About
Between 2023 and 2025, in partnership with The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, the Accelerator programme brought together journalists and civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the fields of AI and Data and Digital Rights (DDR) across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Throughout a series of multi-stakeholder training courses, participants connect with tech leaders and ethicists to explore the opportunities and human rights risks associated with the rapid development of AI across their regions.
In 2025, we expanded the programme to support newsrooms in East Africa and Latin America to strategically and ethically adopt AI. This work will continue, and be expanded, in both regions into 2026 to ensurethat AI adoption not only enhances newsroom performance but also reinforces ethical standards, legal compliance, and public trust.
Key highlights
The programme has so far trained more than 80 journalists, editors and CSOs from Argentina, Chile, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Uruguay, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Colombia and Mexico. We have also sponsored journalist alumni of this training to attend relevant conferences, responding to an identified need to build their networks.
We are currently working with six newsrooms in East Africa and Latin America, supporting them to shape AI policies and adopt solutions that address business and editorial needs, and will be onboarding five more newsrooms from Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Our TrustLaw team has facilitated several innovative legal research projects to help shape ethical practices in both regions:
- The first comparative guide on AI legal frameworks across Latin America, in collaboration with Access Now, which strengthened their advocacy critiquing proposed AI legislation in Costa Rica and has informed AI legislation in Peru and has been incorporated into university reading lists across Latin America.
- Legal analysis of the regulation of emerging technologies in the public sector across five Latin American countries for Article 19, which was presented to the Mexican Congress and Senate.
- Research on legal frameworks around data sharing, data protection and information security in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay for ILDA.
- Research for Civic House examining data frameworks for responsible AI covering six jurisdictions, exploring how national strategies, policies and laws around AI align with data regulations and international ethical principles.
- Legal research analysing AI laws and strategies in seven countries in East and Southern Africa, identifying limitations in public participation.
- An AI Governance for Africa toolkit, which empowers CSOs in Southern Africa to inform public discourse and advance the ethical and responsible use of AI. These have been used by CSOs in Zambia during consultations on proposed new AI legislation and governance strategies for the country.
Our impact
Kick-starting a new African AI, ethics and digital inclusion organisation
Building on insights from this training course, a group of civil society members and journalists have come together to set up the Southern African Digital Inclusion Alliance (SADIA) – a new regional AI ethics and digital rights organisation.
“We built networks, we shared ideas and then we started a movement that we hope will transform lives and really shape the future of digital literacy and AI in Africa.”
-Wendy Jasson da Costa
Chief Reporter at the South African Independent on Saturday & SADIA Co-Founder
AI Governance for Africa toolkit series
This three-part toolkit series, first published in 2023 and revised in 2024, aims to empower journalists and civil society organisations to inform public discourse, drive policy and regulatory change and advocate for ethical and responsible AI deployment.
How this programme is funded
This programme is funded by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation: tech-inspired global changemakers, optimists and visionaries advancing AI and data solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all.
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