WSIS Forum 2026
AI-generated report
ENFR

Bridging the Intelligence Divide: AI Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing for the Global South

8 speakers
Summary

This discussion focused on the challenges and opportunities related to AI capacity building in Africa, with speakers addressing engineering development, urban planning, data sovereignty, labour rights, and linguistic inclusion.

Prof. Ke Gong opened by introducing the Engineering Capacity Building for Africa programme, initiated by the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, noting that fewer than 7% of Africa's measurable SDGs are on track . The programme aims to leverage digital technology integrated with engineering expertise, establishing training centres across African countries in partnership with local organisations . Pilot trainings in Kenya, Uganda, and Cape Verde yielded positive feedback, with a key lesson being the necessity of working closely with local partners rather than remotely . Prof. Felix Krawczyk built on this by recommending a focus on urban planning combined with AI and open geospatial data, given Africa's rapid population growth and infrastructure challenges . He also raised the question of data ownership, arguing for a fundamental right to data for communities, templates for data-sharing agreements, and potential taxation on AI outputs to return value to data contributors .

Prof. Christoph Stückelberger broadened the analysis to six interrelated dimensions of AI sovereignty: human values, critical minerals, capital, data sovereignty, green energy, and governance . He highlighted that Africa holds vast cobalt reserves essential to AI hardware, yet faces neocolonial dynamics in how those resources are exploited , and that African capital held in Geneva banks is not being reinvested on the continent . Dr. Xiao Zhang stressed that infrastructure investment and human capacity building must proceed in parallel, and that training programmes should be tailored to local needs rather than designed externally .

Dr. Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo drew attention to the largely invisible labour of data workers in the Global South, citing documented cases in Kenya where workers reviewing harmful content were paid as little as $2 per hour and dismissed when attempting to unionise , in violation of international labour standards . Mr. Christofer Dutz highlighted the language barrier as a significant obstacle to participation, advocating for AI-powered multilingual tools .

Overall, the discussion underscored that bridging the AI intelligence divide requires not only technical and infrastructural investment, but also equitable governance, cultural sensitivity, labour protections, and inclusive multilingual participation .

Keypoints

  • Overall Purpose

  • The discussion is a multi-speaker panel session focused on addressing the "intelligence divide" between the Global North and Global South, with particular emphasis on Africa. The session brings together academics, policymakers, technologists, and civil society representatives to explore how AI capacity building, digital infrastructure, data sovereignty, labour rights, and ethical governance can be advanced to ensure African nations become equal partners in the global AI ecosystem rather than mere consumers or raw material suppliers.
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  • Major Discussion Points

  • Africa's critical gap in sustainable development and the need for engineering capacity building: Africa is severely behind on the global sustainable development agenda, with less than 7% of measurable SDGs on track . The World Federation of Engineering Organizations has launched a programme to leverage digital technology integrated with engineering to address this, including pilot training centres in Kenya, Uganda, and Cape Verde . A key lesson from the pilots was the necessity of working closely with local organisers and responding to real, on-the-ground needs rather than imposing externally designed solutions .
  • Urban planning, AI, and open geospatial data as tools for African development: Prof. Krawczyk argued that Africa's rapid urban population growth makes urban engineering and planning a critical priority . He proposed combining open geospatial data platforms with AI technologies to develop urban planning strategies, and suggested building courses that train urban planners in AI capacity and vice versa . He also raised the important question of data ownership, arguing for a fundamental right to data for communities, templates for data-sharing agreements, and potential taxation on AI outputs to return value to the communities whose data underpins AI systems .
  • AI sovereignty in Africa requires addressing six interconnected dimensions: Prof. Stückelberger presented a holistic framework arguing that AI capacity in Africa cannot be achieved by focusing solely on technology or finance . He identified six interrelated factors: people and ethical values (overcoming corruption and nepotism) ; control over critical minerals such as cobalt, on which the global AI industry depends ; access to investment capital and the need to shift the narrative from risk to opportunity ; data sovereignty and the urgent need for African data centres ; green energy that balances AI infrastructure needs with people-centred access ; and good governance and politics as the most critical enabling factor .
  • Labour rights and the exploitation of Global South data workers: Dr. Robles Pelayo highlighted a largely unnamed divide - between those who design AI and those whose invisible labour makes it possible . He cited documented cases in Kenya where workers reviewing harmful content for AI training were paid as little as $2 per hour, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression, and were dismissed when attempting to unionise . He argued this constitutes a violation of international labour law and called for independent audits of working conditions in data supply chains, inclusion of data workers' unions in AI governance dialogues, and a redefinition of capacity building as genuine co-design rather than cheap labour extraction .
  • Practical, layered, and locally adapted capacity building is essential: Dr. Zhang and Mr. Dutz both emphasised that capacity building must be pragmatic and context-sensitive. Dr. Zhang argued that infrastructure investment and human capacity development must proceed in parallel rather than sequentially , that programmes must be designed around local needs rather than pre-packaged solutions from Geneva or Washington , and that training should be built in layers tailored to different audiences - policymakers, network operators, and software developers - rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach . Mr. Dutz added that language barriers represent a significant form of exclusion, and that AI translation tools should be deployed to make open-source knowledge and community participation accessible in languages beyond English .
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  • Overall Tone

  • The overall tone of the discussion is earnest, collaborative, and solutions-oriented, with an undercurrent of urgency. Speakers consistently acknowledged the severity of Africa's exclusion from global AI development while remaining constructive and forward-looking. The tone is largely collegial and respectful across speakers, reflecting a shared commitment to equity and inclusion.
  • However, the tone shifts noticeably at points. Prof. Stückelberger introduced a more sobering and politically charged register when discussing the exploitation of African mineral resources, the confidential US-DRC deal, and the billions of African capital sitting in Geneva banks rather than being reinvested on the continent . Similarly, Dr. Robles Pelayo brought a distinctly more critical and advocacy-driven tone when exposing the labour exploitation of data workers, framing it explicitly as a violation of international law rather than merely an ethical concern . The audience contributions, particularly from the Kenyan government representative, added a tone of cautious optimism and national pride, asserting Kenya's rule of law and innovation capacity . By the close of the session, the tone returned to collaborative and forward-looking, with calls for continued dialogue and cross-sector partnership.
Speakers Overview
PK
Prof. Ke Gong
130 wpm · 3 min
DX
Dr. Xiao Zhang
134 wpm · 3 min
PF
Prof. Felix Krawczyk
144 wpm · 5 min
PC
Prof. Christoph Stückelberger
123 wpm · 11 min
DR
Dr. Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo
116 wpm · 4 min
MC
Mr. Christofer Dutz
138 wpm · 5 min
A
Audience
132 wpm · 14 min
PL
Prof. Lina Dai
116 wpm · 2 min

