The project
Filling a gap in access, not a legal gap
AmaSariya is a social enterprise based in Burkina Faso. "Sariya" means "justice" in Dioula.
Context and problem
Burkinabe law protects women on paper. In practice it stays out of reach: written in French, a language fewer than 30 percent of women master, and carried by a very small number of lawyers, concentrated in the main cities.
A woman who does not know her rights cannot defend them. The need is not to write new laws, but to make existing laws understandable and accessible, in the language of everyday life.
Vision and objectives
Put the law within reach of every woman, in her language, on her phone, for free. Here are our twelve-month targets.
A legal base of at least 1,000 indexed articles.
A reliable bilingual model: BLEU greater than or equal to 0.45, spoken comprehension greater than or equal to 80 percent.
At least 2,000 active users at twelve months.
At least 70 percent of users reporting they know their rights better after use.
Why Dioula
A language of the heart, and a cross-border tool
Dioula is a lingua franca understood well beyond its native community, from south-western Burkina Faso to Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Guinea. AmaSariya is designed as a cross-border tool.
Dioula remains poorly served by artificial intelligence. Investing in it means fighting digital exclusion and asserting African linguistic sovereignty. Above all, it lets a woman in distress speak in the language of her heart.
Methodology and reliability
Sourced answers, never invented
AmaSariya relies on a so-called RAG architecture (Retrieval Augmented Generation). In plain terms: before answering, the system looks up the rule in a verified legal base, then cites its source.
How it works
- 1
Describe
The user describes her situation, by voice or in writing, in Dioula or French.
- 2
Understand
The system understands the request and translates it if needed.
- 3
Search
It searches the relevant articles in the verified legal base (RAG).
- 4
Answer
It produces a sourced answer, cites the exact article and points to the right steps.
- 5
Deliver
The answer is delivered in the user's language, by voice if needed.
Ethics and data
Data is encrypted, anonymised and subject to consent, never monetised. No identifiable data is shared with a third party without explicit, prior and informed consent. An independent ethical review precedes the launch, and the corpora produced are released under an open licence.
Timeline
Twelve months, five phases
- M1 - M4
Legal corpus
Building and indexing the legal base.
- M4 - M8
Dioula-French NLP model
Training the bilingual model.
- M8 - M9
Mobile application
Developing the assistant on phone.
- M9 - M10
Field testing and validation
Validation in Ouagadougou with users.
- M10 - M12
Rollout and dissemination
Release and outreach.
Support access to the law for all.
Your support funds development, hosting and the legal coverage of Dioula.