Originally published: 19 November 2025 Guest: Jasmina Byrne | Chief of Foresight and Policy, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight With over 25 years of experience in research, policy advocacy, programme management, and humanitarian action, she currently leads UNICEF's work on global foresight and anticipatory policy, covering topics such as frontier technologies, governance, macroeconomics, markets, society, and the environment. She is a lead author of UNICEF's annual foresight publication, Global Outlook for Children, and co-authored UNICEF's Manifesto on Children's Data Governance. Previously, she managed UNICEF's Office of Research portfolio on children and digital technologies, child rights, and child protection. Topic: It Takes a Village: Governing AI for Children in the Digital Age In this episode, we explore: •Foresight as discipline: How UNICEF uses horizon scanning and scenario development to anticipate global trends and prepare for potential futures that impact children's lives. •AI's promise and reality in developing countries: The gap between the democratization narrative and the actual challenges of internet access, infrastructure, cost, and biased data systems. •Data governance in education: How EdTech companies collect and misuse children's data, with only 40% of personalized learning platforms in developing countries having data protection policies in place. •Power dynamics in AI: The imbalance between tech companies in high-income countries and communities in the Global South, and the risk of techno-colonialism eroding local languages and cultural identity. •Africa's demographic future: Why Africa's young population makes investment in local AI development, indigenous language models, and developer pipelines critical now. •The ecosystem approach: How protecting children requires coordinated action from parents, teachers, tech companies, policy makers, and governments—because it takes a village to raise a child in the digital age. •Parenting in the digital age: Practical guidance on balancing protection with autonomy, ensuring children develop digital literacy and resilience to navigate online risks. •Building trust in technology: The importance of governance frameworks, data literacy, and age-appropriate design before scaling AI systems that children will use. "It takes a village to raise a child. So when it comes to children and technology, children and AI, children and their data, we need to think about the role that various different people in their lives have to play from parents to teachers to company leaders to government policy makers—they all are actually responsible for children's lives." Jasmina Byrne Episode length: 59 minutes Connect: https://za.linkedin.com/in/kamini-govender-942225159