Expanded Summary: AI Capacity Building in Africa - Engineering, Data Sovereignty, Labour Justice, and Inclusive Participation

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Overview and Context

This multi-speaker panel session, held as part of an international forum and chaired by Prof. Lina Dai, brought together academics, policymakers, technologists, and civil society representatives to address the "intelligence divide" between the Global North and Global South, with particular emphasis on Africa. The session explored how AI capacity building, digital infrastructure, data sovereignty, labour rights, and ethical governance can be advanced to ensure African nations become equal partners in the global AI ecosystem rather than mere consumers or suppliers of raw materials. The discussion evolved through distinct phases - from technical and infrastructural framing, through structural and political economy critique, to practical recommendations - revealing both broad areas of consensus and significant underlying disagreements about the nature of the problem and the appropriate remedies.

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Engineering Capacity Building for Africa: The Foundational Challenge

Prof. Ke Gong opened the session by introducing the Engineering Capacity Building for Africa programme, an initiative of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, of which he serves as chair . The programme was established to address Africa's severe lag in the global sustainable development agenda: according to the African Sustainable Development Report, fewer than 7% of Africa's 32 measurable SDGs are on track, and no African sub-region is on course . The programme's approach is to leverage digital technology integrated with engineering expertise, with the aim of establishing training and capacity building centres across African countries in cooperation with local member organisations, and to introduce international expertise and tools to support this effort .

Prof. Gong reported that the programme had already commenced pilot training in Kenya, Uganda, and a third location (referred to in the transcript as "Kapowelda," possibly a transcription of a location made famous by FIFA), generating overwhelmingly positive feedback . A critical lesson from these pilots was that programmes must be grounded in real, on-the-ground needs and must work closely with local engineering organisations rather than operating remotely . This emphasis on local engagement over externally designed solutions became a recurring theme throughout the session, echoed by multiple subsequent speakers.

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Urban Planning, Open Geospatial Data, and AI Integration

Prof. Felix Krawczyk, drawing on his involvement in the IPCC special report on cities - including a chapter with a strong focus on Africa - built on Prof. Gong's foundation by recommending that the capacity building programme be expanded to include urban planning integrated with AI and open geospatial data technologies . He argued that Africa and Asia are experiencing particularly rapid population growth, generating urgent challenges in sanitation, street networks, and public transport - areas where urban planning capacity is often lacking but where foundational decisions made now will shape long-term outcomes .

Prof. Krawczyk proposed that open geospatial data, now widely available at building and street level, could serve as a starting point for AI-assisted urban planning processes . He suggested developing courses that attract urban planners to gain AI skills and AI practitioners to gain urban planning knowledge, creating a dual-track educational model . He also highlighted the existence of open datasets for Africa - including Microsoft's open building dataset - and argued that combining multiple open data sources in open formats would constitute a "tremendous open public good" for African countries, estimated to cost in the low millions of dollars .

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Data Ownership, Community Rights, and the Question of Value Return

Prof. Krawczyk then raised what became one of the session's most consequential themes: the question of who owns data collected from communities by AI providers . Using the example of an AI company collecting community health data to develop solutions - retaining both the data and the resulting intellectual property - he argued that something must flow back to the communities whose data underpins AI systems . He proposed three concrete mechanisms to address this: first, establishing a fundamental right to data for communities, which, while an individual data point has little worth, gives communities a negotiating position ; second, developing templates for communities to share data in exchange for capacity building or financial returns ; and third, introducing a form of taxation on AI outputs - such as tokens - to redistribute value to the people whose data contributed to AI development . He acknowledged that token taxation is not a formally perfect mechanism but noted that tokens can be measured and therefore taxed in some form .

This framing - of data as a collective community asset from which value is currently being extracted without adequate return - directly influenced subsequent speakers and reoriented the discussion from the question of how Africa can access AI to the more fundamental question of on whose terms AI development is occurring.

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Six Interrelated Dimensions of AI Sovereignty in Africa

Prof. Christoph Stückelberger, drawing on nearly five decades of engagement with Africa including recent visits to educational programmes and mining operations, presented the most structurally comprehensive analysis of the session . He argued that AI capacity in Africa cannot be achieved by focusing solely on technical or financial dimensions, and proposed a six-factor framework of interrelated dimensions that must be addressed together .

The first dimension is people and values: Africa has a large, young, and increasingly well-educated population, but the challenge lies in the ethical values needed to overcome corruption, nepotism, and tribalism in service of the common good - obstacles that, while not unique to Africa, are significant barriers to achieving shared goals .

The second dimension is critical minerals: Africa holds vast reserves of cobalt and other minerals essential to AI hardware, with the DRC alone supplying approximately 80% of global cobalt, of which 80% is controlled by Chinese companies . African governments are increasingly asserting their right not merely to export raw materials but to industrialise and process these minerals domestically . This has generated legal and geopolitical tensions, including the DRC's attempts to renegotiate or cancel long-term mining contracts .

The third dimension is capital: Prof. Stückelberger identified investment capital as the most serious bottleneck for AI development in Africa, noting that billions of African private capital held in Geneva and London are not being reinvested on the continent due to risk perception . He argued that a new narrative framing Africa as an opportunity rather than a risk is needed to attract both foreign and domestic capital , while insisting that foreign capital must operate on a win-win basis rather than reproducing neocolonial dominance . He cited the example of a reportedly confidential deal between the United States and the DRC in which land occupied by artisanal miners was allegedly promised to American companies - noting that figures cited in this context were unclear, with references to both 600,000 and 2 million artisanal miners in the DRC - illustrating the conflict potential embedded in foreign investment .

The fourth dimension is data sovereignty: approximately 70% of global data centres are located in the United States, with the remainder concentrated in China and Europe, leaving Africa with very little . Prof. Stückelberger argued that Africa urgently needs its own data centres, noting that dependency on American, Chinese, and European infrastructure is a direct challenge to data sovereignty . He acknowledged that the African Union and member states are working on data sovereignty legislation, but noted that achieving unified African data governance requires overcoming competing national interests .

