From AI Tools to Policy Tables: AIDECA's Journey into Digital & AI Inclusion

From training CSOs in generative AI to submitting policy briefs to Morocco's Ministry of Finance and engaging Mediterranean partners — here is a look at AIDECA's growing work in digital rights and responsible AI governance.

September 1, 2024 AIDECA — Digital Inclusion & Governance Programme

A New Strategic Frontier

The digital revolution is reshaping every aspect of public life — from how citizens access services to how governments make decisions. For communities in the Béni Mellal-Khénifra region and across the South Mediterranean, this transformation brings both opportunity and risk. Without deliberate inclusion, the digital and AI transition can deepen existing inequalities rather than reduce them.

Since 2024, AIDECA has been building a systematic response to this challenge through its emerging Digital & AI Inclusion pillar — promoting digital rights, AI literacy among civil society, equitable access to digital tools, and responsible AI governance in public policy.

AI as a Tool for Civic Advocacy

In 2024, AIDECA launched the “CSO-driven and AI-driven Advocacy to Support Small Businesses in Morocco” project, in partnership with the Anna Lindh Foundation and Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality. The project brought together 25 CSO leaders and small business owners from across the Béni Mellal-Khénifra region under the ASSURIF network — meaning “step” in Tamazight — with a clear mission: to use AI tools to amplify civil society voices in policy spaces.

The project was built around three interconnected pillars:

1. AI Literacy for Civil Society

Three intensive training sessions introduced participants to the practical use of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP). Rather than treating AI as an abstract technology, participants learned how to integrate these tools directly into their advocacy work — drafting policy recommendations, analysing legislative texts, and producing communications materials with greater impact and speed.

Post-training assessments found that participants’ understanding of AI tools improved by 75%, and more importantly, that they could apply what they learned immediately within their existing programmes.

2. A Coordinated Advocacy Strategy

Over five collaborative working sessions, the ASSURIF network designed and launched a unified advocacy strategy focused on three systemic barriers facing small businesses and cooperatives in the region:

Access to training — particularly for informal sector workers and rural women
Access to finance — including micro-credit gaps and cooperative funding mechanisms
Access to public procurement — where complex administrative requirements often exclude small enterprises

The network produced five petitions and two formal advisory opinions submitted directly to territorial councils, demonstrating how AI-assisted research can shorten the distance between community needs and institutional response.

3. A Policy Memorandum to the Ministry of Finance

The most consequential output of the project was a comprehensive policy memorandum submitted to Morocco’s Ministry of Finance, outlining concrete policy recommendations to create a more supportive ecosystem for small businesses and cooperatives. The memorandum drew on community-generated data, comparative policy analysis assisted by AI tools, and the lived experience of network members.

This submission represents a milestone for AIDECA: it is the first time the organisation has used AI-assisted research to directly inform national-level policy dialogue.

Engaging the South Mediterranean: Responsible AI at the Regional Level

AIDECA’s digital work does not stop at Morocco’s borders. Through its partnership with the Anna Lindh Foundation and Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality, AIDECA is actively participating in multi-stakeholder consultations and policy dialogues with decision-makers and officials across the South Mediterranean to promote responsible and inclusive AI use.

These dialogues address a critical asymmetry: while AI systems are increasingly adopted in public services across the region — from social benefit targeting to border management — the civil society organisations that represent the communities most affected by these systems are rarely included in the design or governance conversations.

AIDECA brings a rights-based lens to these conversations, drawing on its experience working with marginalised youth, rural women, and informal economy workers to articulate what responsible AI governance must look like in practice — not only in theory.

Key positions AIDECA advocates for in Mediterranean forums include:

Transparency obligations for AI systems deployed in public sector decision-making
Participatory impact assessments that include civil society and affected communities before AI tools are scaled
Digital divide mitigation — ensuring that the infrastructure, connectivity, and literacy conditions for AI inclusion are addressed alongside AI deployment
Data sovereignty and privacy protections, particularly for rural and marginalised communities with limited digital literacy

The AI Toolkit: A Replicable Resource for Civil Society

Beyond the advocacy outputs, the project produced an open Toolkit of AI-assisted advocacy materials — designed specifically for civil society organisations in Morocco and the South Mediterranean that want to use AI tools in their own policy and advocacy work. The toolkit includes templates, annotated examples, and guidance on how to adapt AI-generated content responsibly and ethically.

This resource is available to partner organisations and CSOs in the ASSURIF network, and AIDECA plans to disseminate it more broadly through its Mediterranean partnerships in 2026.

Looking Ahead: A Policy Brief on the AI Digital Divide

AIDECA is currently developing a dedicated policy brief on the digital divide and artificial intelligence — examining how the AI transition risks exacerbating existing inequalities across North Africa and the South Mediterranean, and what policy responses are needed at both national and regional levels.

The brief will draw on:

Field data from the Béni Mellal-Khénifra region
Comparative analysis of digital inclusion policies across Mediterranean countries
Civil society perspectives gathered through the ASSURIF network and Mediterranean dialogue processes

The policy brief will be submitted to relevant national bodies in Morocco and shared with Mediterranean partners, contributing to AIDECA’s growing role as a credible civil society voice in digital governance conversations.

Why This Work Matters

The communities AIDECA serves — women-led cooperatives in Azilal, young entrepreneurs in Fquih Ben Salah, elected women navigating local governance in Béni Mellal — are the communities who will be most shaped by the AI transition, and who currently have the least say in how it unfolds.

AIDECA’s Digital & AI Inclusion programme is built on a simple conviction: the communities most affected by AI must be the communities most involved in governing it. That means building AI literacy from the ground up, forging credible advocacy pathways into policy spaces, and ensuring that the South Mediterranean’s civil society has a seat at the table where responsible AI norms are being defined.

For more information about AIDECA’s digital inclusion and AI governance work, or to explore partnership opportunities, contact us at contact@intilaka.org.