PAIRSx Africa: Pioneering new approaches to AI through Participation

🗓️ 31st March 2025 - 13:00 - 15:00pm Central Africa Time - Via Zoom

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Registration open: 13 March 2025 Submissions due: 27 March 2025 Registration closes: 30 March 2025 Event: 31 March 2025

The inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa taking place in Kigali, Rwanda carries an important theme for Africa’s role in the global governance of AI: “AI and Africa’s Demographic Dividend: Reimagining Economic Opportunities for Africa’s Workforce." In order to reimagine economic opportunities for the continent's workforce, the Summit recognises that African governments, innovators, civil society and a community of international partners will have to pioneer new approaches to govern AI and its supporting technologies such as data systems. But how might we achieve this? And what existing practices can demonstrate the feasibility of recommended new approaches.

Many scholars and policymakers in AI have begun sounding the drums for more participatory approaches to AI development and governance which incorporate diverse voices and perspectives. For many Africans, traditional approaches often do not result in equitable opportunities or benefits. As discussed extensively during the first iteration of the Participatory AI Research and Practice Symposium in Paris, a shift towards a participatory model challenges traditional, top-down and expert-driven approaches to AI governance. Participatory approaches move away from aggregated projections about the benefits of AI and allow more nuanced questions about trust and accountability, whether job opportunities are dignified and/or about the protections offered in a tech-driven economy where every online activity has commercial value.

About the webinar

Ahead of the Global AI Summit on Africa taking place in Kigali, we invite you to participate in a webinar on 31 March 2025 from 13:00 to 15:00 Central African Time. The aim of the webinar is to advance the practice of participatory AI in Africa by convening researchers and practitioners of participatory methods in AI. During the webinar we aim to define the continent's participatory needs for AI and establish a community of Africans who can formulate a shared vision for policy action.

Outline Agenda

13:00 - 13:10: Welcome and Opening

13:10 - 13:40: Keynote Presentations

13:40 - 13:55: Q&A/Discussion

13:55 - 14:15: Presentations

14:15 - 14:30: Q&A/Discussion

14:30 - 14:50: Thematic conversations

14:50 - 15:00: Sharing & close

Plenary Presentations

| AI governance for who? A critique and situating of the African voice in the continental AI envisioning and planning process.

Bobina Zulfa, Pollicy
Participation is critical for equitable decision making which caters to as many voices and materialities. For African countries, who are in a sense marginal in the global AI governance conversation, whether by their geopolitical standing or by virtue of only recently starting to adopt AI and by extension embedding AI governance conversations in their contexts, it becomes even more important to centre the perspectives of the people. Many of whom are already structurally marginalised in different aspects and for whom AI is more likely to disproportionately negatively impact their lives.
This presentation thus takes on a review of the current state of participatory AI governance in Africa as seen through the conceptual and structural development of the Continental AI Strategy. Specifically, this review takes on a critique of the central vision upheld by the Strategy, “harnessing AI for Africa’s development and prosperity” which basically implies imaginaries of a more developed Africa whose growth is largely spurred by automation and smart systems.

Bobina Zulfa, Pollicy

Participation is critical for equitable decision making which caters to as many voices and materialities. For African countries, who are in a sense marginal in the global AI governance conversation, whether by their geopolitical standing or by virtue of only recently starting to adopt AI and by extension embedding AI governance conversations in their contexts, it becomes even more important to centre the perspectives of the people. Many of whom are already structurally marginalised in different aspects and for whom AI is more likely to disproportionately negatively impact their lives.

This presentation thus takes on a review of the current state of participatory AI governance in Africa as seen through the conceptual and structural development of the Continental AI Strategy. Specifically, this review takes on a critique of the central vision upheld by the Strategy, “harnessing AI for Africa’s development and prosperity” which basically implies imaginaries of a more developed Africa whose growth is largely spurred by automation and smart systems.

| A vision for a Global Dialogue on AI: Citizen Engagement in AI governance

Sebastian Calderón, Innovation for Policy
The Innovation for Policy Foundation has been collaborating with various partners globally to build a vision for a Global Dialogue on AI, aiming to create spaces where citizens can engage in discussions on AI's societal impacts. The foundation strongly believes that such spaces need to be fostered across Africa and Latin America, given the profound effects AI will have on our societies. I4Policy's goal is to advocate for a participatory approach to AI governance, where inclusive dialogues help shape policy and decision-making processes. While this vision is still being developed, we see it as a crucial step toward ensuring more democratic and inclusive AI frameworks. During this presentation, Sebastian will discuss this broader vision for participatory AI governance and introduce the Citizen Engagement Platform (CEP) - a platform development in collaboration with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).