The fifth dimension is green energy: data centres require enormous amounts of energy, and Prof. Stückelberger warned that if new energy sources are directed primarily to AI infrastructure and industrialisation, communities will be left without power for basic needs such as cooking and school lighting, potentially leading to social unrest . Energy production must therefore be balanced between people-centred access and AI infrastructure needs .

The sixth and most critical dimension is politics and governance: good governance and political will are, in Prof. Stückelberger's assessment, the most critical factors for achieving sovereign AI capacities in Africa . He concluded by urging the audience not to look only at technical or financial factors but to treat all six dimensions as interrelated .

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Labour Justice and the Invisible Workforce of AI

Dr. Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo introduced what he described as a divide that had not yet been named in the discussion: the divide between those who design AI and those whose invisible labour makes it possible . He argued that AI is not autonomous but depends on millions of workers who label data, classify images, and review extremely harmful content to train AI models . Most of these workers operate under conditions that violate international law .

The most documented case, he noted, is in Kenya, where OpenAI paid a subcontracted company $12.50 per hour, but the Kenyan workers reviewing hours of extreme violence and torture received only $2 per hour . When 184 of these workers attempted to unionise, they were dismissed . Dr. Robles Pelayo highlighted a "curious paradox": these workers are teaching AI to detect the very harmful content that is making them sick, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression, and insomnia, while simultaneously rendering their own jobs redundant .

He argued that this constitutes not merely an ethical problem but a violation of existing international norms, including ILO Conventions 87 and 88 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the United States Guiding Principles on Supply Chains (as stated in the transcript, though this may be a transcription of a reference to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights) . He also referenced the most recent international global labour standards specifically for platform workers, which require collective bargaining, the right to explanation of AI-driven decisions, and the right to human review . He noted that the Global South is already responding through legal channels: the Montauk case against Meta reached the Kenyan Court of Appeal, which confirmed jurisdiction, with 184 claims and a demand for billions of dollars - a separate reference to the number 184 from the earlier figure of 184 workers dismissed for attempting to unionise . In 2023, workers formed an Africa-first content moderation workers' union .

Dr. Robles Pelayo concluded with three concrete calls to action: no capacity building project should be funded without an independent audit of working conditions throughout the data supply chain ; data workers and their union representatives must be included in global AI governance dialogues ; and capacity building in the Global South must be fundamentally redefined as co-design of governance and algorithmic auditing, not as a mechanism for producing cheap labour .

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Practical, Layered, and Locally Adapted Capacity Building

Dr. Xiao Zhang, drawing on more than twenty years of work on digital issues, offered a pragmatic and action-oriented perspective . She noted that ministers at the forum had been reluctant to admit that their infrastructure is poor, reflecting the real challenge facing developing countries in the AI age . She made three principal points.

First, Africa should not wait for full infrastructure completion before beginning human capacity building . Basic infrastructure investment must continue , but capacity building can begin immediately using existing mobile devices, cloud-based AI services, open-source models that run on modest hardware, and multilingual interfaces . Data sharing can be built on trust and developed incrementally .

Second, capacity building must be demand-driven and grounded in real local needs rather than pre-packaged solutions designed in Geneva or Washington . Programmes should identify exactly what problems local technicians are facing and what policies local regulators are struggling to write .

Third, training should be built in layers rather than delivered as a single bulk programme . Different audiences have different needs: policymakers need to understand AI governance and risk frameworks but do not need to write software; network operators need practical tools; software developers need technical skills . A one-size-fits-all approach is likely a waste of time .

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Language Barriers and Inclusive Participation in Open-Source Communities

Mr. Christofer Dutz, Director of the Apache Software Foundation, highlighted the language barrier as a significant and often overlooked structural form of exclusion in global technology communities . He noted that the vast majority of knowledge and open-source resources are available only in English, effectively making non-English speakers second-class citizens in these communities . He pointed to the irony that during the very session being discussed, requests for subtitles to be enabled were declined .

Mr. Dutz described the Apache Software Foundation's Travel Assistance Committee, which sponsors participants from Africa and other regions to attend international conferences, but noted that physical travel and visa access remain significant barriers . He also observed that major AI companies are currently making large donations to open-source foundations, and argued that these resources should be directed towards multilingual inclusion . He argued that AI translation tools now make it technically feasible - indeed, a "solved problem" - to make resources available simultaneously in multiple languages, and that the primary constraint is resources rather than technology . He called for open-source foundations to use AI-powered translation to enable participation in any project in any language, framing this as a public good for global inclusion .

In response to an audience question about Chinese-language inclusion, Mr. Dutz noted that Chinese technology communities tend to use platforms such as WeChat that are inaccessible to people outside China , and that he regularly has to remind Apache project communities that discussions and decisions must occur on publicly accessible mailing lists rather than closed platforms . He argued that making Chinese communities more aware of inclusive communication tools is needed not just for Africa but for all participants outside China .

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National Responses: Kenya's AI Strategy and the Rule of Law

A representative of the Kenyan government, speaking as a principal secretary, offered a national perspective on the intelligence divide . She acknowledged that the Global South has increasingly been positioned as a consumer and raw material source rather than an equal partner in AI development , and called for greater international collaboration in AI capacity building, including on infrastructure and data centres .

She described Kenya's national AI strategy 2025-2030, which places capacity building at its core, investing in local talent, digital infrastructure, digital hubs, and public Wi-Fi to enable citizens to participate as equal partners in global AI development . She noted that Kenya's digital economy master plan provides a strategic roadmap for leveraging AI to strengthen the economy, create quality jobs, and position Kenya as a leader in the fourth industrial revolution . She emphasised that national efforts alone are insufficient and that global solidarity is needed .

In direct response to Dr. Robles Pelayo's account of labour exploitation of Kenyan data workers, the representative acknowledged the issue but expressed confidence in Kenya's rule of law, noting that large technology companies have been guided on minimum labour requirements and that "the law will prevail" . She also highlighted Kenya's strengths as an innovation hub, noting that Kenyans are globally recognised for innovation and that the country has a highly educated youth population with connections to leading universities worldwide .

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South African Perspectives: Unionisation, Technology Adoption, and Higher Education

An audience member from South Africa offered a complementary perspective, identifying several structural barriers to AI adoption specific to the South African context . She noted that South Africa's highly unionised labour environment creates specific challenges for technology adoption, as fears of job displacement slow the introduction of automation even at basic levels - for example, self-checkout machines have not been widely introduced due to union concerns . She also highlighted financial constraints, evolving technology challenges, and the importance of political will in enabling AI adoption .

