People

Rebecca Ryakitimbo is a feminist technologist, researcher and community leader at the nexus of artificial intelligence, language data, gender justice and digital equity. She has held fellowships with Google, Mozilla and the Internet Society, and is a National Geographic Society Explorer. Rebecca was part of the Kondoa Community Network, where she designed governance models and trained women technicians to close gender gaps in connectivity. As a National Geographic Explorer, she founded the Community‑Based Wildlife Network to mitigate human-wildlife conflict through locally driven monitoring and coexistence strategies. Rebecca supports the African Women School of AI and curates the Gendering AI conference, creating spaces for feminist, decolonial and community‑rooted conversations on the future of technology. As part of LocNet, she facilitates emerging communities of practice, supports research on community‑centred connectivity and local services, and documents best practices for equitable, locally led digital ecosystems.