Wechezaji DAO

Wechezaji DAO powers community savings groups on Shirikia — called Saccos (also known as Chamas). A Sacco is a group of people who save together, access loans from the group pool, and make decisions together. Each Sacco is its own independent DAO. That means every group can set up its own governance rules, create proposals, and vote on decisions — separate from the main Shirikia DAO. Members participate based on the rules that their specific Sacco defines.

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Find and join a Sacco

1. Go to the Saccos page to see all available groups.
2. Browse the list and find one that interests you.
3. Click Join.

• Public Saccos — you join immediately.
• Private Saccos — your request goes to the group creator for approval.

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Create your own Sacco

Want to start your own savings group? You can create one in minutes.

1. Go to the Saccos page and click Create Sacco.
2. Give your group a name and description.
3. Choose whether it is public (anyone can join) or private (you approve new members).
4. Confirm to create your Sacco.

You become the first member and the group creator automatically.

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Save with your group

Once you are a member of a Sacco, you can deposit funds into the group savings pool.

1. Open your Sacco.
2. Go to the Savings section.
3. Enter the amount you want to deposit.
4. Confirm your deposit.

Your contribution adds to the group’s total savings balance.

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Borrow from your group

Saccos offer loan packages that members can borrow from. Each package has its own interest rate and repayment terms.

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View loan packages

Open your Sacco and go to Loan Packages to see what is available. Each package shows:

• Package name
• Interest rate
• Repayment duration (in months)
• Description

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Apply for a loan

1. Select the loan package you want.
2. Enter the amount you need.
3. Submit your loan request.

Your request goes to the group creator for approval.

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Managing your Sacco (group creators)

If you created a Sacco, you have additional tools to manage it.

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Approve or reject join requests

For private Saccos, new members need your approval:

1. Go to your Sacco’s Join Requests section.
2. Review each request.
3. Approve or reject as needed.

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Approve loan requests

When a member applies for a loan:

1. Go to the Loans section of your Sacco.
2. Review the request details.
3. Approve or leave it pending.

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Manage loan packages

You can create, update, or remove loan packages to control what borrowing options are available to your group.

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Update group settings

• Change the Sacco’s name or description
• Toggle between public and private
• Remove members who no longer belong (members with active loans or savings cannot be removed)

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On-chain governance (optional)

Saccos can optionally set up on-chain governance — giving members the power to vote on group decisions using blockchain-based proposals. Every vote is recorded on the blockchain and cannot be altered. The governance system works the same way as the main Shirikia DAO governance — the same proposal lifecycle, voting, delegation, and execution process. The only difference is that it applies to your Sacco’s decisions instead of the platform as a whole.

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Step 1: Create your governance token

Before setting up voting, your Sacco needs its own governance token. This token represents membership and voting power within the group. When creating the token you will provide:

• Token name — a human-readable name for the token (e.g. “Umoja Chama Token”)
• Token symbol — a short ticker (e.g. “UCT”)
• Initial supply — how many tokens to mint at creation
• Recipient — who receives the initial tokens (usually the group creator, who then distributes them to members)

Why does a Sacco need a token? The token is how the system knows who is allowed to vote and how much voting power each member has. Owning more tokens means more voting power.

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Distribute tokens to members

After creating the token, the group creator holds the entire initial supply. The next step is to mint and distribute tokens to Sacco members so they can participate in governance. As the group creator, you can mint tokens to any member’s wallet address. This is how you bring members into the voting system — a member without tokens cannot delegate or vote.

1. Go to your Sacco’s Governance section.
2. Select Mint Tokens.
3. Enter the member’s wallet address and the amount of tokens to give them.
4. Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

You can distribute tokens however your group agrees — equal amounts to everyone, proportional to each member’s savings contribution, or any other arrangement. You can also mint additional tokens later as new members join.

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Step 2: Set up the voting system (DAO)

Once your token exists, you set up the actual voting system by deploying a DAO for your Sacco. This is where you define the rules of how your group makes decisions. You will be asked for the following parameters:

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Step 3: Delegate your voting power

After the token and DAO are set up, there is one important step every member must complete before they can vote — delegation. What is delegation? Delegation is how you activate your voting power. Even though you hold tokens, the voting system does not count your tokens until you tell it who should vote with them. You can either:

• Delegate to yourself — you vote directly using your own tokens
• Delegate to someone else — you trust another member to vote on your behalf

How to delegate:

1. Go to your Sacco’s Governance section.
2. Click Delegate.
3. Choose yourself or enter another member’s wallet address.
4. Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

After delegating, your voting power will match your token balance and you are ready to participate in proposals.

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Creating proposals and voting

Once governance is set up, any member who meets the proposal threshold can create proposals, and all token holders who have delegated can vote. The process works exactly the same as Shirikia platform governance — see that page for full details on creating proposals, what each field means, and how voting works. The governance page for your Sacco shows all active and past proposals, vote counts, your token balance, your voting power, and the group treasury balance.