Thomas Byrnes
Lead facilitator
15+ years in humanitarian operations across 20+ countries, lead author of the GIZ DCI AI Hub Global Evidence Review, and the Rights-Based Risk Framework for AI in Social Assistance.
Responsible AI in Practice
Responsible AI training for practical aid workflows
For humanitarian, development, social-protection, governance, donor, and public-sector professionals who need to use AI faster, safely, and with better judgement.
Two facilitators
Every live session
Live, not webinar
Instructor-led practice
20 max
Capped cohort size
6 x 90 min
Over three weeks
Not pre-recorded. Not a webinar. Capped at 20 participants.
Next open cohorts
July starts Tuesday 21 July 2026
- Dates
- July cohort Open now
Tuesday 21 July / Thursday 23 July / Tuesday 28 July / Thursday 30 July / Tuesday 4 August / Thursday 6 August 2026
August cohort Applications openTuesday 18 August / Thursday 20 August / Tuesday 25 August / Thursday 27 August / Tuesday 1 September / Thursday 3 September 2026
September cohort Applications openTuesday 15 September / Thursday 17 September / Tuesday 22 September / Thursday 24 September / Tuesday 29 September / Thursday 1 October 2026
- Schedule
- Tuesdays + Thursdays, starting at 3:00 PM CEST / 2:00 PM BST / 9:00 AM US Eastern
- Sessions are spaced so you apply what you learned on real work between sessions. Not a boot camp. A three-week practice cycle with 20-30 minutes of practical between-session tasks.
- Investment
- EUR 350 per person EUR 280 reduced rate for eligible participants — national and local NGO staff in low- or middle-income or crisis-affected countries, and aid workers between roles See reduced-rate eligibility
- Group size
- Up to 20 participants
Your facilitators
Two facilitators in every live session
Delivered by Thomas Byrnes and Marie-Josée Hamel, with Moayad Zarnaji as a trainer. One facilitator leads the content while the other reads the room, supports participants who need more time, and stretches those who are ahead. Albert Lamontagne supports delivery as facilitator-in-training, MarketImpact.
Marie-Josée Hamel
Operations Director, MarketImpact
Keeps the live cohort grounded in delivery, participant support, and operational realities so the practice transfers back into real teams.
Choose your format
Start, practise, build, or embed
Each format is practical on its own and gives you a clear next step when you are ready for more support.
Practise
Live Intro Lab
A facilitated introduction to responsible AI workflows.
EUR 75
Monday 20 July 2026, 13:00–14:30 UTC
Complete the Lab and the 75 euros comes off the price of a future full cohort if you go on to enrol.
Lite Workflow Card
Book the 20 July LabBuild
Full six-session open cohort
Move from one-off prompting to responsible, repeatable workflows.
EUR 350 per person
EUR 280 reduced rate for eligible participants — national and local NGO staff in low- or middle-income or crisis-affected countries, and aid workers between roles
Full Cohort Workflow Card
Apply for July, August or SeptemberEmbed
Private team cohort
The full cohort adapted to your team workflows and risk boundaries.
Custom quote for teams
Full Cohort Workflow Card
Discuss private cohortFull cohort detail
Six sessions over three weeks
The open cohort is for people who want to move from occasional AI use to responsible, repeatable workflows. Participants leave with a documented Workflow Card for one real recurring work process.
Short pre-training videos cover the basics before Session 1. Live sessions are reserved for practice, discussion, and guided failure, the moments where participants hit AI failure modes firsthand and learn to catch them. We do not waste instructor time on setup demos.
- 6 live sessions x 90 minutes over 3 weeks
- Recordings and between-session materials
- CHEF Prompt Catalogue, reference materials, and verification prompts
- Reusable Project or agent design
- Full Cohort Workflow Card
- Certificate of completion
- Endline survey and post-course support path
- Optional 45-minute follow-up call
What you leave with
Skills
- CHEF prompting method for approved low-risk tasks and safe source material
- Verification prompts and fresh-chat checking habits
- Coach, Build, and Challenge agent-team design
- Right-tool mapping across chat, Project, multi-agent, Cowork, and scheduled tasks
- Risk review and human oversight plan
Artifacts
- Reusable Projects or agents for recurring work
- CHEF Prompt Catalogue and Workflow Card for one approved recurring workflow
- Full paid Claude workspace access for the duration of the course, at a tier above Claude Pro, included in the course fee
Support
- 30-day and 60-day check-ins to support sustained adoption
Course curriculum
The six-session pathway
Each session adds one working habit and ties the tool back to CHEF, verification, and human accountability.
