The Interledger Foundation Ambassador Program is for individuals passionate about activating communities who have been – and continue to be – systematically excluded from financial access and empowerment opportunities.
Each year, we seek individuals who possess distinct qualifications and are eager to explore innovative pathways, enhance standards, and create and implement open-source technologies.
All Ambassadors of the Interledger Foundation are collectively bound by their dedication to promoting digital financial inclusion within their respective communities and areas of expertise. Our previous ambassadors represent a diverse assemblage of individuals passionate about creating positive change. They take pride in their capacity to effectuate change by connecting individuals with events, resources, and one another. To learn more about their impact, you can explore their grant reports here.
This year, our foremost objective is to strengthen our commitment to improving interoperability and access to digital financial services, which is crucial for the actualization of rights such as access to education, healthcare, and an adequate standard of living. The exclusion of more than 1.7 billion adults from formal financial systems perpetuates cycles of poverty and marginalization. Rather than perceiving digital financial inclusion as an isolated issue, it should be recognized as a fundamental economic right that enables individuals to engage in financial and economic life actively.
With this in mind, we are thrilled to introduce our newest Ambassadors cohort and highlight the impactful projects they will be leading throughout the year.
Sheena Allen is an entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and tech architect. She has founded multiple successful startups.
Her project, "Financial Exclusion in the Southern U.S. : The Real Whys, Challenges, and the [Potential] Role of Digital Inclusion," This study investigates the financial exclusion faced by unbanked, underbanked, and neglected individuals in the Southern U.S. By prioritizing direct engagement, it seeks to uncover systemic and behavioural barriers that may be overlooked using traditional research methods.
Gavin Chait is a data scientist specializing in data curation and interoperability in the field of open data and open-access research for almost twenty years. Gavin is planning on developing “Hop Sauna, a social marketplace framework.”
Hop Sauna, is an open-source template stack ready for custom development of community-moderated Open Payments-enabled web shops, including a base server and client, with documentation, to support rapidly creating new types of federated commercial social applications.
Xiaoji Song is a Berlin-based artist, activist, performance-maker, game-maker, and researcher. Xiaoji Song's project, ”Shifting Power in the Informal Economy.” Highlights the Informal economic activity in a continent that has over 90% digital connectivity.
She researches how the informal economy is essential to the livelihoods of marginalized communities, yet its informality—often not by choice—results in exclusion, stigma, and limited choices when seeking labor rights protection and economic empowerment.
Andria Barrett is a fierce advocate for inclusion and leverages over 15 years of experience helping organizations—from tech startups to nonprofits—create inclusive environments where people feel seen, heard, and valued. Andria’s project, “Empowering Global ROSCA Users through Digital Financial Inclusion,” focuses on ROSCA users and aims to discover what steps need to be taken to support their transition to using digital financial tools that encourage global participation.
Caroline Sinders is an award-winning critical designer, researcher, and artist. They’re the founder of the human rights and design lab Convocation Research. Her proposal,”By Design? The Hidden Harms Within Banking Apps,” highlights how harmful design patterns (often called dark patterns or deceptive design patterns) are barriers to digital inclusion because they unintentionally trick, confuse, manipulate, or nudge users into making unintended decisions. This project aims to provide those building new digital financial services with insights on how to design inclusively and mitigate the risk of unintentional harm when engaging with demographics or contexts.
We are excited to welcome this new group to the Interledger Community. We look forward to their projects, which will raise our collective awareness and knowledge while simultaneously inspiring enthusiasm for the advancement of digital financial inclusion.
If you’re looking for more insights on the 2025 Ambasadorship cohort, be sure to follow our community forum! It’s a wonderful space where all Ambassadors will showcase their exciting work.
About the Ambassadors program
The Call for Ambassadors is now closed. For more details on the program, preview the Application Guide. Should you have any inquiries, feel free to email the program team.
You can also subscribe to our mailing list to receive all grant opportunities directly in your inbox or join our community space to engage with current projects and connect with our expanding community.
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