Masakhane ("We build together" in isiZulu) is a grassroots NLP organization dedicated to strengthening natural language processing research in African languages, for Africans, by Africans. The organization operates on principles of Ubuntu philosophy, African-centricity, data sovereignty, and reproducibility. They explicitly reject "parachute research" from the Global North, emphasizing that African researchers should lead development of African NLP solutions. In 2023, Masakhane evolved into the Masakhane Research Foundation (MRF), legally registered in Kenya. MRF is developing the "African Languages Hub" and now funds other African NLP projects. Many researchers affiliated with other institutions publish their work under the Masakhane name.
(Auto generated) Key partner for any NLP work in WCA. Has established networks across African NLP researchers, open-source models and datasets for multiple WCA languages (Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fon, Wolof, etc.), and a philosophy aligned with community-driven, locally-owned technology. Their MasakhaNER and MT projects directly relevant to UNICEF communication and data processing needs. The new MRF structure and African Languages Hub could serve as a coordination point for UNICEF's language technology initiatives across the region.
(Auto generated) Strong community with weekly meetings on Slack. Beginner-friendly with Google Colab notebooks. Good entry point for connecting with African NLP ecosystem. Four of six Masakhane consortium proposals received Lacuna Fund awards. Now operates as MRF (Masakhane Research Foundation) legally registered in Kenya.