ASCEND will help organizations build the readiness, safeguards, and practical capacity to adopt AI responsibly.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 2, 2026 — IREX today announced ASCEND: AI Skills, Capacity, and Enablement for NGOs and Defenders, an innovation-focused collaboration with Microsoft’s Tech for Society team designed to help civil society organizations (CSOs), nonprofit organizations (NPOs), and community-based organizations adopt artificial intelligence safely and effectively.

ASCEND helps address a widening readiness gap: as AI becomes easier to access, using it safely and effectively demands strong leadership, clear safeguards, and durable organizational capacity. For many CSOs, NPOs, and community-based organizations, AI offers opportunities to improve efficiency, expand capacity, strengthen decision-making, and support safer operations, but many still need the skills, governance frameworks, resources, digital security capacity, and practical guidance to adopt it responsibly.

IREX will work with local partners, practitioners, AI experts, and other stakeholders to assess readiness, examine current AI use, identify opportunities and challenges, and test approaches that support responsible implementation.

ASCEND will primarily serve CSOs, NPOs, and community-based organizations, while also exploring how local offices of international nongovernmental organizations use AI in countries where national networks are smaller.

“AI is moving faster than most organizations’ ability to use it wisely, and that gap falls hardest on organizations that can least afford to get it wrong,” said Aleksander Dardeli, President and CEO of IREX. “ASCEND is about closing that gap. We are pairing IREX’s experience helping people navigate technology safely with Microsoft’s technical expertise so that local organizations do not have to choose between using AI and using it responsibly.”

ASCEND will produce practical tools, readiness insights, and tested approaches to help social impact organizations adopt AI responsibly.

“AI and data are reshaping how organizations operate and expand their impact,” said Ginny Badanes, General Manager, Tech for Society at Microsoft. “Through ASCEND, Microsoft will support IREX and local partners in developing practical insights and tools that can help participating human rights-focused organizations use AI more responsibly and effectively.”

About IREX

IREX: International Research & Exchanges Board is a forward-looking global solutions provider that partners with communities, governments, institutions, funders, donors, and businesses to empower people to learn, lead, and thrive. IREX delivers evidence-informed approaches that help leaders bridge divides, learners succeed in the world of work, and people thrive in a technology-, AI-, and data-driven world.