On the positive side, she identified significant potential benefits of AI for higher education and research, including enhanced accessibility, predictive analytics, improved data management, 24/7 AI-powered support, and personalised learning . She noted that AI policies in higher education institutions are increasingly being driven by researchers concerned about the ethical use of AI tools, particularly to prevent students from being unfairly penalised for using AI in ways that might be misconstrued as plagiarism . She also raised the question of AI translation for Chinese-language content, prompting the exchange with Mr. Dutz about multilingual inclusion .

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China-Africa Cooperation: Intercultural Sensitivity and Mutual Learning

In response to an audience question about how China can better support developing countries , Prof. Stückelberger offered a nuanced assessment. He acknowledged that China is very present in Africa and has significant positive impacts across sectors including technology, mining, hospitality, hospitals, and education . However, he argued that growing tensions between Chinese and African communities require careful intercultural listening and understanding .

He recommended that every China-Africa investment programme include a cultural mutual learning component, noting that this requires dedicated resources . He cited the example of Chinese mining companies in the cobalt-mining region of south-east DRC (referred to in the transcript variously as "Colbasi" and "Colvesi") whose workers live in isolated camps, automatically generating conflict , contrasted with another Chinese mining company that invested millions in a vocational training centre, successfully building community trust . He also highlighted specific cultural differences - such as different approaches to time management and the importance of funeral attendance in African communities - as areas requiring genuine mutual understanding rather than imposition of one culture's norms .

Mr. Dutz added that the technical dimension of Chinese community participation in global open-source projects is also a barrier, as Chinese communities use WeChat and other tools inaccessible to international participants , and called for greater awareness of inclusive communication forms .

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Areas of Consensus and Underlying Disagreements

Beneath the surface-level consensus, the discussion revealed significant disagreements that merit attention. The most fundamental was between the predominantly technocratic and optimistic framing of most speakers and Dr. Robles Pelayo's structural critique that AI development is already built on exploited African labour , challenging the premise that AI represents an unambiguous opportunity for Africa. There was also a meaningful disagreement about whether capacity building should be framed as technical skills training or as genuine co-design of governance and labour justice . Prof. Krawczyk and Prof. Stückelberger, while sharing a concern about data extraction, proposed different remedies: Krawczyk focused on community-level data rights and token taxation , while Stückelberger emphasised national data centre infrastructure and AU legislation . The Kenyan government representative's confidence in domestic rule of law as sufficient to address AI labour exploitation stood in notable tension with Dr. Robles Pelayo's documented evidence of systematic violations in Kenya specifically .

Despite these disagreements, all speakers agreed that Africa faces a severe and multidimensional AI and digital capacity gap requiring urgent, targeted, and locally grounded responses . There was broad agreement that capacity building must be demand-driven and co-designed with local stakeholders rather than imposed from outside . Data sovereignty emerged as a shared concern, with multiple speakers arguing that Africa needs its own data infrastructure, legal frameworks, and community rights over data . Speakers also converged on the view that technical solutions alone are insufficient and that governance, ethics, labour rights, cultural sensitivity, and political will are equally critical .

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Conclusions and Forward-Looking Recommendations

The session concluded with a broad set of recommendations and action items. Prof. Gong's Engineering Capacity Building for Africa programme is already operational, with plans to scale training centres across African countries in cooperation with local member organisations . Prof. Krawczyk proposed expanding this to include urban planning integrated with AI and open geospatial data, and called for the creation of an open geospatial data infrastructure for Africa as a public good . He also proposed three concrete data governance mechanisms: community data rights, data-sharing templates, and token taxation .

Dr. Robles Pelayo called for independent audits of working conditions in data supply chains as a prerequisite for funding any capacity building project, inclusion of data workers' unions in AI governance dialogues, and a fundamental redefinition of capacity building as co-design . Dr. Zhang advocated for parallel infrastructure and human capacity investment, demand-driven programme design, and layered training tailored to different audiences . Mr. Dutz committed to continuing efforts within the Apache Software Foundation to require publicly accessible communication channels and to deploy AI translation tools for multilingual participation, and called for the significant donations currently being made by major AI companies to open-source foundations to be directed towards these inclusion goals . Prof. Stückelberger recommended embedding cultural mutual learning components in every China-Africa investment programme .

Several critical issues remained unresolved, including how African nations can achieve sufficient unity within the African Union to establish shared data centres ; how to design enforceable mechanisms for returning value from AI companies to communities ; how to attract African private capital back to the continent ; how to balance energy demands between AI infrastructure and household needs ; and how to ensure that large technology companies operating in Africa comply with minimum labour standards beyond the enforcement capacity of individual national courts . The overall implication of the discussion is that any effective AI capacity building initiative for Africa must simultaneously address technical skills, governance co-design, data sovereignty, labour standards, energy trade-offs, and capital investment barriers - a substantially more complex agenda than any single speaker's proposal encompasses, and one that requires genuine multi-stakeholder collaboration grounded in African agency and ownership .

