AI advisory
For leadership teams who want to govern the use of AI in their organisation, in line with humanitarian principles.
About
From humanitarian field work to AI
My name is Thomas Lequeux. I have worked in the humanitarian sector since 2018, from monitoring and evaluation to programme coordination, and I design AI tools for the teams who do this work. Each feeds the other: the field tells me what to build, and what I build teaches me what AI can really do.
An obsession born in the field
I started out in industry, as an apprentice in the quality department of a car parts manufacturer. I learned two things there that have stayed with me: a procedure is only worth something if the people applying it understand it, and a good monitoring tool can fit in a well-built Excel file. I translated a safety training course into Turkish, because some of the temporary workers could not follow it in French.
I then moved into international development and humanitarian work. In Madagascar, I set up a drinking water project for 1,500 people on behalf of a French local authority. Then monitoring and evaluation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Ukraine, with Première Urgence Internationale and ACTED. Then programme coordination in the Central African Republic with COOPI, on a €7.5 million portfolio funded among others by ECHO, UNHCR, the European Union and Italian Cooperation.
“Eight years of watching colleagues spend three days on an Excel analysis gave me an obsession: rebuilding the way they work to give them that time back.”
That is where Opti' came from. I set up Thomas LEQUEUX Consulting in February 2025 and designed Opti', an AI-assisted M&E platform now used by more than 800 professionals in over ten countries. Building it forced me to settle questions many organisations are now asking: where AI belongs, where it does not, and how to protect the data of people who never chose to hand it to a model.
Today I am development and quality coordinator in Burundi, and I carry out my consulting work alongside.
Eight years, six countries
- Since April 2025Development and quality coordinatorBurundi
In charge of the M&E, gender and communication departments. Designed a performance assessment tool. Wrote two proposals funded by Enabel.
- Since February 2025Founder of Thomas LEQUEUX ConsultingFrance
Designing Opti', advising organisations, webinars on AI in humanitarian work.
- 2023 · 2024Programme coordinator · COOPICentral African Republic
€7.5M portfolio. Proposals to ECHO, UNHCR, the European Union and Italian Cooperation. Team management, representation with partners.
- 2021 · 2023Monitoring and evaluation · Première Urgence Internationale, ACTEDUkraine, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo
Needs assessment across twenty locations, satisfaction surveys, harmonised monitoring frameworks, fourteen training sessions, management of a complaints mechanism.
- 2018 · 2019Project manager, decentralised cooperation · City of BillèreMadagascar
Drinking water for 1,500 people: funding set-up, dialogue between elected officials, the university and local businesses.
- 2015 · 2017Quality department apprentice · HutchinsonFrance
Safety training for temporary workers, a manufacturing defect tracking tool in Excel and VBA.
Three convictions
- AI serves the judgement of teams. It speeds up what is repetitive and offers a draft to check. The decision, and the responsibility, stay with a person.
- The data of the people we serve does not belong to us. Every choice of tool starts with knowing where that data goes.
- Start from the field. A connection that drops, a team working in several languages, a donor waiting for a report: a tool or a rule that ignores these realities will not be used.
“AI is only a tool. It is up to us to take hold of it so that its use stays true to our values.”
These convictions translate into five requirements, set out in the TRUST framework, which I share in my webinars.
International relations, and quality
- 2021Master's degree in Public Administration, Diplomacy and International RelationsIPAG, University of Brest
- 2021Level 7 professional certification (EQF 7), International Programme ManagerIRIS Sup', Paris
- 2020First-year Master's in International RelationsIRIS Sup', Paris
- 2018Bachelor's (Honours) in International Solidarity and Sustainable DevelopmentBordeaux Montaigne University
- 2017Two-year technical degree in Quality, Industrial Logistics and OrganisationIUT Orléans, as an apprentice
I work in French and English.
05 · Working together
Strategy, principles, policy, governance
Design
Monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning
Three ways to work with me
Custom AI tools
For organisations that want an AI tool built for their teams, their data and their procedures.
MEAL consulting
To structure an M&E system that serves decisions, and train the teams who run it.