A National Movement

The Elevate AIDA program began during the pandemic with a bold idea: to prepare Filipino women for the growing world of AI work, starting with tasks that needed both attention to detail and human judgment. Over the years, it evolved into a complete training program that now includes hands-on learning, real project experience, and ongoing monthly skill-building.

Participants learn how to annotate images and videos, correct transcriptions, enrich databases, and test AI-generated output. They develop skills in language classification, sentiment analysis, and translation validation. For many, it’s their first entry into the digital economy. For others, it’s a return to work on their own terms.

This growth happened through partnerships with organizations that share the same commitment to building a more inclusive future. Early supporters like Aboitiz Foundation and UN Women helped establish the foundation, while local government partners from Basilan to Baguio opened doors in their communities. Technical partners including DICT, TESDA, and the Technical Working Committee provided essential support, alongside organizations like the Pilipinas Shell Foundation.

These relationships helped the program grow from a pilot to a movement. They helped create not just access, but opportunity.

“Our women have incredible potential, and we’re committed to ensuring they have every opportunity to be part of the future, including the world of AI,” says Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, the visionary mayor from the conflict-affected region of Isabella, Basilan. “When we invest in training our women, we are changing individual lives and transforming our entire community.”

“At Aboitiz Foundation, we know that real change happens when we work hand in hand,” says Ginggay Hontiveros-Malvar, President of Aboitiz Foundation. “Our partnership with Connected Women through Elevate AIDA is a true collaboration—combining our strengths to create opportunities, equip women with vital digital skills, and build more inclusive, sustainable communities together.”

From Training to Real Work

Graduates of Elevate AIDA complete practical, hands-on training and begin contributing to real projects soon after.

Through Mettamatch, Connected Women’s ethical data services business, they support client projects across healthcare, financial services, sustainability, and other sectors that rely on clean, human-verified data.

“What we especially value about working with Connected Women is that they’re a mission-aligned partner,” says Oli Coles, Co-Founder & CEO at Windō. “Their community-first ethos and shared focus on equity and transparency make collaboration smooth and values-driven. Thanks to their support, we’ve seen real gains in speed and data consistency, allowing our team to focus on growth while knowing our data is in expert hands.”

To date, Mettamatch has facilitated over 400 project placements across client work streams. Many graduates have also secured freelance contracts or employment outside the program, using their new skills to pursue a wider range of opportunities.

Mettamatch commits to placing at least 20 percent of all Elevate AIDA graduates into its own client projects. This forms part of a long-term strategy to create both access and continuity. After completing the 20-day training, which includes real project simulation, graduates continue receiving free monthly skill-building tailored to market demand and emerging client needs.

The goal is not only to open doors to digital work, but to keep those doors open as women build confidence, experience, and pathways to income.

Human-Guided AI

At the heart of Elevate AIDA is real, practical work carried out by women who have been trained to manage detail, understand nuance, and maintain consistent quality.

Through Mettamatch, these graduates deliver human-guided AI support across language, image, and oversight tasks.

They annotate and categorize large volumes of text. They identify tone, context, and sentiment in customer conversations. They validate image data, draw boundaries around key objects, and ensure visual consistency. They listen to machine-generated audio and correct misinterpretations, while reviewing translations for accuracy and clarity across languages. They provide the layer of human oversight that helps AI perform more responsibly.

This work sits behind the technology that drives search engines, support bots, logistics software, and more.

Silent Shift

In 2025, Italian photojournalist Chiara Negrello visited Elevate AIDA graduates in their homes to document this new kind of labor. The resulting photo series, Silent Shift, was featured in Vogue Philippines and offered an intimate, powerful look at women working in the spaces they also live in.

No tech hubs. No headlines. Just consistent, careful work taking place in bedrooms, living rooms, barangay halls, and borrowed corners.

The women in the photos are not passive participants in the future. They are building it, task by task, with the same calm persistence they bring to raising children, running households, and rebuilding after disruptions that rarely make the news.

Why Now

The AI industry continues to grow. In June 2025, Meta invested 14.3 billion US dollars in Scale AI, confirming the rising value of data infrastructure and the people who power it. Demand for high-quality, human-validated data continues to increase. So does the urgency to build models that reflect diversity, fairness, and cultural understanding.

Elevate AIDA answers this demand with a model rooted in inclusion and care. It trains women for real tasks, connects them to real work, and supports them in continuing to grow and adapt as the industry changes.

It’s a thoughtful response to a rapid shift in the way AI is built.

What’s Next

Connected Women and Mettamatch are preparing for the next stage. After validating the model through hands-on service delivery, the team is now building a platform that can manage talent deployment, skill-building, and project management more effectively.

This platform will support client needs with smarter matching and quality assurance tools. It will also give women more visibility into project opportunities and personal development tracks.

To expand this model, Connected Women is raising funds. The funding will support platform development, expanded client delivery, and business development in new markets and emerging opportunities.

The focus remains on building a future where AI is shaped by people who represent the world it serves.

A Lasting Impact

The milestone of 2,000 trained women is a number. But it’s also a reminder. Behind every task, there’s a person. Behind every person, there’s a story. And behind every successful AI system, there’s often a woman somewhere in the chain, labeling, checking, listening, reviewing, and improving the data that drives it.

In this case, she may be working from a shared kitchen table. She may be training after putting her children to sleep. She may be using a borrowed device. But she’s working, she’s skilled, and she’s part of the story.

This is what ethical AI can look like.

Work With Us

We welcome aligned partners, thoughtful clients, and investors who believe in the value of inclusive and responsible AI.

To sponsor scholarships, hire trained talent, or invest:

Visit connectedwomen.com or mettamatch.com

The milestone of 2,000 trained women is a number. But it is also a reminder. Behind every task, there is a person. Behind every person, there is a story. And behind every successful AI system, there is often a woman somewhere in the chain, labelling, checking, listening, reviewing, and improving the data that drives it.

In this case, she may be working from a shared kitchen table. She may be training after putting her children to sleep. She may be using a borrowed device. But she is working, she is skilled, and she is part of the story.

This is what ethical AI can look like.