Session 1
Get Past Generic AI
CHEF prompting with an approved low-risk task and safe source material.
Output: First usable CHEF prompt, saved reflection entry, and first Prompt Catalogue row.
- Introduce CHEF as the course method.
- Show the difference between AI memory and supplied context.
- Establish the habit of using approved low-risk tasks, safe source material, and real judgement.
Session 2
Build Your Critic
First-answer scrutiny saved as a reusable critic.
Output: A critic prompt or skill that forces a fix, discard, or escalate decision.
- Treat first answers as useful drafts, not final truth.
- Build an honest critic that asks what is assumed and what is missing.
- Use the critic on a safe real output and make a decision.
Session 3
Projects and Agents
Save the configuration and give it a role.
Output: First reusable Project or agent role for a recurring task.
- Move from one-off prompting to saved CHEF setups.
- Decide what belongs in instructions, files, and each fresh chat.
- Assign Coach, Build, and Challenge roles around the workflow.
Session 4
Working Across Files
Reach is exposure: AI can now read what other people wrote.
Output: Low-stakes file-based test or documented readiness plan.
- Use data gates before granting file or folder reach.
- Practise safe multi-file work through browser upload or approved folder access.
- Decide what the AI may read, trust, quote, and change.
Session 5
Loops and Goals
It runs alone, so you keep the decision.
Output: A delegated-goal decision with checkpoint placement and go/no-go reasoning.
- Distinguish a task from a goal.
- Watch a plan-act-check loop and decide where the human stands.
- Experience prompt injection safely before applying the checkpoint habit to real work.
Session 6
Making It Stick
What persists must be governed.
Output: Stop rules, persistence decisions, Monday-morning commitment, and post-course support path.
- Govern memory, saved instructions, files, logs, and connected tools.
- Discuss what changes in the team workflow on Monday.
- Commit to one practical next action and the check that keeps it safe.
Workflow Card system
Intro reflection and workflow cards
The Workflow Card is the practical bridge between learning about AI and using it responsibly on real work.
Lite Workflow Card
Live Intro Lab learners.
One approved low-risk task turned into a repeatable AI-assisted workflow: one task, one reusable prompt or agent, one verification step, and one practical next action.
- One low-risk workflow candidate
- One CHEF brief
- One reusable prompt or primary agent
- One verification habit
Full Cohort Workflow Card
Six-session open cohorts and private team cohorts.
A tested record of one approved, low-risk-to-practise AI-assisted workflow, including the task, safe or approved source material, agent design, verification method, risks, safeguards, and operational checklist.
- Workflow architecture and agent-team design
- Verification and human oversight plan
- Risks, safeguards, and operational checklist
- Personalised draft where enough detail is submitted by Session 4
Participants who submit enough workflow detail by Session 4 may receive a personalised draft Workflow Card. Others complete the standard card with facilitator support.
What participants say
Previous participants valued the practical workflow focus and realistic safe-use discussion.
Public feedback
"Key lessons from the training are definitely here to stay."
Lenka Blanarova, Head of Nutrition, Action Against Hunger UK
LinkedIn, April 2026
"Really well organised and informative, exactly what I needed. I learned a lot and the facilitation was great throughout. I'll definitely join the next cohort and recommend it to colleagues, huge thanks to the team."
Mays Nawayseh
AidGPT June 2026 cohort
"I am really pleased I did this course as it made AI accessible, providing very useful and applicable training materials relevant to the work I undertake."
Lili Mohiddin
AidGPT June 2026 cohort
"I signed up a little nervous it might be too introductory. It wasn't. The instructors pitched it at a useful technical level for people already working with AI in practice. The cohort format meant real-time pressure-testing of ideas, and other participants' questions sharpened my thinking. If you work in the humanitarian or development sector and want to go beyond the hype on AI, this is worth your time."
Dan Amias, Elrha
AidGPT June 2026 cohort
View LinkedIn Profile
"The training took something complex and made it workable. The trainers have a rare gift for translating daunting territory into practical, usable guidance that lands across different roles and industries. I walked in uncertain. I walked out confident, equipped to use these tools wisely, and clear-eyed about what I should and shouldn't do."
