Enterprise IT World MEA’s Post

1️⃣ The Reality in Humanitarian Funding Ever felt lost in a bureaucratic labyrinth while trying to figure out how to apply for a grant? It's an ongoing battle for humanitarian organizations. What if we could cut through this red tape with #AI technology? 2️⃣ A Call for Change in Humanitarian Funding Let's face it: the humanitarian financing system (the UN’s way of saying funding for aid in humanitarian crises) is a maze. It's absurdly hard to find clear-cut information about funding applications, grant eligibility, or who to ask for help. The issue? 1. High staff turnover in humanitarian operations means losing key knowledge when people move on. 2. The chaos of scattered information across countless websites and documents. It’s disorganized, and it slows organizations down. 3️⃣ A Bold Solution - An AI Game-Changer Picture this: an AI tool specifically built for the challenge of funding humanitarian work. Imagine a chatbot, as user-friendly as #ChatGPT, loaded with data from the United Nations OCHA #CERF and #CBPFs, which provide over $1 billion a year for humanitarian aid. It would answer questions and provide guidance at that critical moment when someone is struggling to get a badly-needed grant. It could revolutionize how organizations access funds - making it faster, smarter, and just plain better. 4️⃣ A Moonshot Journey Alongside the developer Kenny C., we're crafting this tool to change the experience for people accessing CERF and CBPFs.  Yes, it's a moonshot. It's risky, and might just take time. But that's how real change happens. * What's your take? * Can an AI chatbot reshape the humanitarian financing world? * Let us know if you think we’re on the right track or not. #humanitarianaid, #artificialintelligence, #innovationinaid, #unocha, #grantfunding,

🌐 AI has the potential to both improve the efficiency of humanitarian action, and turbocharge its risks. Our dialogue will convene experts to consider the impacts of #AI relevant to humanitarian crises, & discuss pathways forward. #artificialintelligence #humanitarianaction #humanitarianAI

AI and Emerging Tech for Humanitarian Action: Opportunities and Challenges "In this blog, members of the Humanitarian Observatory Initiative South Asia (HOISA) including Anisa Abeytia, Shanyal Uqaili, Mihir Bhatt and Khayal Trivedi consider the applications of AI and other emerging technologies for humanitarian action. With UNHCR and other organisations adopting AI-enhanced planning, mapping, and prediction tools, what are some of the ethical dilemmas and challenges posed for tech-enabled humanitarian action? How can we make sure that humanitarian principles are kept to by non-human actors? And what is ‘responsible AI’?" #AI #HumanitarianAction #HuaminatarianAI https://lnkd.in/eePbdeSP

All efforts to adopt or integrate AI into humanitarian operations should be grounded in humanitarian principles and commitments, particularly those related to do no harm, accountability, and localisation. At a minimum, this means humanitarians should: Consult: Engage with communities whose well-being will be impacted by the use of AI, and explain if and how its use will impact the support they will receive. Make feedback meaningful: Incorporate the views of communities into the design of AI pilot projects and establish means of recourse if and when things go wrong, in line with both existing humanitarian and international AI standards. Integrate: Ensure any AI accountability initiatives link into established, functioning, and where possible, collective mechanisms for community engagement. Share resources: International organisations should partner with local and national organisations to increase access to AI solutions and relationships with solution providers. Diversify: Explore partnerships with AI and tech firms headquartered in the Global South – not only those based in Europe and North America. Be transparent: Publish how AI tools are being used within organisations, and share what has and hasn’t worked. Find more here: ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/er76442d

Thanks Sarah Spencer and Helen McElhinney for setting this out. I've struggled a bit with how AI will impact our sector, so this helps me better understand the areas AI might be used. A couple of issues spring to mind: (i) regulation is good, but our industry is expanding with more non-traditional actors (a mostly beneficial disrupting effect in my view), but how do we get standards agreed and implemented (enforced) with so much diversity? - not specific to AI of course! (ii) Do you see this AI standard setting work imbedded into existing codes of conduct and humanitarian standards or standalone? It would be good to set out where you think AI has the most risk? Personally, i am not sure where this is. In reading your article, i worry less about local and community groups using AI to draft better funding applications and level the playing field than using AI in aid targeting - especially if the parameters are set around a value for money metric. Just a couple of early reflections.

Amazing AI funding alert! FCDO is modeling thoughtful AI leadership by looking to evidence, not hype, in deploying AI systems for humanitarian purposes. Check out this funding call to "conduct research on how humanitarian actors can address the risks associated with AI systems so they can be used responsibly." Due 13 Jan 2025 and for non-profit orgs with a session on 29 Nov to chat with a FCDO rep. (And if anyone wants/needs a researcher on their team, please reach out!)

Discover how Plan International Norge developed an innovative AI-powered application, enabling significant automation, increased efficiency, and better insights into its programs.   Kari Helene Partapuoli noted “As an aid and development organization, Plan International Norway is continuously exploring ways to become more efficient in how we deliver impact. In our pursuit to test generative AI, we found expertise in Plan International Norway’s longstanding partner BearingPoint. Together we have made a successful MVP resulting in efficiency, new insights, and new ways of working for us at Plan International Norway.”   It’s amazing to see the transformative impact of our Generative AI solution on Plan International Norway’s reporting processes, check out the client story for the full details:   #GenAI #AI #MoreInnovation #ClientStory

Check out how Plan International and BearingPoint are putting generative AI into practice!

📢 FCDO call for proposals #FundingOpportunity 🌏 Humanitarian action and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office invites proposals by 13 January 2025 to conduct research on how humanitarian actors can address the risks associated with AI systems so they can be used responsibly. This project will recommend an approach for responsible AI in humanitarian action. This will guide the practices of humanitarian actors. It should be developed collaboratively, proportionately and mindful of humanitarian principles. This funding opportunity is only available to not-for-profit organisations. 🌏 There is a Market engagement event on 29 November from 11:00 to 12:15 UK time. This is to help applicants identify potential partners to respond to the call for proposals and the requirement for humanitarian, research and technical AI expertise. The session will provide an overview of expectations from FCDO. This will be followed by an opportunity for attendees to give a short overview of their experience in this area. There will also be an opportunity to ask FCDO representatives questions. To learn more about the call and attend the event, click on this link: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/emb-iAY4 #CallforProposals #AI #Humanitarian #Mapping #Research

💡 Emerging technologies offer huge potential to improve humanitarian responses, but few have been widely adopted so far. We worked on this topic with our partners RAND Europe and Athena Infonomics. The research commissioned by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub looked at the challenges the sector will face in the next 5-10 years and explored the potential of emerging technologies. Our AI capability mapped the humanitarian sector globally (across countries and languages). We discovered and categorised 11K+ humanitarian organisations and uncovered evidence of their use of emerging technologies. 🌍 👉🏼 Full report here: https://lnkd.in/eSQzF8Bb #emtech #research #humanitarian #AI #sectors