The Regional Digital Lab in Benin has announced its 2026 cohort, offering an intensive four-week online program aimed at training up to 300 developers, startups, and fintechs from West and Central African French-speaking countries. The program focuses on artificial intelligence model training, particularly in local language recognition and automatic speech recognition. Participants will gain skills in areas such as vocal AI, corpus creation, model adaptation, and performance evaluation.
The training program consists of several modules, starting with vocal AI and local languages, using examples such as Fongbe and Wolof. Participants will learn to build audio corpora, adapt existing models, and assess their performance. The program goes beyond model training, covering deployment, MLOps, containerization, inference APIs, and open-source solution design. Projects must address concrete needs in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, inclusive finance, or public services.
This initiative builds on the "J'aime Ma Langue" experience, which aims to create vocal resources for Beninese languages to be usable by AI technologies. The Regional Digital Lab presents this training as a means to strengthen the human ecosystem capable of transforming data into models, applications, and services. For Benin, the focus shifts from data collection to acquiring technical skills necessary for its valorization.
The program runs from October 15 to November 15, 2026, and is open to developers, startups, and fintechs from West and Central African French-speaking countries. With this initiative, Benin takes a significant step in AI development and local language integration. The training aims to equip participants with the skills needed to build innovative AI solutions that address local challenges.
The Regional Digital Lab's 2026 cohort is a strategic move as African languages seek their place in digital tools. By strengthening the technical skills of participants, the program contributes to the development of an ecosystem capable of producing innovative AI solutions adapted to local contexts. This approach could serve as a model for other African countries.
The training program's focus on local languages and AI model building is particularly relevant in the context of African digital development. By addressing the needs of French-speaking West and Central African countries, the Regional Digital Lab's initiative promotes linguistic and cultural diversity in the digital space.
As the program prepares to start in October 2026, it is expected to have a significant impact on the development of AI solutions in Africa. With its focus on practical skills and local language integration, the Regional Digital Lab's 2026 cohort is poised to contribute to the growth of a vibrant AI ecosystem in Africa.
Key points
- The program aims to train 300 developers in AI and local language model building.