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Prof. Ke Gong
Welcome you all to join our session. So I just take a few minutes to introduce you a very important project, which we call Engineering Capacity Building for Africa program. That is a project initiated by the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, to which I serve as the chair for this specific program. And so the program is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the African countries in the process of the sustainable development agenda. So according to the report, the African Sustainable Development Report, for Africa, less than 7 % of the 32 measurable SDGs are on track. And so the project is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the sustainable development agenda. And so the project is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the sustainable development agenda. And so the project is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the sustainable development agenda. And so the project is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the sustainable development agenda. And so the project is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the sustainable development agenda. And so the project is trying to address the issue of the heavily left behind of the sustainable development agenda. progress on the expertise across sub regions but no one of these sub regions five sub regions African sub regions is on track so to address such issue we think we should leverage the power of digital technology and yeah and to integrate digital technology with engineering profession so we it's not a digital engineering training program and eventually we we want to build up a number of training centers capacity building centers in different parts of African countries cooperated with the member organizations of our Federation in every African country and to to introduce the international expertise, tools, and so on to support this program. And now we have a multiple stakeholder, scientific, technical engineering organizations, industrial partners, and so on and so forth. And this project has been already started last year with some pilot training in Kenya, in Uganda, in Kapowelda, the so famous today because of the FIFA. And we got very positive feedback from the pilot trainings. So the situation is overwhelmed, just positive. And what we learned, very important, is that we have to face to the real needs. And we need to work closely with the local organizer, not remotely, local engineering. Oh, how do this? Along recording. And it is also important we have.
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Prof. Lina Dai
Thank you, Professor Gong, for sharing this practical experience. Of engineering capacity building in Africa. Our next speaker is Professor Felix Krawczyk, Professor of Innovation and Policy Acceleration, Bennett Institute Chair and Head of the Working Group on Cities at the POSDEM Institute for Climate Impact Research. Please welcome Professor Krawczyk to the floor.
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Prof. Felix Krawczyk
thank you very much I'm also currently involved in the IPCC report on cities it's a special report on cities I'm working on a chapter that's very strong on Africa so let me draw from lessons learned there and suggest the suggestions that you made and your program that you do expand it a bit into the direction of urban engineering and specifically in urban planning and that could be related to a new generation of technologies and data platforms by now open geospatial data is widely available it can be provided at the building level and the street level and that is a good starting point for facilitating urban planning processes why is urban planning important Africa and Asia are particularly with very fast population growth and a lot of challenges also, like sanitation challenges, like street network, public transport. It's often the capacity is missing, but that is where the grounding can be done for the future. Like if development is happening now in a speed and with the methods and with the infrastructure, then it enables, it's not a guarantee, but enables good life and a lot of capacity to come from that. Like it's a starting point for a lot of things. So the idea is really to focus, to have like perhaps like planning and engineering that is very much related to AI technologies because on the big geospatial data that are now available. it's possible to operate big data AI technologies to identify like urban planning strategies relatively easily and quickly, but of course requiring some AI capacity to work with. So you need actually two things. You need, of course, like a data capacity and the urban planning capacity. So like the idea would be to develop a course that is attracting perhaps urban planner to learn additional AI capacity and perhaps the other way around, like people who have already into planning a bit more. Related to that is like the infrastructure in terms of the open spatial data that is needed. There are some open data sets also for Africa, Microsoft built like an open building data set, but it's important to combine with different data sources in the open data format that is available and for everyone. By experience, it costs a bit better. It doesn't cut the low million range here. And I think that would be a tremendous open public good for African countries. I would like to make two additional remarks that are a bit on a broader scale here. And we had a very interesting session yesterday here also on communities and AI. And the question is actually who owns, right? Like, for example, there was an example of local health challenges. And the idea was an AI provider comes in, collects the health data, and finds solutions. It's good for the community, but also all the health data then goes to the AI company, and they develop their new products. So that's the question, who owns the data? And the point is that, well, it belongs to some degree perhaps to people. And it's a good question. But there should be, like, something coming back in some sort of way. And that would require, like, three different things. Like, the first thing is to think about, like, a fundamental right to data for people and communities. individual data point of one person is um is nothing it's it doesn't it doesn't have any worth but of a community that already has um so give like a fundamental right and it gives negotiation position it's just a starting point for negotiation position um the second one is to develop templates of like how communities can share their data and get like something back in return for example some capacity or some money stream to finance their future needs and then the third point of all of that is i think like um it translates to more the global scale air companies are we know that all like have a tremendous value financial value and um it mostly based because of their knowledge distillation so they have all the knowledge accumulated um but this is knowledge that comes for the ideas to give it back to some sort of way and it would could be doing done by like some sort of taxation on data or it could be done on on tokens like tokens mother output it's not formally the perfect way to do it but tokens can be measured so you can tax in some sort of way tokens to give it back to people and that would also apply to perhaps the circumstances
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Prof. Lina Dai
f
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Prof. Felix Krawczyk
for like and development is required thank you.
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Prof. Lina Dai
Thank you, you prefer insightful sharing now we have professor cross of stock border professor of global ethics and main editor of the book AI governance ethics he will speak on AI capacities in frica six ethical chances and challenges let's welcome professor stock burger
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Prof. Christoph Stückelberger
Yeah I'm happy to be around in this round and I'm just coming back for since 40 years 45 almost 50 years regularly in africa and um so um i came back from an educational program in april and a mining fair mining program uh in may and i i will show on the next slide why i mentioned that next slide um yeah this you can read yourself i'm a advisor to the un i'm professor of global ethics in china in africa in nigeria in uh indonesia in other in mexico in the past next one so i want to show the relation between six dimensions um to the sovereignty nowadays we normally think of data data protection but when i am in colbasi In South DRC, South East, Colvesi is the world capital for cobalt. And no mobile phone runs without cobalt. I simplify. 