Sebastian Calderón, Innovation for Policy

The Innovation for Policy Foundation has been collaborating with various partners globally to build a vision for a Global Dialogue on AI, aiming to create spaces where citizens can engage in discussions on AI's societal impacts. The foundation strongly believes that such spaces need to be fostered across Africa and Latin America, given the profound effects AI will have on our societies. I4Policy's goal is to advocate for a participatory approach to AI governance, where inclusive dialogues help shape policy and decision-making processes. While this vision is still being developed, we see it as a crucial step toward ensuring more democratic and inclusive AI frameworks. During this presentation, Sebastian will discuss this broader vision for participatory AI governance and introduce the Citizen Engagement Platform (CEP) - a platform development in collaboration with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).

| African gig workers: The invisible hands that power the global tech revolution

Kauna Ibrahim Malgwi, African Content Moderators ****
There is no justification for the undignifying working conditions African content moderators and data labellers face in their jobs. Not the poor economic conditions in our countries and certainly not projections of the important role Africans can play in the imminent global AI breakthrough.
In this presentation Kauna will share her work as an organiser and human rights advocate for dignified working conditions for African content moderators and data labellers in Nigeria and Kenya. She will highlight the challenges faced by gig workers in both countries ranging from psychological harms to gender inequalities.

While she has many individual stories to share, she also aims to highlight the structural challenges faced by the workers who have come together to collectively demand better working conditions and pay. |

| Participatory AI Approaches toward an Indigenous People Digitally Inclusive Namibia

Naftali Ndeapo Indongo, Namibia University of Science and Technology
Our work highlights a participatory AI research agenda co-developed with Indigenous communities in Namibia under the UNESCO Chair in Digital Technology Design with Indigenous People. It draws from a series of co-designed initiatives, including the Himbaverse, a VR framework that explores cultural validity in extended realities with the Ovahimba community; the Smart Hydroponics project, which builds trust in AI-driven agriculture through transparency and community feedback loops; and the Resilience application, which generates motivational stories with the San youth to support educational perseverance and resilience. Building on these foundations, the current initiative focuses on developing a multilingual machine translation system for low-resource Indigenous languages such as Ju/’hoansi, Otjiherero, Oshiwambo, and Damara. The system is built by leveraging open-source large language models such as NLLB, mBERT, and Tiny Llama to train translation models between Indigenous languages, English, and Afrikaans. Through a participatory approach involving crowdsourced data collection, annotation, collaboration with linguists, and validation and testing through community engagement, the project aims to support language preservation and digital inclusion. By combining technical innovation with Indigenous knowledge systems, the work advances responsible AI design that empowers communities and fosters culturally grounded digital futures.

Naftali Ndeapo Indongo, Namibia University of Science and Technology

Our work highlights a participatory AI research agenda co-developed with Indigenous communities in Namibia under the UNESCO Chair in Digital Technology Design with Indigenous People. It draws from a series of co-designed initiatives, including the Himbaverse, a VR framework that explores cultural validity in extended realities with the Ovahimba community; the Smart Hydroponics project, which builds trust in AI-driven agriculture through transparency and community feedback loops; and the Resilience application, which generates motivational stories with the San youth to support educational perseverance and resilience. Building on these foundations, the current initiative focuses on developing a multilingual machine translation system for low-resource Indigenous languages such as Ju/’hoansi, Otjiherero, Oshiwambo, and Damara. The system is built by leveraging open-source large language models such as NLLB, mBERT, and Tiny Llama to train translation models between Indigenous languages, English, and Afrikaans. Through a participatory approach involving crowdsourced data collection, annotation, collaboration with linguists, and validation and testing through community engagement, the project aims to support language preservation and digital inclusion. By combining technical innovation with Indigenous knowledge systems, the work advances responsible AI design that empowers communities and fosters culturally grounded digital futures.

