AI Literacy for Rural Girls: Bridging the Gender Divide in Lasbela, Balochistan

Abstract

Girls in rural communities of Lasbela are not just excluded from digital learning. They also have limited access to higher education opportunities and are being left out of the systems now shaping education, work, and opportunity. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how people around the world learn and participate in society. Meanwhile, rural girls in Balochistan remain constrained by poverty, weak infrastructure, patriarchal practices, and limited institutional support. Without specific intervention, this gap will continue to deepen current inequalities for generations.

This initiative responds with a community-centric, gender-responsive AI literacy model. It recognises that just providing access is not enough. Rural girls must also have the confidence, community support, and agency to participate meaningfully in technology. The design combines AI literacy education with girls-only learning spaces, along with female mentorship, and organised engagement with parents and community leaders. This project ensures that learning is both accessible and socially accepted within the local context.

This project builds on existing initiatives developed by the Welfare Association for New Generation (WANG), including Wang Lab of Innovation (WALI), a solar-powered rural innovation lab connected to over 25 villages, and UrduAI, Pakistan's first Urdu AI education platform, which makes AI education simpler, easier, and practical for everyone. These platforms provide localised, scalable and sustainable support for the project.

In the six-month period (from August 2026 to January 2027), this project will provide basic AI literacy sessions to 200 girls aged 12-18 in two government schools. Furthermore, 50 girls will be trained as AI educators through intensive workshops at WALI, including 5 female community mentors, and an open-source Urdu-language AI literacy curriculum will be developed and shared publicly for other organisations and institutions to adopt.

The project is based on the logic that when girls gain skills, confidence, and community support, they are inclined to participate in the technological world. When girls become educators, they make their participation visible. Such visibility itself starts changing social norms about who belongs in technology.

Along with a budget of PKR 1,000,000 (Approximately 3,500 USD) allocated by WANG, the project aims to build not only digital skills but also agency and long-term pathways for rural girls to participate in education, employment opportunities, and community leadership.