80 % from DRC and 80 % of the 80 % in the hand of Chinese companies. So I have visited them. So that's why, for example, in the middle you see critical minerals. If we speak about AI capacity, the African countries capacity. But the question is, do they own the say about it? And now is an industrialization push from the government saying, yes, we need access not only to export. And I've seen the column, the kilometers of trucks exporting the raw cobalt. processed cobalt, but we need industrialization in Africa. So that's one issue. But I go one by one. The first is people with value are the key factor. Africa has enough people, young population, millions of well -educated people. The challenge is the ethical values to overcome corruption, nepotism, tribalism, and working for the common good of Africa. And that is not specific to Africa. I mean nepotism, tribalism, corruption, power struggles are everywhere, but also in Africa. And that is an obstacle for some of the goals that we have. The next one, critical minerals. I just mentioned the vastest critical minerals resources, of course, also China and other countries have. The AI world depends on Africa. African governments now get self -confident to the defend their interests, also to refine, transform the critical minerals in their own country through industrialization. So, for example, the DRC now cancels some contracts with China or Chinese companies say let's renegotiate. Of course that is a tough conflict. Now I went to the ICC in Den Haag said yeah but we have long -term contracts you just cannot cancel the contract for 20 years of mining. So you see there is a legal aspect in this whole AI access. The next one as we have little time capital of course capital is the key the most serious bottleneck is investment capital in Africa. AI sovereignty needs capital sovereignty. Risk perception, risk management is crucial only then also an African capital in private banks in Geneva flows back to Africa. Private banks in Geneva and they have not millions they have billions of African capital. Well sitting here in Geneva, two kilometers from here. And I discussed with him, how do you invest in Africa? This is African money invested in New York and London. Why not invest it in Africa? It's too risky. It's not feasible. So we need a narrative which says an opportunity. Opportunity and AI and all the other and minerals and all that needs capital. So let's build trust to invest in Africa. And we all know building trust in capital investment is not easy, but feasible. Foreign capital has to be fair as win -win and not with neocolonial dominance, as we observe. Trump and Tizakedi, I'm blank on that, negotiated in January a confidential contract that would allow the United States to invest in Africa. between U .S. and the U .S. Nobody knows, but when some leaks went public, 600 ,000 PC and some were killed because they observed that Gigi Keddie promised to Trump, yeah come American companies to counterweight the Chinese companies and we give you land, but this land was occupied by the artisanal miners. 600 ,000 artisanal miners, no, 2 million only in the RC. So you see the conflict potential behind what we discuss. Next one, data sovereignty. So who owns the data? You mentioned it already. And that is very key. Africa needs soon more data centers. You know the figures, I think 70 % of the data centers are placed in the US, then in China, then some in Europe. Much less and only in Africa. Now there is a billionaire from Zimbabwe who wants to establish data centers in Africa, and that is very important. If we have AI challenges, we need data sovereignty, and that means we also need some data centers in Africa, and that needs money. The dependency on American, Chinese, and European data centers is a challenge for data sovereignty. The AU and member countries is working on legislation for increased data sovereignty, an important effort. But there again, we need the unity, African Union is a very great institution, but then the nations have their own partial interests. So how to find between African nations a common strength to have African data centers? And the next one is green energy. Data centers need a huge amount of energy, as we all know. So do we use energy for big data, and then it's lacking for the household, and for cooking, and for the light in the schools? You see the dilemma. Increased energy production has to be balanced with people -centered availability, transport, and only then for AI energy needs. If we now push everything to data centers and industrialization, then the people will go to the street again. We are in the dark at home, and you use the new energy sources, the new power stations to feed your data centers, which are controlled in the US or wherever. So you see a bit of conflict. Energy production must be as great as possible. Africa's Six -point politics. I could put it at the first point. Politics with good governance is the most critical factor for increased and sovereign air capacities in Africa. Multiplied and diversified cooperation with multi -sectoral partners increases the leverage, know -how, and stability of AI capacities in Africa. politics is the biggest obstacle apart from values and so on, so we need this new factors, that is my message don't look at only the technical or only the financial look at the six factors as interrelated as you see in that one. Thank you.
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Prof. Lina Dai
Thank you Professor Stuggebagger for impressive sharing. Next we have Dr. Zhang Xiao Vice President of hina Internet Network Information Center member of the IGF Multi -Stakeholder Advisory Group and Executive Deputy Director of China IGF in developing countries in the era of AI Please welcome Dr. Zhang.
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Dr. Xiao Zhang
Good morning everyone Thank you Ms. Gongke to bring us together This is Xiao, I'm working on digital issues for more than 20 years and I really have Yesterday, I think a lot of ministers, they actually said it's reluctant to say that they have no access and their infrastructure is really poor. That brings us a challenge. I think in the AI age, not only to say the Internet age, and that's a real challenge. So it's not only about infrastructure, but as we see, it's a human capacity. I think there's two ways. So I have three points to share. The first is, shall we wait for the infrastructure to be finished? No, I definitely want to say no. The first thing we should do is keep investment in basic infrastructure because without that, we cannot continue any digital issues, digital program. So keep invest in basic infrastructure. But at the same time, there should also be something to be done. Like we can start human capacity using something that's already been done. I know in Africa there are a lot of mobile, so we can use them like cloud -based AI services and open source models that run on modest hardware, multilingual interfaces. Of course, data is a problem, but that's built on trust. That's something we can cooperate, build on trust, and we can see. So begin something humble, but human capacity is something that should be paralleled with infrastructure. That's my first point. We start with something real challenge, real need, demand, not a prepackaged supply. Some of our capacity building programs are designed in Geneva, in Washington, or somewhere somewhere, but it's used in Africa. Well, it may not be well adapted to the local demand, so something we should see what problem are local technology technicians really facing. What policies are regulators in Africa struggling to write? Something very targeted and exact. As we sit down and look at some very exact. The third thing is we do something building layers, not in a bulk. That means there should be hundreds of programs that we help with each other. Not only one two -week training program. It only starts to meet different demands. I think we don't need one package for all. Like for policymakers, they need to understand how AI governance, the risk frameworks. But they don't need to write the software. And for software, the network operator, they need practical tools rather than something else. So one -size -fits -all training is maybe a waste of time. So we can build in layers. Anyway, let's get the ball rolling. I think something trustee is something basic, but it's something we can work on. And let me
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Prof. Lina Dai
Thank you, Dr. Zhang, for your sharing. Our next speaker is Professor Ricardo Isereo Robos -Paleo, advisor on ICT to the Federal Chamber of Deputies, international corporate lawyer and professor from Mexico. He will present on Beyond AI Capacity Building in the Global and AI Labor Justice. Let us welcome.
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Dr. Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo
Thank you. Thank you very much. I write down my speech. And in this panel, it's called Bringing the Intelligence Divide. But there is a divide that is not being named. It's the one between those who design AI and those who make it possible with their labor. And you know that AI is not autonomous. It depends on millions of workers who label data, classify images, and review extremely harmful content to teach models that must not reproduce. Most of them are... under the condition that violate the international law. So as you know, AI is not autonomous. It's invisible human labor. And there is evidence, the most documented cases in the world is in Kenya. The opening AI paid someone, a subcontracted company. And the corporation is $12 .50 per hour. The Kenyan workers... who review hours of extreme violence torture received by $2 per hour. So 184 of those workers are dismissed when they are tempted to unice. The pattern repeats itself in other countries. And there is a curious paradox. These workers are teaching AI to detect the very harmful content that is making them sick. And this is documented with post -traumatic stress disorder, the clinical depression, and insomnia, while simultaneously preventing their own jobs redundant. So this is not true. This is not only an ethical problem. This is a violation of existing international norms that the international labor organizations under the Convention 87 and 88 on freedom of association and collective bargaining. It is according to the International Commandment of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Articles on Health and Descent Work, and according to the United States Guiding Principles of Supplying Chains. And there is the most recent development, the International First Level Global Labor Standards, specifically for platform workers. They require collective bargaining set conditions and the right to receive explanation and the AI -driven decisions and the right to human review. This convention is exactly the kind of instrument that this forum should be driving forward. Meanwhile, the Global South is already responding. The Montauk case against Meta reached the Kenyan Court of Appeal, which confirmed the jurisdiction that Meta has been mainfully subject to the Court of the Global South. 184 claims, and there is a demand of billions of dollars. And in 2023, they moderated themselves from an Africa First Content Moderation Worker Union. So, this is the two points that we must consider in the last slides. Now, the previous one, sorry. The condition of the labor standards throws in the data supply chain. No capacity building project should be funded without an independent audit of working condition. The second one includes data workers' union representation in the global dialogue and AI governance. Those who build the systems must be in the room where there are governors. And the last one, redefine the capacity building, not as a cheap labor for the Global South, but as a co -design of governance, algorithmic auditing, and genuine participation of the global rule -making. And this is a final thought, that the Global South must not be reduced to the
