Gender, MERL and AI Learning Group
This group explores a range of topics related to gender, MERL and AI, including uses and critiques of AI through a gender lens and from practical experience; real cases and examples of AI use in MERL of gender programs; resources and support to adopting, testing, and evaluating AI in MERL work for gender programs. The group will intentionally connect with other Learning Groups in the wider CoP offering opportunities to learn from and share and to bring a gender lens to the CoP’s work.
This group is currently co-led by Savita Bailur, Allison Sambo, and Kecia Bertermann.
Meet the co-leads
Savita Bailur (she/her) works at the intersection of gender and digital use (including community radio and telecentres), gig work, digital identity, digital financial inclusion and most recently, Generative AI. Her clients have included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, Omidyar Network, UN Women, UNICEF, Vodafone Foundation and the World Bank while at Caribou. She is the former Senior Director of Gender Equality & Social Inclusion at Caribou Digital and current adjunct Associate Professor in digital development at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. She holds a PhD and MSc in Information Systems from the London School of Economics as well as degrees from the University of London and University of Cambridge. Savita leads MTI’s AI and Gender Inclusion work.
Allison Sambo (she/her) has over 10 years of experience in organizations working on gender equality, sustainable agriculture, reproductive health, and gender-based violence. Most recently, she led research on social movements, including the development of tools to map and assess movements and monitor movement mobilization for Global Fund for Women. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa, and an MPA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kecia Bertermann is a global leader with 20+ years in the development and philanthropy sectors, driving systems change through evidence-based programming and collaborative leadership across democracy, human rights, digital rights, gender equality, and health.
Events:
In January 2025, we kicked off the Gender, MERL and AI working group. Over 300 people attended, excited to share areas of interest and issues that formed the basis of our 2025 roadmap. Throughout the year, this working group discussed whether AI promotes Gender Equity or Automates Inequality, learned about what building a feminist AI can look like, and talked about detecting gender bias in AI tools. Our past events included:
- Reviewing use cases of Gen AI for women’s economic empowerment, health, and tech-facilitated violence. This session included a paper written by Medhavi Hassija and our co-lead, Savita Bailur.
- Explorations of AI-enabled accountability tools, led by Eva Blum-Dumontet, Head of Movement Building and Policy at Chayn. who spoke on the project “Survivor AI,” a feminist AI initiative to empower survivors of image-based abuse.
- Evaluating LLMs for accuracy and inclusion, with Temina Madon (from The Agency Fund), Mala Kumar and Sarah Amos (from Humane Intelligence), and Tarunima Prabhakar (from Tattle).
- A discussion on bias, led by Annie Brown, CEO of Reliabl, and Gender Insights founder Kamila Wasilkowska.
Keep an eye on our events page to learn about upcoming meetings!
Become a member!
Membership is free! To become a member of MERL Tech CoP, fill in this form indicating your agreement and alignment with the CoP Charter and Code of Conduct.