Make the BOT Speak Your Language—Plugging-in Artificial Intelligence into Women Entrepreneurship in the Sahel

Abstract This Chapter describes a participatory action research project that aims to integrate digital technologies and local know-how in rural Africa. The results of the project are threefold: (i) the context with all specific conditions is explored for the potential design of digital technologies (ii) a digital solution (a so-called bot ) is effectively designed in close collaboration with local stakeholders, while plugging into their interest, knowledge and practices (iii) as a meta-result, an approach, how this type of action research could be done, is developed iteratively, and validated. The project can be considered an instance of the plug-in principle, as it blends two different knowledge domains: local farming and trade in rural regions with digital technology design.