Using AI to amplify community impact and combat the digital divide
"Technology creates its greatest value when it helps organisations create greater impact for the communities they serve."
Emmanuel Adeleke, Partner, Deloitte Ireland.
On a cold morning in Dublin last December, the room at Meta’s European headquarters was spilling over with more energy than usual. Representatives from some of Ireland’s most impactful charities sat across from engineers from Deloitte and Meta united by a simple challenge. How to use AI to help organisations change more lives for the better.
By the end of the day, the answer was already taking shape. Mentors were being matched with jobseekers in seconds instead of hours. Handwritten forms were being transformed into searchable digital records and new ways of supporting neurodiverse communities were emerging through data and insight.
For Emmanuel Adeleke, Technology and Transformation Partner at Deloitte Ireland, the Llama for Good Hackathon demonstrated that AI’s greatest potential can expend to helping organisations create greater social impact.
The organisations we worked with are already transforming lives every day. Our goal was to show how AI might remove some of the administrative burden that consumes valuable time and resources, allowing people to focus on the work that matters most, supporting communities and creating opportunities. It’s about using the power of larger firms to leverage this technology in charitable organisations
Emmanuel Adeleke, Partner, Deloitte Ireland.
The hackathon brough together engineers from Deloitte Ireland and Meta with three Irish NGOs; Open Doors Initiative, Citywise Education and NOW Group. Using Meta’s open-source Llama AI model, teams worked side-by-side to develop practical solutions to real-world challenges.
For Open Doors Initiative, an AI powered matching tool was developed to connect mentors and mentees based on skills, experience and aspirations. Citywise explored how AI could digitalise handwritten forms and simplify educational content for students. NOW Group examined how AI could generate new insights to help expand the reach of its JAM Card programme, which supports neurodiverse people in everyday situations.
“It was a privilege to take part in the hackathon alongside Deloitte and Meta,” explained Daire Hennessy, CEO of Citywise Education. “Bringing together people with diverse expertise to develop responsible AI solutions for students showed what’s possible when innovation is driven by purpose. The team created and showcased practical AI tools that have reduced the time spent on our back-end administrative tasks, freeing us to focus even more on supporting young people. We learned a huge amount, made great connections, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”
Head of Social Impact at Deloitte Ireland, Adrienne Daly says our societal impact strategy is continuing to evolve. “The more we scale innovative technology solutions responsibly, the greater impact they can make in society. We are increasingly focused on bringing together people and technology to create pathways to progress. This requires a connected approach that brings together the right collaborators to accelerate progress. We are committed to supporting our charity partners with scaled impact, where innovative social and environmental technology solutions benefit more communities.”
