UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

08/05/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/05/2024 09:59

Women in AI: UNESCO awards financial grants to 15 African women entrepreneurs

"Only 20% of employees in technical roles in machine learning companies, 12% of artificial intelligence researchers and 6% of professional software developers globally are women. In addition to being underrepresented in Tech, women are also under-represented as entrepreneurs. UNESCO is committed to putting an end these inequalities by giving women the same opportunities as men. This is what we are doing in Africa with our partners," said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO's Director-General.

80 women entrepreneursfrom 28 African countries have just completed a 3-month training course designed by UNESCO and its new Category 2 Institute, Ai movement, and funded by the Morocco's OCP Foundation. The training consisted of a three-month long online training, followed by an intensive two-week Summer Camp held at the Ai movement Artificial Intelligence Centre in Rabat, Morocco, creating a continent-wide network of women in AI to facilitate continuous dialogue and exchange.

In addition, 15 women entrepreneurswill receive special funding and support. Selected by a jury composed of experts from UNESCO, Ai movement and representatives from the OCP Foundation, they conceived start-ups that were judged to respond effectively to key development challenges: more than half address health, education and agricultural issues, and a quarter optimize the use of technology in organizational processes and security issues, including cybersecurity. Eight of these businesses are currently being incubated at the Ai movement Centre.

"A study in Natureshowed that 79% of our Sustainable Development Goals could be improved or achieved thanks to AI. This project allows African women to benefit from the transformative power of AI to positively impact our continent." Said Amal El Fallah-Seghrouchni, Executive President of Ai movement.

In an era in which digital technologies are reshaping everyday life, women are globally under-represented in their research and design. These global disadvantages intersect with regional disadvantages, making the road to success as a tech entrepreneur extremely bumpy for African women. In sub-Saharan Africa, household attitudes to gender, gender roles, cost considerations, security concerns and restrictions on mobility contribute to unequal access to technology for girls at home. 32% of women in the region use the internet compared to 42% of men. Only 1 in 6 women in the region chose to study STEM courses at university level.

To help address the twin problems of gender and geographical inequalities in AI, UNESCO prioritized both issues in its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the first global standard-setting instrument in this field, unanimously adopted by its Member States in November 2021. The Recommendation is a concrete roadmap for states building AI policies.

About the"African Women in Tech and AI" initiative

The three-year long project "African Women in Tech and AI", is led by UNESCO and Ai movement, in cooperation with the OCP Foundation. The project will benefit 150 women from all 5 regions of Africa. A total of 114 women have been trained to date and 36 more will be trained in 2025. The training includes practical modules on data science, programming language, deep-learning and machine learning, strategic foresight on AI, project management, support in structuring start-up projects and market research tailored to the African continent. AI leadership and ethics were also core components.