Yachay Wasi: Community Information Protocol — Core Components

Status and scope

• Purpose: This white paper defines the core components of Yachay Wasi, a practical, steward-led SMS service that delivers topic-based alerts—SALUD (health), PRECIO (fair prices), and COMUNIDAD (coordination)—without internet.
• Origin: Yachay Wasi is the refined outcome of an exploratory research phase that tested multiple message transports and consent approaches. All non-SMS components are archived. The focus is immediate utility, FPIC compliance, and community stewardship.
• Technical status: Fully coded and validated technically via unit tests, integration tests, and SMS simulation in a controlled lab environment. There has been no deployment in any community and no live GSM testing. Any field validation will occur only after relevant ethics approvals, collective consent (FPIC), and required permits.

Executive summary

In many rural Andean communities, residents commonly report challenges such as traveling long distances to health posts that are closed, receiving below-market prices for agricultural products due to information asymmetry, and difficulty participating in community decisions due to caregiving responsibilities or distance. Yachay Wasi addresses these issues with simple, free-to-receive SMS alerts.

It’s not about AI—it’s about who controls information. Yachay Wasi places that control in community hands.

The real gap: reliable information, not sophistication. Urban centers often receive real-time updates through digital channels; rural communities frequently rely on informal networks. The exclusion many communities experience is not primarily from advanced technologies—it’s from basic, timely information. Yachay Wasi bridges this gap with zero-cost, offline-first alerts using the phones people already have.

Core components: Yachay Wasi’s Community Information Protocol

Technical snapshot (reference)

• Transport: Gammu SMSD (no internet required).
• Core tables:
  • community_consent: granted/revoked + reason.
  • participants: msisdn_hash (salted SHA-256).
  • subscriptions: participant_id, topic ∈ {salud, precio, comunidad}, user_code (4 digits).
  • consent_events: individual revocations.
  • messages, processing_log: basic traceability with TTL.
• Steward CLI:
  • yachay-wasi init-db
  • yachay-wasi community-consent --status granted|revoked --reason "Assembly YYYY-MM-DD"
  • yachay-wasi broadcast --topic salud|precio|comunidad --text "..."
• Phonebook workflow:
  • phonebook.csv (hash → number) kept offline under steward custody; never imported into the database.
  • Numbers are resolved locally at send-time only, ideally on encrypted removable media.

Implementation pathway (pilot)

1. Phase 1: Community assembly → record FPIC (granted) → train stewards (CLI use, phonebook security, privacy basics).
2. Phase 2: Share subscription instructions (posters, assemblies, radio): SALUD, PRECIO, COMUNIDAD.
3. Phase 3: First alerts and learning cycle → gather voluntary, ethics-approved feedback on outcomes (e.g., reduction in unnecessary travel, improved price awareness, timely meeting reminders).

Measurement and evaluation (after approvals)

• Time saved: self-reported reductions in unnecessary trips related to health or administration.
• Price awareness: self-reported knowledge of current fair prices before market day.
• Participation: self-reported ability to track/attend assemblies following reminders.
• Stewardship: ability to operate the system locally without external technical support after handover.

Operational risks and mitigations

• SIM theft or misuse → SIM PIN; physical custody; simple inventory logs.
• Device seizure → full-disk encryption; minimal retention; local, encrypted backups under community control.
• Phonebook exposure (PII) → encrypted USB; never email; quarterly rotation; clear custodian and access rules.
• Invalid numbers or failed sends → local logging; CLI shows aggregate outcomes to avoid overwhelming stewards.
• Over-broadcasting/misinformation → simple local verification norms (e.g., two-person rule for sensitive alerts).

Policy recommendations

Qori Labs’ role and licensing

Qori Labs built the Yachay Wasi codebase as a public good under the MIT License.

We provide initial hardware and training where funded. Long-term operation, consent governance, and information control belong to the community.

No cloud lock-in; no dependency on Qori Labs after handover.

Everyday vision for 2030

In a rural Andean community, a steward sends a short health alert by SMS. A family avoids a wasted trip. Another steward shares fair crop prices before market day. People balancing care responsibilities receive timely reminders about assemblies. All data stays local. All control rests with the community.

Appendix B: Current limitations and planned improvements

• Validation to date is lab-only; no live GSM or community deployment yet.
• Spanish command set; Quechua keywords and optional voice (IVR) support are planned based on community preference.
• All non-SMS transports from earlier exploration remain archived and disabled.

Closing

Information is dignity. Yachay Wasi provides a minimal, ethical, and ready-to-pilot way for communities to control and share critical information through the phones they already use—offline, with consent, and with privacy by design.