. Hopefully someday there will be a way for other languages to participate deeply, but at this time the common language for the project is English. (MANY participants speak English as a second language.)
• Critical thinking and analysis – being a PA is all about understanding diverse ideas, forming opinions, and explaining your reasons. Confidence, clarity, and kindness are all valued in the process.

Beyond these basics, different professional backgrounds, interests, and aptitudes may have an impact on how someone participates as a PA. Someone may find themselves drawn to Proposals that are focused on a region of the world, or a certain type of technology, or within a certain challenge campaign. PAs are allowed to select which projects they WANT to review – based on their preferences and competencies. I’d encourage new PAs to look around – even in areas they THINK they don’t understand – but ultimately to follow their hearts and their brains to the proposals they wish to review.

THERE ARE SOME SPECIAL SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO BE AN EFFECTIVE PA – which is why this training course was created.