This is the second blog in the “Keeping the light on: Reflections on GEI and AI in Africa” series. The writing from this series emerged from a “writeshop” organized by Gender at Work and Ladysmith as part of the “Artificial Intelligence for Development Africa,” also known as AI4D, financed by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). This was part of the final on-line Peer Learning Journeys (PLJ) workshop, modeled on Gender Action Learning (GAL), held in May, 2024.
In this second blog, Joel Nwakaire, an Engineer, professor at ATPS and Project Officer of the Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture and Food Systems Innovation Research Network (AI4AFS), part of AI4D, reflects on his own biases about gender and abilities that he learned in childhood. He comes to realize that similar discrimination and inequities structure his own academic and research worlds such as few women in AI, and by extension, against women farmers and farmers living with disabilities. He shares his journey to valuing the knowledge of women farmers and PLWDs in co-creating AI tools for and with these farmers to champion more diverse workplaces in AI related fields.
I had been taught that these beliefs were the reality
I was born in a family of three and was blessed with two sisters. I grew up with traditional cultural beliefs: that girls and women are assigned specific tasks, type and level of education to be attained, and are told what leadership positions they are suited for. I was made to see gender from a very myopic perspective. I also grew up understanding that people living with disabilities or those with special needs are seen as incapacitated and unable to contribute meaningfully to wider discussions that inform policy decisions, changed practices, and economic growth. People did not see them as intelligent enough even when educated. I had been taught that these beliefs were the reality.
When I joined the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) as a project officer of the artificial intelligence for agriculture and food systems program, I didn’t realize that my understanding of gender and its intersectionality, and my life, was about to change. While at ATPS, I realized they had a gender policy but most of the employees were men and they were not intentional about hiring employees and people living with disability (PLWD). Recruitment at ATPS processes were not designed to consider gender equality and social inclusion, or to give equal opportunity to both genders and PWLDs.
My thinking began to change
Our AI4AFS (Artificial Intelligence For Agriculture and Food Systems) team participated in a series of mind changing workshops on how to mainstream gender equality and social inclusion in all our network activities. Of particular importance was the training we received, specifically from the gender support team led by Shannon Sutton of Gender at Work. I learned that for the change to occur, I must be intentional about gender equality and inclusion. I learned from the AI4D peer learning journey that opportunities in our AI4AFS team, work with sub-grantees and AI research, should be made to be inclusive, which include decision-making, capacity building, and access to resources, to list but a few.
Working with women in our team, I learnt a lot about the capacity of women and the unique perspectives they offer in working with women and marginalized populations. I learnt key approaches in creating a conducive learning environment for these communities. For instance, in scheduling meetings with the women farmers, I discovered that domestic matters can influence their availability.
Their unique contributions touched my new found thinking. My thinking began to change; I began to speak up, seeking opportunities to be intentional about gender equality and social inclusion. I started to ensure inclusion in my workplace.
The result was that ATPS began to recruit more female staff, and began to accommodate persons living with special needs.“ These events took place as we started to practice what we learned during the GEI peer learning journey. This was an improvement from the initial practices at ATPS.
I was also intentional about guiding other team members to develop a gender plan for new teams, based on what I learned from AI4FS. Recognizing there are not enough women scientists in AI for agriculture and food, our plan resulted in the selection of five female and five male teams for the AI4AFS program. Further, I was intentional about improving women’s representation within the team.
I realized that to influence system change, we needed to increase awareness about giving equal opportunity to women and people living with disabilities. I did this through my social media handles and personal discussions. My perception of women and people living with disability changed. I began to see these individuals as having equal or greater knowledge than me even when they are not “educated.”
Becoming passionate to effect system change
Going forward, I felt that my experience should influence how we strengthen the adoption of AI among women smallholder farmers and the marginalized. I and my team members saw the opportunity to deepen implementation of the lessons learned through small funding opportunities offered by the IDRC AI4D program called the Gender Innovation Challenge. In our small project, we implemented “design-by-inclusion’, which emphasized the inclusion of the voices of the marginalized and women. This effort included: design and development of AI tools, co-development of training materials, and capacity development through training and retraining, with the overall objective of equipping women and marginalized populations to use AI tools efficiently.
My journey helped me to realize how passionate I am to effect system change. My journey eventually turned me into a GEI advocate who sees marginalization and says something about it.
Since then, I have had the privilege to inform discussions around gender and AI governance in international discussions and I have been invited to speak about the lessons learned from the AI4D project. I am glad that I was able to share this transformative journey in the 2024 ICT4Agric CGIAR conference.
I am ever eager to use my lessons to influence societal changes, both in the workplace and in all projects implementation and all activities. I am looking forward to empowering more women and the marginalized to adopt AI tools.
Joel Nwakaire is a postdoctoral Research Officer at African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) and the Project Officer of the Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture and Food Systems Innovation Research Network, which is part of the AI4D Africa initiative. He is also an Engineer and Professor of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering University of Nigeria. He focuses on the development and deployment of agricultural tools that are inclusively designed to impact on the lives of women and marginalized. communities. He strongly believes in capacity strengthening for increased adoption of AI tools in agriculture amid the growing effect of climate change. You can find Joel on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).
Stay tuned for the next blog posts in the series Keeping the light on: Reflections on GEI and AI in Africa!
