Join the Humanitarian AI + MERL Working Group for our first scoping meeting – November 7th 

Humanitarians have frequently faced pressure to incorporate new technologies into their workflows. From blockchain to biometrics, the emergence of new tools has often been followed by questions about their potential humanitarian applications.

Sorting fact from fiction amidst the pressure to innovate, and the desire to stretch ever-dwindling budgets can leave practitioners in a quandary when procuring tools and safeguarding and data protection. The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence has amplified these pressures, requiring humanitarian organizations to respond — often without the resources and support needed for vital reflections about such a critical technological shift. 

The Natural Language Processing Community of Practice (NLP-CoP) (hosted by The MERL Tech Initiative) is launching the Humanitarian AI+MERL Working Group with a focus on monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) to explore what the dawn of AI means for the humanitarian ecosystem, and to provide tools and knowledge to help humanitarians navigate complex questions regarding the appropriate use of AI for MERL in high-risk contexts and the elements to consider when conducting MERL on AI-enabled activities and interventions in these contexts.

If you’re interested in exploring these questions, please join us on November 7th 2024 from 10-11:30am ET / 3-4:30pm GMT to help shape the direction of the Humanitarian AI+MERL Working Group.

Objectives of the Humanitarian AI+MERL Working Group

• Provide an open space for curiosity, questions, and reflections on when, where and how AI can meet the MERL needs of humanitarians
• Create space for MERL practitioners to learn and share ways to better assess and understand the impacts of AI-enabled efforts in humanitarian and other high-risk contexts
• Widen stakeholder discussions beyond large INGOs and their headquarters, to include community organizations, local partners and front-line practitioners   
• Build out sectoral knowledge and increase granularity in discussions of Humanitarian AI+MERL
• Strengthen capacity for improved technical and practical knowledge of Humanitarian AI+MERL
• Contextualise AI+MERL within existing humanitarian discussions concerning sectoral norms, responsibilities and commitments
• Emphasize actionable advice and engagement with decision-makers at the country office level who are often making final calls about programmatic needs and MERL approaches
• Encourage cross-sectoral conversations between MERL professionals in the humanitarian, donor, developer and academic realms

We anticipate the working group will explore a wide range of topics and concerns. We hope to dig into questions around balancing curiosity with responsibility to vulnerable communities, designing pragmatic guidance for AI-enabled MERL in humanitarian spaces, exploring standards for Humanitarian AI+MERL, and holistic approaches to creating proactive safeguarding and data protection practices that ensure responsible humanitarian uptake of AI for MERL and other areas. 

November 7th Kick-off meeting

Join us at our kick-off meeting on November 7th 2024. 

Our first call will be a participatory meeting to scope collective community needs and interests. We want to go beyond narrow discussions of AI to instead think together about the priorities of the humanitarian sector, the ability and relevance of AI to those needs, and the possible wider implications of Humanitarian AI+MERL. Together we will map out what the working group should focus on, and identify key work streams of interest. 

Register here to join the meeting. (You will receive a link for the call upon registration).

All are welcome! The Humanitarian AI+MERL Working Group is open to humanitarians, practitioners, MERL professionals, policy makers, donors, and academics as well as community leaders, local implementing partners and community members interfacing with humanitarian organizations. We are especially keen to support and engage country-level decision makers and staff who best know their contexts and needs. 

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Join the NLP-CoP!

The NLP-CoP welcomes all Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) practitioners and data practitioners interested in using text analytics approaches for MERL in the development, humanitarian, peacebuilding, and related social sectors. All MERL practitioners are welcome, no prior knowledge of text analytics is needed. Specialist data scientists and NLP specialists are also welcome. Working Group meetings will cover both technical and non-technical aspects; e.g. ethical and inclusive use.To join please fill in this form indicating your agreement and alignment with the NLP-CoP Charter and Code of Conduct.