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Prof. Lina Dai
Thank you, Professor Ricardo, for bringing the critical perspectives of human rights and labor justice into our conversation. Now we have Mr. Christopher Dutz, Director of the Apache Software Foundation. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Dutz.
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Mr. Christofer Dutz
little pins into the world where our contributors come from. And we have very long recognized and tried to sort of like. Well, from especially from Africa to to participate. And so I'm also involved in a project we have at Apache. It's called the Travel Assistance Committee, because for us traveling into Geneva, that's sort of like not not very difficult. But someone from Africa, it's almost impossible. Let's keep aside the whole visa problematic. It's just like having access to someone to invite someone to get a visa to to pay for all of this. But I had some really interesting chats with people that we sponsored going to an international conference. And one struggle that I really. We see bridging the gap to this whole thing is like. available. I mean, the internet is full of knowledge and it's free for most people to consume. But one really big problem is if you're not a fluent English speaker, you become a sort of citizen second class. A lot of information is just impossible to see. And I don't know if you guys noticed, but there were several people asking for subtitles to be enabled and every time it was declined. If we had clicked on interviews tools to participate in this discussion. So for me, sort of like, as I said, we try to make it possible for someone to participate from anywhere in the world. So, and I don't know if you, read the news some time ago, currently all of these big AI companies are dropping huge donations on especially open source foundations. and one of the things I'm trying to fight for is to sort of like make it part things around email lists and everything is around English so but I would really like to select use this modern technology to make it possible to participate in any project that you want in any language that you feel comfortable with and using AI to sort of like make resources that were just available in English available in French today just simultaneously translating things is I would say a solved problem the resources for doing it that's a different thing and that's definitely nothing a director of the Apache Software Foundation could work on but we can at least do our best to make it possible for anyone to participate and that was it. Sorry didn't have more but it's all right
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Prof. Lina Dai
Thank you Mr. for your valuable sharing actually we have another presenter but she will come later maybe next we'll come to the open anyone want to speak or make questions you can raise your hand. Here please, just open the icrophone. Just make a brief introduction of yourself before. Okay, thank you.
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Audience
My name is . I am the principal secretary for . I'm glad that a colleague has actually spoken about the case. I'm glad to obviously hear some of the distinguished authorities in AI and the whole sort of issue of intelligence divide between the south and the north. and speaking about Africa and I'll possibly just give maybe a comment at the end about the Kenya situation but just to also say that as government, because I speak on behalf of government the intent of artificial intelligence is clear it offers a resident opportunity growth and a more connected world. However, alongside these opportunities comes very real risk of a new intelligence divide and I think the professors and the authorities have spoken ahead have spoken about this, the divide between the north and the south and the south increasingly has been used as a consumer and as basically a raw material source other than an equal partner in this space. Kenya therefore calls for greater international collaboration in AI capacity building and I'm glad we're able to talk about not just human but also in terms of infrastructure and in terms of all the other enablers including data centers. And by working together, we can build a more equitable, inclusive, and resilient global AI ecosystem that unlocks shared prosperity and advances human development for all. So our commitment is building a thriving digital economy is founded on our belief that technology is a key driver of economic growth, improved public service delivery, and citizen empowerment. Through our digital economy master plan, which in fact the country has, we've established a strategic roadmap for leveraging AI and other matching technologies to strengthen our economy, create quality jobs, and position Kenya as a leader in the fourth industrial revolution. So for this reason, we welcome the focus of this year's WISIS Forum and AI for Good Global Summit on making AI truly inclusive. Kenya's national AI strategy 2025 -2030 places capacity building at its core. So really building capacity so that our people are able to participate at the global forums and global AI sort of developments as equal partners. We're investing in local talent, digital infrastructure which basically includes extending the digital care across the country anybody who has been to Kenya. We know that the fifth administration is committed across the country building digital hubs to access youth digital services across the country and also having public wi -fi where people may not necessarily have a capacity to actually access personal internet and we are investing in local all these research institutions and ethical governance frameworks. However, national efforts alone not sufficient we need global solidarity. Just to close because I don't have much time just to say that people, and I don't know if some of you have been to Kenya, but Kenya is actually been, Kenya is actually one of the, so we're one of the leading sort of technology and innovation hubs globally. Kenyans, not just in Kenya, but also globally very, very strong in terms of innovation. And we see this AI phenomenon as a new opportunity for Kenyans to actually assert themselves in terms of our capacity and in terms of our capability. Just to respond to the gentleman that actually Kenya is a very open society. We've got some of the most educated youth globally. So they go to Ivy League, they go to the top universities in Europe, and some come back home, some remain in Europe and North America, and some are back home. And through that then you've got a very captive labor that is actually very empowered. So obviously some of the big sort of tech companies established in Kenya some of them may not be doing the right things as the example you've given but we've got a rule of law we've got a clear rule of law as you know we can determine some of these things and in fact those big data companies or big tech companies have been guided in terms of the best minimum labor requirements so they can test the law but the law will prevail I thank you o
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Prof. Lina Dai
ok thank you
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Audience
