A South African social enterprise is showing that artificial intelligence (AI) can transform how society understands and solves complex social challenges.
Khulisa Social Solutions has been named Best Social Impact Organisation 2026 – South Africa and received the Innovation Award for Data-Driven Social Solutions 2026 – South Africa in the African Excellence Awards presented by MEA Markets (UK).
While the awards recognise nearly three decades of community development, they also acknowledge the application of artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics to one of the world’s most difficult challenges—understanding what actually creates sustainable social change.
For many organisations, measuring social investment remains limited to counting activities completed, people reached or funds spent.
Khulisa has developed an AI-enabled Impact Outcomes Platform that moves far beyond traditional monitoring and evaluation.
The platform integrates quantitative indicators, qualitative community feedback, Dialogue Circle insights, geographic information, programme data and stories of change into a single intelligence system capable of identifying emerging trends, highlighting systemic risks and providing real-time evidence of programme effectiveness.
Rather than asking, “How many people attended?”, the platform answers far more valuable questions:
- What is changing?
- Why is it changing?
- Which interventions are producing the greatest impact?
- Where are systemic barriers preventing progress?
- How should future investment be directed?
According to Lesley Ann van Selm, founder and MD of Khulisa Social Solutions, AI should support better human decision-making rather than replace it.
“Communities generate enormous amounts of knowledge every day, but much of that intelligence is never captured or analysed. AI allows us to identify patterns across thousands of data points while ensuring that the lived experiences of communities remain central to every decision.”
Khulisa’s approach combines machine intelligence with human-centred methodologies including Dialogue Circles, community asset mapping, restorative practices and systems diagnostics. This produces a rich understanding of social ecosystems while maintaining the context that is often lost in conventional reporting.
The technology has significant implications for organisations investing in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programmes, Corporate Social Investment (CSI), public sector development initiatives and donor-funded programmes. By providing near real-time intelligence, organisations are able to identify underperforming interventions earlier, strengthen programme design, reduce social risk and demonstrate measurable return on social investment.
The platform is also being used to identify systemic blockages affecting communities, including service delivery failures, social fragmentation, youth unemployment, weak civic participation and barriers that prevent communities from accessing available opportunities.