African Union ECOSOCC and Cambridge · Nairobi · July 2026
Practical AI for civil society leaders.
The first workshop in an ECOSOCC and Cambridge initiative to help African civil society organisations use AI in fundraising, project management, reporting and organisational learning, with ethics and data privacy in the same room as the tools.1
My role: I designed and delivered the two-day workshop. Cambridge’s public story names me as leading the workshops. ECOSOCC and Cambridge jointly own the partnership; Alex Njiiri opened the Nairobi event for Cambridge.
The brief
Access to AI was not the bottleneck. Usable practice was.
ECOSOCC and Cambridge signed a partnership in September 2025 to strengthen education, digital learning and capacity development across Africa. The Nairobi workshop was one of the first major activities from that agreement.13
Demand was unusually high: more than 1,200 organisations applied for 50 places. The public brief was practical rather than theoretical. Participants would work directly with AI tools, discuss ethics and data privacy, and leave with resources they could use in day-to-day organisational work.12
Design problem
How could two intensive days give civil society leaders, with mixed digital experience and limited spare capacity, a responsible way to use AI on funding, delivery and reporting without turning the workshop into a product tour?
Facilitation
Lead the room, not the model
The public course promise was simple: everyone should leave with useful skills, relevant resources and the confidence to apply them immediately.
My contribution
Design the workshop, then run it
The partnership sits with ECOSOCC and Cambridge. My work was the learning design and live delivery of the Nairobi workshop, so civil society leaders could practise on real organisational tasks.
Shape a two-day method
Designed the workshop around funding, project management and reporting, with ethics and data privacy treated as part of the work rather than a closing warning.
Keep practice in the room
Built sessions so participants used AI tools on organisational tasks, then judged the output, rather than watching a sequence of product demos.
Hold the public brief
Cambridge’s published line was that access to AI is no longer the main challenge. The harder work is using the tools effectively and responsibly. That was the design constraint.
Deliver with partners in view
Facilitated the live workshop. Alex Njiiri opened for Cambridge. Mutale Muloshi welcomed participants for the ECOSOCC Secretariat.
Workshop architecture
Four strands, two days
The public programme framed the work around organisational tasks civil society teams already own.1
On the public record
Leave with something people can use on Monday.
“For many organisations, access to AI is no longer the main challenge. The real challenge is knowing how to use these tools effectively and responsibly in our day-to-day work. Over the two days, participants will explore practical ways AI can support their organisations, from improving productivity to strengthening impact. Cambridge’s goal is simple. Everyone should leave with useful skills, relevant resources and the confidence to start applying what they have learned immediately.”
What I took from the work
Three design lessons
- Selection pressure is a design input. More than a thousand organisations competing for 50 places means the two days have to repay the cost of being in the room.
- Civil society work is already high-stakes writing. Funding, reporting and project coordination are where AI helps, and where a careless draft can do harm.
- A partnership is not a workshop. Nairobi was a first public activity of a wider ECOSOCC-Cambridge agreement. The useful test is whether the method can travel, not whether the event photographed well.
Attribution: This workshop was run by the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. This case study covers my design and delivery of the Nairobi workshop and does not imply sole authorship of the institutional partnership, selection process or outcomes. Photographs are used from Cambridge’s public programme story.
Sources and further reading
- Cambridge: ECOSOCC and Cambridge launch AI capacity-building workshop for African civil society organisations
- Cambridge Partnership for Education: Nairobi workshop launch post
- Cambridge: African Union ECOSOCC and Cambridge partner to strengthen education and digital learning in Africa
- African Union ECOSOCC: Nairobi workshop photograph, 9 July 2026
Explore more work
See other programmes spanning system leadership, teacher capability and professional learning.