In your country it's fine and the training the training team the local training team were very strong so basically it's now in the room I think I should give support to you ok Thank you and good morning. Apologies. So I just want to focus on the perspectives around the second slide. Perspectives around how AI should amplify human expertise and not replace it. And then looking at the South African context. So we all are aware that what's the vision for AI for science and it's quite important for us to look at scientific impact with maximum ease, optimized resource utilization, effective self -service, self -healing resources. It must be reusable, reproducible, open science principles and values must also be considered in the process. Next slide. And quickly I want to look at what do we think about the intelligence divide challenges. And we look at the numbers. I'm talking about of what I would call indicators in my space. evolving technologies, technological independence, ethical and privacy concerns, technical challenges, job displacement fears, user adaptation, regulatory and policy changes, including financial constraints. And what do we mean by this? You are aware that when technologies evolve, and if you are coming from less economically developed countries, there's a challenge when technologies evolve. Technological dependence here, we're looking at any disruption affects our infrastructures or impact on our infrastructures, especially when our systems are not. When we look at job displacement fears, it's quite clear. When we have, for example, you are aware in the early years when we were talking about robots, and there were a lot of fears around, especially in countries where they are unionized. In my country, South Africa. South Africa is very unionized. And when it comes to technology, Even self -check machines, we don't have self -check machines yet because of the issues around, is it taking our jobs? And labor then comes into the fore. And this is also a key challenge when we look at African situation. Also financial constraints. Implementing can be costly, let alone access to Internet. And there's a debate now on whom can be the Internet provider in our countries because you want the value -added prospects and you just take what's coming up to the fore. Policy and the related challenges. It's also the political will that's quite important. When you look at policy, if governments are not embracing and understanding what needs to happen, down there as researchers or policymakers, you will do what you do in your little space, but the total ecosystem suffers if the political will. It's not there. And user adaptation is quite key. There's a lot of training that's required. Also, acceptance. You remember when we started with open access in the days, there was a challenge to who's going to take my data, for example, open data. Who's going to use my data? For what purpose? And it's also confined also to the communities with a fear that if they take my data, what's going to happen? Talk about adaptation, and we also have to look at fair and care principles around this of open science. Next slide. So even though we have the intelligence divide, we do have capacity development that's required within this space. Enhanced accessibility can improve AI adaptability. Resource planning and collection development is also quite key to look at. Predictive analytics that will help us develop our collections better. Enhanced search and discoverability is quite important that when we look at all these tools, we also have to have discoverability. We also have to have discoverability tools embedded in our platforms. improve data management analysis. We are aware and analyze a range of data sets, make it easier for researchers to have meaningful insights and support research activities. Another benefit, it's 24 -7 support. AI -powered chatbots, we can't do anything without chatbots in our daily lives. Even when you book a plane ticket and you struggle, you go through chatbots. Personalized learning by analyzing user interface and preference, AI can provide personalized recommendations for, for example, books and so forth. So when I looked at this, I looked at the ecosystem higher education institutes because at the moment we are pushing for AI policies in our institutions. And they also started within the researchers who said, in my domain, we need to have a policy in this because you don't want students to be penalized. and say you are plagiarizing when you don't understand the ethical use of AI tools. The last part will be automation of repetitive tasks. Here we are aware that the benefit would be AI can automate routine tasks such as, for example, cataloging where we do a lot of metadata, indexing and inventory management. My question is on your presentation. You restricted the AI translation. What do you think about that? what about Chinese?
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Mr. Christofer Dutz
No, no. So, a few years ago, I was working for a Chinese company, and they had sort of like a chat tool, a feishu, I think it was called. And I was just mind -blown how easy it was for me to communicate with my Chinese colleagues. We even wrote articles together. I wrote them in English, they wrote them in Chinese, and it just worked perfectly. And that sort of like initially sparked this idea that actually this whole concept of a language should be treated as just a perfect tool for taking any maybe some African documents and some... I would expect that let's say AI is able to translate that to German with enough training. And I think this would be something that I think that's a really good point. would be worth a lot to the whole planet if we could also like just get rid of this language barrier and include everyone in it but as as we were focusing on the global south and especially Africa I just chose that example okay thank you.
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Audience
Very important and also I know you're thinking in your country continent so many different languages so the air keep the diversity of the magical liquid linguistic so I think I gave the last chance to witness you want to make a comments or recommendation please and you can find me on where shots She is from China and her question s about how can China do better perform to help developing countries.
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Prof. Christoph Stückelberger
I think it's a key question and what I observe is China is very present in Africa and has a lot of good impacts. And is it from private sector, let's say all the activities of Huawei, for example, just as an example, and then in mining, whatever sector, hospitality, hospitals, education. I think one thing is the sensitivity, the intercultural. learn much with Chinese and Africans. And the tensions are growing, as we all know. And that means we need careful listening and understanding to each other. So the cultural learning is very important. So that means we need, when we have an investment, we need a cultural mutual learning component in it. And that needs costs, because otherwise we come with our technology, we overrun. The Chinese companies in Colvasia, I visited, they live all in camps. And of course, that creates conflicts automatically. But then there is another example where a Chinese big mining company invested in a professional learning center. A vocational training center. Millions. And that created trust. but that needed the communication. So I would strongly recommend really to put emphasis in every program, China, Africa, also China, Europe, but more important in Africa, and that includes the language issue. It includes the modern language. It needs the understanding of the... For example, time management is so different. The Chinese are simply too fast for the Africans, and that's why they overrun everything, I say it in a positive sense, you know. So how to deal with a different speed? If Africans go to a funeral and they have every week a funeral of some relatives. No, I mean, you know it, we know it. So how to understand that a funeral may be ore important than being in the office? That's a cultural issue.
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Audience
Thank you. Thank you. A quick follow -up. A quick follow -up. In higher education, I think we can call between the researchers and the researchers from the Chinese institutions because that's where the ground level is being done, where transdisciplinarity is happening through research and also collaboration with
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Mr. Christofer Dutz
So as you mentioned explicitly how the communication with China can improve, one thing I have been observing over the last years is that people are evolving in China, and it's really almost impossible for people outside of China to participate because they always, it doesn't matter what, at Apache we say everything has to happen online. And that is one thing that I as a director every month There are two or three projects where I have to slap them a bit on the hand. We say discussions and decisions happen on the list, but usually the Asian communities, especially the Chinese one, they use WeChat. They use the tools that are not accessible for people outside of China. So as you ask that, making communities in China more aware of choosing communication forms that are more inclusive, and that includes not just Africa, that includes everything outside of China.
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Audience
Okay, so thank you very much. I'd like to thank this session for such a good discussion in relation to global issues. I'm sorry, I'm not rounding up for you. I'm on the next session, so I'm just going to say thank you, but I'm also going to invite you all, please, it's such a great group, but I'd like to invite you to stay on and participate. The next session that I'll be chairing... and I can see my very distinguished panelist here, relates to human rights. So it's very much focused on human rights across the globe, but it's also looking at age divides. So are we creating age divides? And I'm particularly here looking at older people and should we be looking at, you know, rights for older people and also rights in addition to age. Please stay. You'll also find very early on in the presentation, I have circulated it around a little bit earlier, there will be a survey questionnaire for you to take part in. It is looking at developing policy going forward. So that's a little quick ask if you'd like to stay, please, and participate. But I'm just going to invite my panelist in and we'll start to set up. Thank you. Thank you so much. So thank you for coming and please be kind. Thank you.

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