Nine (9) projects selected following GRAIN's call for proposals on "Improving inclusion and gender equality through AI in Sub-Saharan Africa"

• 7 August 2023
• grainroot
• News GRAIN, Projects

Following GRAIN's call for proposals on "Improving inclusion and gender equality through Artificial Intelligence in sub-Saharan Africa", nine (9) projects were selected out of fifty received applications.

The projects were proposed by teams led by six women and three men from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya (2), South Africa, Nigeria (2) and Ethiopia (2). The beneficiaries come from six universities, a public-interest research consortium, an NGO, and a non-profit organization.

The selected projects cover the following topics : 

• Gender and voice technology
• Epistemic justice ; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); science, technology and society studies (STS), and public policies
• Economic development research, economic regulation, gender, public policies.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and computer justice research
• Artificial intelligence and precision agriculture
• Agricultural technology transfer, gender and rural development
•  Artificial intelligence, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) Big Data Analysis, Human Data Mining

The teams come from the following institutions: 

• Makerere University (https://www.mak.ac.ug/)
• Core23lab (https://core23lab.org/)
• Centre for Africa Epistemic Justice (https://epistemic-justice.org/)
• Data Economy Policy Hub (https://www.dataeconomypolicyhub.org/)
• Summit University (https://www.summituniversity.edu.ng/home.php)
• Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (https://www.dkut.ac.ke/)
• Kwara State University ( https://mykwasu.kwasu.edu.ng/)
• American College of Technology (ACT) (https://www.actamericancollege.com/)
• Debre Markos University (http://www.dmu.edu.et/)

This call for proposals, launched in October 2022, invited the submissions of projects addressing the use of AI to address issues related to gender inclusion and equity in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Selected teams join the Gender and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Network (GRAIN) in Africa, a network of individual researchers, research and advocacy organizations, social innovators and think tanks. The GRAIN network is led and facilitated by a consortium of strong and innovative research institutions including IPAR (Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale), CSEA (Centre d'Etude des Économies d'Afrique) and Sunbird AI. The Gender and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Network (GRAIN) is a research network on artificial intelligence for gender equality and inclusion. It aims to advance gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa through the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence innovations.

GRAIN's intervention strategy is based on 3 pillars: 

- The development of the "Gender and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Network" (GRAIN) according to an inclusive and sustainable model; 

- Capacity building and advocacy on responsible AI for gender equality for network members and stakeholders; 

- The implementation of a research program on responsible AI for gender equality.  

Le réseau fait parti du programme Intelligence Artificielle pour le Développement en Afrique (IAPD Afrique) financé par le Centre de recherches pour le développement international (CRDI) et l’Agence Suédoise de coopération internationale pour le développement (Sida) à hauteur 1 225 700 dollars canadien pour une durée de 3 ans.