Leah Donoghue
AidGPT June 2026 cohort
"An incredible learning experience. This training demystified generative AI and Claude. The structure was perfect, brief high-impact pre-work videos combined with interactive live sessions that kept us engaged. The facilitators created an inclusive, energetic space where we could tackle AI ethics in humanitarian aid head-on, leaving us inspired and equipped to use AI effectively and ethically."
Ayesha Batool, UN
AidGPT June 2026 cohort
"The AidGPT 'Responsible AI in Practice' course was exactly what I needed as a humanitarian professional navigating AI adoption. Beyond the practical skills, building agents, designing workflows, and applying verification practices, it gave me a real framework for using AI safely and responsibly, with my organisation and the people we serve always front of mind. If you work in humanitarian or development settings and want to engage with AI confidently rather than cautiously from the sidelines, I'd encourage you to join the next cohort."
Rachid Moujaes
AidGPT June 2026 cohort
"There's a lot I can do now that I couldn't do four weeks ago. More than worth the money spent."
Kim Kristensen, FAO
AidGPT April 2026 cohort
"Taking long reports, transcripts, or datasets and distilling them into clear summaries or bullet points saves hours of manual reading and note-taking."
Digital CFM Officer, NRC Sudan
"I really appreciated the training and found it practical."
Digital CFM Officer, NRC Sudan
"The AI training gave me the opportunity to learn new technology and improve the skills I use in my job responsibilities."
DCH Technical Assistant, NRC Sudan
Ready for the next facilitated cohort?
Apply for July, August or SeptemberTrusted by
Not compliance training
This is not a compliance checkbox
Compliance training tells your staff what not to put in. This course teaches them how to catch what AI gets wrong. That is a different skill, a different format, and a different outcome.
Investment
Clear public pricing
Choose a Live Intro Lab for a short facilitated introduction, a full cohort for supported workflow development, or a private format adapted to your team.
Live Intro Lab
EUR 75
Monday 20 July 2026, 13:00–14:30 UTC
Complete the Lab and the 75 euros comes off the price of a future full cohort if you go on to enrol.
90-minute facilitated group session
Book the 20 July LabFull six-session open cohort
EUR 350 per person
EUR 280 reduced rate for eligible participants — national and local NGO staff in low- or middle-income or crisis-affected countries, and aid workers between roles
Six 90-minute live sessions over three weeks
Apply for July, August or SeptemberPrivate team cohort
Custom quote for teams
Six-session structure adapted to your organisation
Discuss private cohortEligibility for the reduced rate is confirmed at application stage based on the organisation or context you note in your application. There is no separate form.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need technical experience?
No. The course is designed for non-technical professionals. We focus on practical judgement, good prompts, verification, and safe workflows rather than coding.
Which format should I choose?
Choose the Live Intro Lab if you want a short facilitated introduction, the full cohort if you want a supported workflow build, and the private cohort if your team needs adaptation to your tools and risk boundaries.
Who qualifies for the reduced rate?
The reduced rate is for individuals who are either: staff of a national or local NGO or civil-society organisation that is headquartered and primarily operating in a low- or middle-income or crisis-affected country; or aid and development professionals currently between roles, on a career break, or recently made redundant and self-funding their place. It does not apply to staff of international NGOs, UN agencies, donors, governments, academia, the private sector or consultancies, or to national societies and other entities based in high-income countries, or where an employer or grant is funding the place. If you are unsure whether you qualify, apply for the standard rate and mention your situation in the application notes. We confirm eligibility before invoicing. The full criteria are on the reduced-rate eligibility page.
What tools will we use?
The method works on any AI tool. The course fee includes a seat in a managed Claude workspace for the duration of the course, at a tier above Claude Pro, because the Claude ecosystem (Projects, agents, file-based workflows) currently supports the widest range of what we teach in Sessions 3-6. Everything you learn transfers to ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Mistral, or local open-weight models. We are not sponsored by any AI provider. If a better platform emerges for teaching these workflows, we will move to it.
What if my organisation does not allow Cowork or desktop tools?
Cowork and desktop/file-based tools are optional and only used where installation, file access, and policy allow it. The core course works with approved chat or Project-style environments.
Will I get a personalised Workflow Card?
Participants who provide enough workflow detail by Session 4 may receive a personalised draft. Everyone receives the standard Full Cohort Workflow Card and facilitator guidance.
What happens if I miss a session?
Recordings and materials are shared with participants. You can catch up between sessions and use the learner materials to keep your Workflow Card moving.