Context: In 2018, AI was everywhere in the conversation, but almost nowhere in the practical toolkit of international development professionals. Most people working in global health, education, economic development, and social impact had heard much about the promises but had very little about the realities and underpinnings of the technology itself. TechChange asked me to change that.
Year: 2018 – 2020

What I Did: I designed, put together, and taught a new online course called Artificial Intelligence for International Development, from scratch, targeting mid-career practitioners without a technical background. The goal wasn’t to make coders; it was to give thoughtful people enough grounding in how AI actually works that they could make smart strategic and managerial decisions about using it in their own work. Over four weeks, we covered the foundations of machine learning and deep learning, real-world case studies of AI in development contexts, algorithmic bias and ethics, privacy and security, and where the field was likely heading. Every week included guest speakers from across sectors – healthcare, agriculture, labor, and more – who brought depth and real-world texture to the concepts. Notably, the speaker roster was at least half women and mostly from the global majority, a fact that I am still proud of today.

What We Made: A course that ran for three years, with around 150 students total, updated each year as the field evolved. It became one of TechChange’s most popular and well-reviewed offerings. While the course is no longer offered, the course page is available here, and includes an overview of the curriculum.