Apurva.ai opens AI platform to connect community voices, research

Bengaluru: AI-enabled public-good digital infrastructure company Apurva.ai has expanded its Apurva LENS product into a platform designed to enable knowledge sharing and learning across organisations working on social and development challenges.Apurva.ai, a unit of C4EC Foundation co-founded by Nilekani Philanthropies, said the platform is being used and tested by organisations across the Global South. LENS has so far surfaced more than half a million voices and perspectives from the development ecosystem.The platform brings together research, evaluations, programme experience and conversations, while putting community voices and lived experiences at the centre. Organisations can retain control over what knowledge they keep private and what they choose to share.The move comes as development challenges become more complex, requiring govts, NGOs, funders and other organisations to build on knowledge generated across programmes and geographies rather than work in silos.Selco Foundation initially used LENS to bring together archival information, conversations and sector-focused material. The collaboration has since expanded through the Platform for Collective Wisdom, which connects community voices, practitioner perspectives and institutional knowledge across the development sector.Resilience Action Network Africa (RANA) used LENS to analyse community dialogues and research across Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and South Africa, covering climate resilience, health, livelihoods, food systems, gender and governance.Infosys chairman and EkStep Foundation chairman Nandan Nilekani said, “Apurva.ai is bringing that thinking to knowledge — connecting research, organisational learning and community experience so that insights can travel across organisations and geographies.”Anand Rajan, co-founder and mission leader, Apurva.ai, said, “The development sector does not lack knowledge. It already exists across organisations, research, programmes and, importantly, within communities themselves. The challenge is turning all of this into understanding that people can act on.”LENS is now open for practitioners and organisations to explore, Apurva.ai said.Get the latest Business News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.