Raise Your Voice

Raise Your Voice: A Strategy Game for AI in Humanitarian Work 

The profound effect of new technology on vulnerable communities gives us everything to play for.  

Raise Your Voice is a strategy game inspired by new research conducted between Accenture and the charity CARE International into the impact of artificial intelligence on local communities and humanitarian work in the Global South. When this partnership wanted to find a way to empower the participatory design of technology to include traditionally underrepresented communities, we began with the motif of a speech bubble, seeking to make the voices of the people heard against the din of tech chatter. 

Our game maps the complex dynamics of political contests and collaborations where players assume the roles of either civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations or multinational corporations to pursue specific goals. 

The game's deliberately samizdat aesthetic - featuring spray-painted graphics, cardboard gameboard, rugged game cards and dossier-style player mats – has two purposes. First, it reflects the grassroots nature of community organizations and the dynamic, ever-changing landscape of societies in flux. Second, it gives the game an “open-source” accessibility, with an easily shared blueprint that can by printed at home or replicated by hand for maximum reach. Created to be lightweight and portable, the finished version is similarly conceived as a versatile tool for CARE employees to deploy with communities anywhere they travel.  

Raise Your Voice is more than a game; it is a powerful educational tool that helps organizations understand and navigate the complex political and social dynamics of the Global South. It is designed to be both thought-provoking and engaging, ensuring that even serious games can be fun to play.