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Shaping Kenya's AI Future: UNESCO Contributes to National AI Strategy Formulation
Kenya, as many countries in Africa, is taking bold steps to cope with the rapidly changing landscape induced by AI development. The country is already harnessing AI technology to address critical needs in agriculture, healthcare, education, and financial services, through a combination of strategic government-led initiatives, a thriving tech, start-up and private sector ecosystem, innovative partnerships, as well as a vibrant civil society.
However, these developments are taking place in a context marked by the absence of a dedicated governance framework to effectively enhance the country鈥檚 ambition to becoming the 鈥淪ilicon Savannah鈥 of Africa.
Under the lead of its Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy, with support from GIZ and other partners, the Government of Kenya has embarked in a consultative process for the drafting of a national emerging technologies and AI strategy. This underscores its commitment to provide strategic guidance for the development, adoption, deployment and responsible and ethical use of AI in Kenya.
This forms the background to the recently concluded 3rd Stakeholder鈥檚 Consultation Workshop that was held from 15-17 May 2024 in Naivasha, following two earlier consultations that were held in Nairobi, on 8 and 26 April 2024. UNESCO joined the three-day residential workshop that gathered more than 50 participants from government, private sector, industry experts, academia and civil society.
The Organization contributed to cross-cutting thematic, interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder discussions that gauged the needs, aspirations and priorities of the country to effectively harness the transformative potential of AI across all sectors of Kenya鈥檚 economy and society for sustainable development.
UNESCO鈥檚 AI Readiness Assessment Methodology
The workshop provided a timely platform to sensitize participants to the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the first global standard adopted in November 2021 by 193 Member States, including Kenya. This was a unique opportunity to reaffirm the ethical stand of the Organization, as upheld by key values, principles and policy areas spelt out in the Recommendation for spearheading responsible and ethical AI governance.
Equally important was the space provided to present the Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM), an actionable tool of the Recommendation designed to support Member States鈥 assessment of their status of preparedness to implement AI ethically and responsibly for the good of all their citizens. Key findings from its roll-out in Kenya were also highlighted.
UNESCO welcomes this timely platform that allows the sharing of findings from the AI Readiness Assessment of Kenya, to nurture ongoing consultations and support steps towards the formulation of a National AI and Emerging Technology Strategy for Kenya.
In presenting the preliminary findings from the RAM, Dr. Diana Nyakundi, Lead National Expert for outlined the five main dimensions that the UNESCO鈥檚 Methodology focuses on, including :
Legal and Regulatory
Social and Cultural
Economic
Scientific and Educational
Technological and Infrastructural
Elaborating on the Legal and Regulatory Dimension, she acknowledged existing strategic frameworks such as the , the , from the Kenya Bureau of Standards, as well as the , among others. Based on this mapping exercise, she noted the absence of a dedicated framework specific to AI governance.
Beyond key findings showcasing the current status of Kenya's AI journey, the RAM also provides key policy recommendations aimed at addressing identified priority gaps, which include:
Formulation of a national AI strategy that is grounded in empirical evidence of ongoing AI initiatives;
Capitalization on the ICT foundational blocks for seamless integration and adoption of AI technologies;
Holistic approach to skilling, upskilling, and reskilling;
Systematic tracking of existing gaps and evolving requirements of the job market;
Development, integration, implementation and monitoring of ethical principles and standards into AI governance frameworks
We look forward to receiving the final report of the UNESCO RAM for Kenya, so to fully capture it essence in the development of the National Emerging Technologies and AI Strategy for Kenya.
Next Steps
A Drafting Team was onboarded from the Consultation Workshop in Naivasha, to which UNESCO was invited to contribute. A timeline for the preparation of a draft National Emerging Technologies and AI Strategy for Kenya was presented by Prof. Timothy M. Waema, the Lead Consultant for the project, who disclosed an intensive drafting process in June and July 2024 that will allow for additional consultations. It is expected that a draft document will be ready for a national validation workshop by the end of August 2024.
