Who We Are
Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need.
From chatbots to chat shows and TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa and Asia make choices and changes in their lives, igniting their confidence to act differently at a time that can define their future.
We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts, and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, relationships, and so much more. To arm girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.
Our reach is 50 million and counting. And we’re using technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, health, learning and livelihood.
Because when a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, community, and country.
That’s the Girl Effect.
Background
For over a decade, we have been building technology that aims to create a safer, more accessible world for women and girls, using the insights and experiences girls share with us. Innovation for us is about using the right tech in the best way to reach girls and meet their challenges. As technology evolves and girls’ habits change, we adapt and improve the platforms, processes, and infrastructure that underpin everything we do.
Context of Assignment
We have an exciting opportunity to explore how to use sophisticated artificial intelligence or machine learning techniques to improve our services for girls.
One of our more recent tech innovations, created in response to the number of girls using messaging apps, is our award-winning chatbots: Big Sis and Bol Behen, on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Big Sis is an AI-powered chatbot providing girls in South Africa with safe, private, and non-judgemental information on topics they do not feel comfortable discussing elsewhere, like sex and STIs. And Bol Behen (“Speak! Sister”) is a menu-based chatbot that answers girls’ questions on sensitive topics like relationships and reproductive health living in the Hindi belt.
We are now looking for an Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Advisor to advise our team as we develop a future-facing machine learning/artificial intelligence research plan that can make our chatbots more effective as safe spaces for girls to learn and eventually take charge of their lives. While one of our chatbots, Big Sis, already had Natural Language Processing implemented, the realm of machine learning and artificial intelligence is immense, and there are many techniques that may produce better outcomes for our users.
Requirements
The AI/ML Advisor will advise our team on the best machine learning or artificial intelligence techniques to implement to deliver impact. Girl Effect will provide an overview of the value proposition of our chatbots and the intermediate and long-term outcomes we have designed them to deliver, as well as an overview of the current technical infrastructure supporting our NLP integration. Using this information, the AI/ML Advisor will pinpoint various techniques that deliver on intermediate and long-term impact goals and judge the complexity involved in implementing these techniques. As our team explores these options and develops a research plan to test them, the AI/ML Advisor will provide feedback on the prioritisation and feasibility of these techniques for the value propositions identified.
Expected commitment:
Location
The consultant will be remote and must be conducive to working with teams in the UK, USA, Sub-Saharan Africa & India synchronously and asynchronously.
Tentative Timelines:
Specific tasks/Deliverables
Reporting
The consultant will report to Girl Effect’s Head of Create. They will work closely with the Fractional CTO, Director of Technology and Digital Data Analyst.
Who You Are
Skills, Knowledge and Experience
Proposal submission
Your proposal should be 5 pages max and cover the following:
In their proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the RFP and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.
GE is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.
VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure
Evaluation Criteria
The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below.
Technical Evaluation
Financial Evaluation
How to Apply
Please submit proposals, as described above, to [email protected] by 7th April 2023, 5:00 pm EAT latest. Please clearly mark your email with the subject ‘Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Advisor”.
Equal Opportunities
Girl Effect is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity, or expression. We are proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.
We are committed to building an organization that is truly representative of the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy services of organizations and individuals with a deep understanding and experience of our programming markets and diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.
Safeguarding
You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organizational values at the interview stage. The successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero tolerance for all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries and staff.
Tax
Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position with regards to provisions of their local jurisdiction tax legislation when developing their proposals.
Disclaimer
GE reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. GE shall inform the ONLY successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow.
Understand the required skills and qualifications, anticipate the questions you may be asked, and study well-prepared answers using our sample responses.
Machine Learning Engineer Q&A's