Critical approaches to AI from African and Indigenous perspectives
Webinar (em inglês) | Online
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Organizado por:
International Evaluation Academy
Sobre o evento
Drawing from recent work on Made in Africa AI for evaluation and the Wolastoq Indigenous Evaluation Principles, this conversation centers foundational questions related to how African and Indigenous evaluation practitioners are navigating choices related to adopting, integrating, and resisting AI on their own terms, grounded in the shared recognition that practitioner agency, epistemic justice, and cultural sovereignty are not peripheral concerns but core principles of responsible evaluation per se, and in the responsible use of AI for evaluation. During the panel, African and Indigenous evaluation practitioners will co-interrogate what critical and responsible AI means for a practice rooted in lived experience, community accountability, and localization.
Orador/a
| Nome | Título | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Varaidzo Magodo-Matimba | Varaidzo Faith Magodo-Matimba (she/her) is a researcher and lawyer working at the intersection of emerging technology policy, data governance, and human rights. She brings a community-centered, human rights lens to AI systems design and evaluation. Through her role as MERL Tech Initiative's AI in Africa lead, she had pioneered the Made in Africa AI approaches to MERL landscape study—a first-of-its-kind resource centering African practitioner contexts, values, and communities in AI development. She chairs the UN Women A.C.T. Fund Civil Society Regional Network for East and Southern Africa and serves as Chairperson of the Board of Directors for Gender Rights in Tech (GRIT) | |
| Nicole “Nicky” Bowman | Dr. Nicole “Nicky” Bowman (Lunaape/Mohican), Waapalaneexkweew ("Accompanied by the Four Eagles, Flying Eagle Woman") of the Lynx and Wolf Clans, is a nationally and internationally recognized Indigenous evaluator whose leadership advances equity, sovereignty, and justice across systems. A traditional Lenapexkwe (Lunaape/Mohican woman), she has served Indigenous communities for nearly 40 years and worked as an Indigenous evaluator for over three decades. Her work braids Indigenous knowledge with scientific methods to support transformational evaluation, systems change, and sustainable, self-determined solutions. Nicky is founder and president of Bowman Performance Consulting (BPC) and Associate Scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s WI Center for Education Research. Dr. Bowman leads a diverse portfolio of multi-sector, multidisciplinary initiatives focused on Indigenous, culturally responsive, and equity-centered evaluation. Her work spans local, national, and global contexts—supporting federal, state, Tribal, nonprofit, for-profit, and philanthropic partners. As a strategic and compassionate learning partner, she provides technical assistance, training, and policy development to strengthen evaluation frameworks and metrics rooted in justice and community-defined success. | |
| Nicole Tujague | Nicole is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi nation from Mt Bauple, Queensland and the South Sea Islander people from Gaoa Island, Vanuatu. She grew up on the Queensland Aboriginal communities of Bamaga, Kowanyama, Woorabinda and Yarrabah and has worked with families from over 91 Indigenous communities across Australia. She lectures in the areas of Indigenous Knowledges, Culturally-safe Trauma-Informed Practice, Indigenous Social Enterprise and Substance Use Disorders, to undergraduate and in a previous role, post-graduate students at Southern Cross University. Nicole has delivered training to staff, students and Indigenous community members for several years in a program called, Working with Priority Communities. Nicole has participated in multiple research and evaluation projects throughout Australia and is particularly interested in co-design, co-creation and culturally safe and Indigenous-led evaluation. She has facilitated training for community, government, corporate and private sectors in Trauma Informed Practice and Care and Healing. | |
| Tracie Benally | Tracie Benally (Diné) was born and raised in Crownpoint, New Mexico, on the Eastern Navajo Reservation and currently resides in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Her clans are Bitahnii (Folded Arms) and Tó'dích’íi’nii (Bitter Water). She is a Co-Founder of the Emergence Circle, where she works to ensure that emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, are developed and governed in ways that honor Tribal sovereignty. A former high school English teacher with experience spanning higher education and federal policy, Tracie works to create meaningful pathways for Native leaders to thrive, particularly at the intersections of policy, innovation, and Indigenous education. She is a proud alumna of Smith College and holds a master’s degree in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies from the Stanford Graduate School of Education. |