Pendoring Indigenous Language Imbizo & Tech Challenge

Client: The Pendoring Awards

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Period: 2024

Civic & public

01 The sneak-peek

No language left behind

As managing agents for the Pendoring Awards, BBA conceptualised and ran the 2024 Indigenous Language Imbizo and Tech Challenge — bringing government, academia, business and the public to one table to keep South Africa's indigenous languages alive in the digital age, in step with the UN Decade of Indigenous Languages.

02 The liminal moment

Indigenous languages are underrepresented in the digital landscape, and the risk is real: as communication moves online and into AI, languages without digital tools get left behind. The UN Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032) marks the global moment to act, and the 2024 Imbizo turned its attention to how AI and digital technology can support indigenous-language speakers.

As managing agents for Pendoring, the brief was to conceptualise and manage the 2024 Imbizo and the new Indigenous Language Tech Challenge, aligning both with the global mission of preserving and promoting indigenous languages through technology. The deeper problem was one of form: how to make these languages relevant and accessible in digital communication — and to do it not as a single event but as a platform that nurtures real solutions, across stakeholders who rarely sit at the same table.

03 The transformation

We created space for the languages. We brought key stakeholders together for a collaborative approach to the challenges indigenous-language speakers face, especially in digital spaces — drawing on our work in multilingualism, technology and community engagement to build a platform for preservation.

We made the innovation visible. With the University of Johannesburg, we showcased the Tech Challenge's top finalists at the Imbizo — innovators building tools to preserve and promote mother tongues, presenting in short pecha-kucha form so the room could see exactly how technology can carry a language forward.

We set a table for many voices. We convened linguists, creatives, policymakers and indigenous-language speakers in one inclusive space — more minds and more resources on a sticky problem. The multistakeholder method is the point: no language left behind, and no single party solving it alone.

04 The craft

A platform, not just an event

The 2024 Imbizo and Tech Challenge were built to last beyond the day — an identity, a digital home and a finalist showcase that together make a recurring platform for indigenous-language innovation, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg.