From Global Insights to Local Action: How Local NGOs Engage with AI-Enabled Adaptive Teaching Tools

• In Event: AI-Enhanced Adaptive Teaching: From Evidence to Implementation

Proposal

This presentation will share information and experiences from AI-for-Education, an initiative supported by the Gates Foundation and others to ensure that AI is a catalyst for equitable progress in education.
The presentation will examine the current landscape of AI-enabled adaptive teaching tools in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Drawing on a global mapping conducted by Fab Inc., we present findings from an analysis of 279 products (as of mid-2025), accessible through an online dashboard, with particular attention to developments in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This analysis highlights how AI is being integrated into teaching and learning processes, what evidence exists regarding its potential to improve student outcomes, and what the implications are for scaling equitable AI-enabled tools in LMICs.
In addition, the presentation will discuss AI integration in teaching and learning through the lens of AI-for-Education's capacity development for local NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa. These efforts are led by Team4Tech, an NGO impact accelerator currently serving over 1,100 organizations in more than 100 countries through a community of practice and targeted training and grantmaking.
An estimated 350 million children worldwide rely on non-state actors for schooling (UNESCO, 2021), and NGOs play a significant role in these services in many countries. These NGOs often have a focus on reaching learners who are excluded from typical state or private sector schooling and are at greatest risk of being left behind by the rapid pace of change in AI, which could worsen existing social divisions within and between nations (Schellekens & Skilling, 2024). As such, NGOs are a critical audience for AI-for-Education's targeted capacity development on the use of AI to improve teaching and learning in education systems around the globe.
In this presentation, we will discuss Team4Tech's experiences in building local NGO capacity for AI integration, including development of a training course housed in an online community of practice, along with intensive capacity development for a cohort of NGOs from across sub-Saharan Africa who receive training on AI integration and coaching as they implement action plans to incorporate AI in their work. Discussion of real-world use cases on AI-enabled adaptive teaching will highlight the challenges NGOs face in building their own capacity and then cascading that capacity to school leaders, teachers, and learners. The presentation will share analysis of key data points that further demonstrate the typical barriers to real-world AI integration, including quantitative changes in NGO staff knowledge about AI and the extent to which NGOs have successfully carried out their action plans for AI integration in teaching and learning.
The audience will gain vital insights on AI-enabled adaptive teaching in LMICs to inform policy and practice more broadly, contributing to knowledge about how to ensure AI is an instrument for shared progress and social cohesion rather than inequity and conflict.
References:
● Schellekens, P. and Skilling, D. (2024). "Three Reasons Why AI May Widen Global Inequality." Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
● UNESCO. 2021. Global Education Monitoring Report 2021/2: Non-state actors in education: Who chooses? Who loses? Paris: UNESCO.

Author

• Jodie Fonseca, Team4Tech