AI for Rural

Stories change the world. We are planning to empower our partners to drive engagement and action through a wide array of narrative forms: data visual stories, develop IOT solutions, brand anthems, short films, motion graphic animations, academic case studies, articles, op-eds, infographics, and more. Building a movement takes vision, passion, and grit. We bring all of those to bear in our partnerships, as well as data-based strategies and community voices. We are in the process of working with private partners and non-profit organizations to catalyze initiatives and execute them from inspiration to impact.

If selected as a winner, we would use the Elevate Prize money to directly provide income for AI for Rural’s (AIFR) various volunteers and partners around the world. Many of the individuals have the opportunity to interact with are contributing their skills, time, and talents due to their passions for helping others. If there was an opportunity to provide these individuals with a sustainable income for a few months, these incredible individuals would be able dedicate all of their time to not only assisting their communities but also communities around the world. The funding would also be used to improve our platform to ensure all of our users are able to use the platform without barriers.

Uday, the founder of AI For Rural (AIFR), and I have always been passionate about serving our communities. After our university education, Uday and I both entered the non-profit sector with the desire to find an organization that was honest, transparent, evidence based, and people centered. Although fulfilling, Uday and I knew that there continued to be a deficit in addressing the issues rural populations experienced. As a result, Uday and I formed AIFR.

AIFR is an organization comprised of researchers, activists, community leaders, scientists, and field experts who are passionate about addressing the most complex issues facing the most vulnerable populations, specifically those in rural and developing areas. With the increase in technological advancement, the most vulnerable are at a point where technology can either improve or exacerbate the issues in healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, agriculture, and their local economy.

We believe rural inequality and poverty can be significantly reduced through our multifaceted approach focused on assessing and building rural capacity through collaboration, innovation, data driven solutions, advocacy, impact investment, and stakeholder engagement.

In 2019, the UN published a report stating that approximately 79% of individuals experiencing poverty reside in rural areas. Using this percentage, economists surmise roughly 580 million people are considered rural poor. This number is expected to increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIFR is an innovative NGO whose mission is to assess and build the capacities of rural communities through the promotion of collaboration, data research, and the application of data, AI, and machine learning in the development of solutions.

One value of AIFR is the promotion of collaboration among communities, researchers, field experts, educational institutions, and leaders. To promote collaboration, AIFR has developed an online platform which allows various parties to easily connect and collaborate with other verified, passionate individuals to address urgent and long-term issues facing their communities.

 In addition to networking, individuals may also submit issues their communities are facing in the form of problem statements. Weekly, the platform users review, prioritize, select, and fund which problem statement should be completed in the following AI challenge. From this challenge, solutions and data sets are developed. These results can then be published, referenced in a peer-review article, used as part of advocacy efforts, and pilot tested.

AIFR is revolutionary primarily because of the manner in which we are mobilizing the community to collaborate and engage in order to address issues impacting the rural community. Currently, the method to identify funding resources (grants and contracts) and potential partners or collaborators can be confusing. Due to the complexity, there is a high probability of the waste of funding and time, as well as the risk of the implementation of non-sustainable solutions. At AIFR, we want to streamline the process while ensuring the development and implementation of culturally appropriate, innovative, timely, and sustainable solutions.

This streamlining is accomplished through our online platform. Our platform allows communities, grant seekers, educational institutions, government and nonprofit agencies to easily connect on a user-friendly platform, as well as propose, select and collaborate on specific issues facing their communities (clean water, education, transportation, healthcare, etc.). An important aspect of this collaboration is the active participation of educational institutions and field experts around the world in the development and study of issues. This high percentage of participation among these groups is due to AIFR’s focus on collecting, producing, and reporting quality data and reports because it promotes innovation, solution funding opportunities, and publication.

We intend to host a series of rural programs and initiatives targeting rural youth, women, children, tribal and indigenous populations, to experience the largest community gathering approach per project, that provides impact venture stakeholder experience in the community. We offer expertise and consulting services for impact investing, and continue to support the Village Venture Fund.

The following are the programs and or recurring initiatives, we are going to facilitate for us to work towards achieving our goals and objectives.

Step 1: Develop Worldwide Rural Agenda in partnership with all stakeholders by 2022

Step 2: Initiate partnership roles, milestones, and objectives by region/country

Step 3: Facilitate Rural Programs, Projects in collaboration with local and international players

Step 4: Publish and promote digital events, AI Competitions, Challenges, and Research Projects

Step 5: Develop Rural Digital Infrastructure to learn, prepare, and build rural capacities