| Participatory AI Governance in Francophone Africa: Lessons from the Development of the Artificial Intelligence (IDIA) project

Yossra Kallali, Niyel
Niyel’s Development of the Artificial Intelligence (IDIA) project demystifies AI and makes the concept of AI familiar to the general public in French-speaking Africa. The objective of the project is to bring African publics into AI governance conversations. We do this through consultations, informative productions, and digital campaigns engaging with the online audience to create an impact, on national and regional levels. During this presentation the audience will gain valuable insights into participatory AI governance happening in francophone Africa, strategies for mobilizing communities, and policy recommendations that advocate for ethical AI. Niyel representatives will present some key results of the IDIA project which will provide input for an interactive Q&A that follows, offering participants an opportunity to engage in discussions on AI policy development, ethical AI adoption, and participatory governance approaches. The presentation will highlight key takeaways and strategic recommendations from researchers derived from the first phase of the project, and the key participatory initiatives taking place in the second phase to ensure that African countries develop and implement responsible, inclusive, equitable AI policies.

Yossra Kallali, Niyel

Niyel’s Development of the Artificial Intelligence (IDIA) project demystifies AI and makes the concept of AI familiar to the general public in French-speaking Africa. The objective of the project is to bring African publics into AI governance conversations. We do this through consultations, informative productions, and digital campaigns engaging with the online audience to create an impact, on national and regional levels. During this presentation the audience will gain valuable insights into participatory AI governance happening in francophone Africa, strategies for mobilizing communities, and policy recommendations that advocate for ethical AI. Niyel representatives will present some key results of the IDIA project which will provide input for an interactive Q&A that follows, offering participants an opportunity to engage in discussions on AI policy development, ethical AI adoption, and participatory governance approaches. The presentation will highlight key takeaways and strategic recommendations from researchers derived from the first phase of the project, and the key participatory initiatives taking place in the second phase to ensure that African countries develop and implement responsible, inclusive, equitable AI policies.

| AI Eco-system for Uganda: Policy Alternatives for Civil Society Organisations

Wanyama Edrine, Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
The session will explore AI development and its potential impact on the AI and the related regulatory gaps, and its impact on CSOs operations. It will explore policy alternatives, examples from other jurisdictions and how they impact on CSOs vis-a-vis the role of CSOs in AI regulation. This discussion will be based on a brief by CIPESA: https://cipesa.org/wp-content/files/briefs/An_Artificial_Intelligence_Eco-System_for_Uganda__Policy_Brief.pdf

Wanyama Edrine, Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)

The session will explore AI development and its potential impact on the AI and the related regulatory gaps, and its impact on CSOs operations. It will explore policy alternatives, examples from other jurisdictions and how they impact on CSOs vis-a-vis the role of CSOs in AI regulation. This discussion will be based on a brief by CIPESA: https://cipesa.org/wp-content/files/briefs/An_Artificial_Intelligence_Eco-System_for_Uganda__Policy_Brief.pdf

Join us for a conversation about how a variety of actors can shape AI development and governance in African countries. You can register to join by **following this link.**

Workshop sessions (submissions invited)

We also welcome submissions from people or organisations who are interested in sharing their research, projects or presentations related to participatory processes and AI during a workshop breakout session.

Submissions should explore the following themes:

Participatory AI development

This theme aims to highlight participatory design methodologies which can identify and explore the points where the public can provide inputs to shape the design of technologies or their societal impacts.

Participatory AI governance

Governance of AI covers broad issues ranging from institutions and sites of engagement, setting out common visions and values for the direction of AI development and use, to developing and applying detailed regulations for specific kinds of AI systems or applications. This theme explores models to bring publics into AI governance conversations, from national level, to the African Union and globally.

Participation, Power and Resistance

There is an evident power imbalance between those who own AI infrastructure and the resources to develop it. At the same time, participatory practices are premised on the idea that every part of the AI life cycle is good and just or if not they can always be made so. This theme invites critical perspectives on the promises of AI - whether jobs, social or cultural improvements.