The NEAR Digital Collective (NDC) is an ambitious project that brings together users, projects, stakeholders and partners of the NEAR ecosystem to create a radically new way of governing itself.
To achieve this goal, the NDC is on a journey to create a governance model that allows it to serve the needs of the community. As a result, governance will go through a number of iterations as the project grows, and the needs of the ecosystem change.
The foundation of this governance is the NDC Constitution. A constitution is, at its simplest, a collection of fundamental principles that an organisation or entity agrees to work by. Think of it as a rule book, and in that rule book are descriptions of the main institutions that make up this organisation, and the relationship between them.
Below we’re going to explore one of key components of the Constitution: The Council of Advisors and its role in bringing governance to the community.
What are Governing Bodies in the NDC?
Governing Bodies are an integral part of governance for the NDC. Each plays a role in ensuring transparency and accountability are maintained at all times.
Each governing body is responsible for organising how it operates and handles proceedings in alignment with the NEAR Manifesto 10. They will have the right to remove their members for breaches of the code of conduct with a vote of two-thirds.
What is the Council of Advisors?
The Council of Advisors is composed of proven leaders and other influential contributors can be appointed or chosen for a term by the Voting Body.
Its role is to advise the House of Merit on strategic direction, helping ensure it aligns with the values and the mission of the NEAR Ecosystem.
More specifically, the Council of Advisors has the power to veto proposals from the House of Merit, if the Advisors believe the allocation is not in line with the community’s goals. To do so, a strong majority of five out of seven votes is required to block a proposal.
No person can be considered for election to become an Advisor in the CoA unless they have two years or greater of experience and active participation in the NEAR Ecosystem.
Advisors can be removed and disqualified from their role as a representative through investigation and removal by the Transparency Commission.
The Council of Advisors, like so much of the NDC, is a living entity. Meaning that the community will ultimately decide and determine the direction and members of the Advisory Council, in accordance with the community’s goals.
About the NDC
The NDC, originally proposed by NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, is now an independent movement led by the NEAR Community. Its goal is to establish a community treasury and governance model that allows the ecosystem to collectively make decisions on everything from funding intiatives to electing representatives. NDC’s purpose is to steward NEAR towards becoming a truly decentralized network that can self-organize and self-govern.
What is the Council of Advisors? was originally published in NEAR Digital Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.