Practitioner Classes: Ethical AI for Civil Society Support 

Join our second set of practitioner classes in March, April, and May 2026 and learn more about the ethical use of AI in civil society support. 

These sessions will be led by INTRAC network members Guillaume Soto and Willemijn de Bruin. Guillaume is a digital innovation consultant based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with over 20 years of experience supporting NGOs and businesses across Europe and Africa. Willemijn is an independent consultant offering monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), research, and project management services to NGOs, local civil society organisations (CSOs), and donors of development programmes.

Each session opens with a short presentation from Guillaume, followed by a facilitated peer discussion of technical and practical applications, led by Willemijn. 

Civil society practitioners need learning opportunities that are timely, relevant and manageable within busy schedules. INTRAC’s new practitioner classes offer just that – practical sessions designed to strengthen your knowledge and skills, while connecting you with peers across the globe.

These short classes are aimed at busy professionals and draw on the expertise of our global network of ethical and values-driven consultants. Topics are identified by and for those supporting civil society. Sessions are designed to provide learning and discussion rooted in the real technical and practical challenges faced by professionals in the sector. These are not lectures, but opportunities to share experiences, reflect on challenges, and build practical knowledge together.  

Each class:  

• Is led by an experienced consultant from INTRAC’s global network 
• Introduces and explores a technical area  
• Provides an interactive and reflective space for discussion and a way to build connections with peers around the world.

Transforming raw data into actionable insights without compromising reliability 

For MEL and social research professionals, processing qualitative data is often a significant bottleneck. AI offers an opportunity to scale up this work, but it also introduces a risk: losing control over the outputs it produces. This session introduces a rigorous methodology for AI-assisted analysis, maintaining a transparent process in which every AI output remains auditable and subject to human verification. 

By the end of the session, participants will: 

• Build consistent, auditable workflows by integrating AI into everyday tools such as spreadsheets. 
• Put checks in place to identify AI errors and verify that results are reliable. 
• Use and manage multiple AI models to balance accuracy, cost, and the protection of sensitive data. 

From technical understanding to practitioner responsibility 

How can civil society actors harness the potential of AI to increase their impact while upholding rigorous ethical standards? This session lays out the groundwork for conscious and secure use of generative AI. 

By the end of the session, participants will: 

• Understand how generative AI works, including its known limitations such as hallucinations and bias, so you can use it more critically and safely. 
• Evaluate and choose between AI options (open-source vs. proprietary) based on criteria around data control, privacy, and organisational independence. 
• Identify practical opportunities and tools to begin using AI safely in your professional work. 
• Apply AI to analyse large datasets and support the creation of podcasts, infographics, and presentations. 

Moving from simple prompts to intellectual co-creation 

Generative AI should not be treated as a simple search engine, but as a dialogue partner. This session moves beyond the single prompt to explore how to orchestrate complex, iterative conversations that stimulate critical thinking and enrich project design. 

By the end of the session, participants will: 

• Write effective prompts that enable iterative conversations with AI, producing more accurate and relevant results. 
• Use AI to challenge your own assumptions and develop richer analytical frameworks. 
• Set up and tailor AI chatbots for specific tasks such as consultation, mentoring, or brainstorming.