This is the first part of a 4-part series exploring the ways in which AI tools are impacting the lives of teachers and young people around the world. In this episode, I talked with Kavi Ramburn and Stefan Coetzee from ALX Africa about their amazing work bringing professional foundational competencies programmes to young people across Africa through in-person hubs and online course offerings. They have recently announced a big partnership with Anthropic and the Government of Rwanda, so I was keen to talk with them about how this will boost their mission in introducing “Chidi,” an AI-powered learning companion built to scaffold critical thinking and problem-solving about and with AI, to learners and educators across Africa and beyond.

Kavi is Vice President of Learning at ALX Africa. He has an extensive background in learning, research and sustainable development economics, and advocacy for social impact across many sectors.

Stefan is AI Innovation Lead at ALX Africa spearheading AI product research and early life cycle product development. He has a huge depth of knowledge as a data scientist, content developer and educator.

From the presse release from ALX Africa:

“Funding and Partnership 

• Anthropic will cover LLM/API-related costs to support the deployment of Chidi and Claude access.

• ALX will contribute the training, delivery, and implementation infrastructure, ensuring smooth rollout and educator enablement.

• The Government of Rwanda—through the Ministries of Education and ICT—will provide policy guidance, institutional support, and access to schools, but will not bear any financial commitments under this partnership.“

More info:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kavi-ramburn-57212475/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/designing-learning-millions-vision-kavi-ramburn-alxafrica-7vrvf/ 

https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-rwanda-mou

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/rwanda-signs-mou-with-us-ai-company-anthropic-across-health-education-public-sectors/3832953

https://www.devex.com/news/is-anthropic-building-rwanda-s-ai-future-or-its-dependence-111946

https://www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/anthropic-rwanda-and-alx-roll-out-chidi-ai-learning-companion-across-africa