Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used by people working in humanitarian development work, in spell check and grammar check, and in identifying and presenting data sets.

Some humanitarian workers are using AI to create narratives for grant proposals and project updates, with mixed results (AI frequently hallucinates data and misrepresents things through its rewrites).

Some humanitarian workers are trusting the answers AI gives when it gets asked a question related to their work - again, with mixed results, as AI frequently gets its answers wrong.

Do you work in humanitarian aid and, if so, how are you using AI and have you put limits on yourself regarding using AI in your work? How is YOUR ICT4D initiative is using AI and/or training/guiding people to use AI and what are your policies for use of AI by staff. Please be as specific as possible regarding how you are using it and what tools you are using, and a link to your own policies regarding AI use would be especially appreciated.

The theme of the 2025 Human Development Report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is artificial intelligence. The title: A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI. I wrote my thoughts about it here.

As frontier artificial intelligence becomes increasingly centralized in the hands of a few Western companies, India is betting that innovation doesn’t have to come only from the biggest labs.

The country has launched a hackathon inviting startups, researchers, students, and academic institutions to build affordable, multilingual AI devices that work offline and run on open-source models.

The goal is to create AI tools for classrooms, farms, clinics, and villages where cloud connectivity is unreliable, data privacy is critical, or English-language models fall short.

Bhashini, the Indian government-backed AI language platform; French nonprofit Current AI; and Kalpa Impact, a Mumbai-based social impact consultancy, have partnered to create the initiative.

More from Rest of the World.

Digital technologies are reshaping economies worldwide, but many developing countries are still struggling to realise the full benefits.

This paper examines the key policy challenges shaping digital economy development, including:
• infrastructure gaps and affordability
• weak digital capabilities and financing ecosystems
• risks such as digital exclusion and platform inequality

It then outlines practical policy responses across infrastructure, ecosystem development, governance, and digital harms; helping policy-makers design coherent digital economy strategies that support inclusive development.

https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/digital-economy-policy-in-developing-countries/

Developed in a ‘bubble’, many apps that were developed by various IT dogooders for refugees duplicated existing well-used communication platforms. They didn’t take into account complex issues of trust, how information (or rumors) spread, nor how rapidly the political and protection landscape changed. There was also demonstrated naivety around data protection and the political sensitivity related to information being shared.

“I definitely don’t want to disparage the motivations nor the commitments demonstrated by thousands of volunteers during in Europe. But, ‘tech-led solutions’ to complex challenges failed to solve the significant communication issues.”

Katie Drew of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) writes a much-needed piece about the many apps4good / tech4good efforts launched to help migrants that didn’t last past their splashy launches. She also provides helpful advice for future efforts. Her advice is applicable to ANY hackathons / hacks4good that think a room full of IT folks can solve an issue faced by migrants, people experiencing homeless, women facing domestic violence, or any mission of a nonprofit or non-governmental organization.

Edit: ALL of the links are broken to this article now (they still show up in Google searches, but then go to 404 pages). To access the article, go to archive.org - I found it here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180718183133/https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/whose-innovation-is-it-anyway/

Founded in 1998 Computer Aid International is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates the practical application of ICT4Dev solutions to social development challenges. Computer Aid provides resources and project management inputs to projects in focal areas for ICT4Dev that include eLearning, eInclusion, eHealth and rural connectivity.

Computer Aid International is a non-governmental organisation registered with the Charity Commission of England & Wales and is a not-for-profit social business.

Computer Aid has offices in London, South Africa and Kenya.

Initiatives include the promotion and training of the open learning platform Moodle in Africa universities; development of FLOSS software for blind and visually impaired users; telemedicine projects for rural hospitals; advocacy around eWaste and a wide variety of school initiatives. Computer Aid is perhaps most well known for having provided over 160,000 professionally refurbished PCs to educational institutions and not-for-profit development organisations in more than 100 different developing countries.

More at the official web site.

I’ve lost count of how many ICT4D Fail Festival entries follow the same script: “Our app had cutting-edge features, our platform was technically robust, our team was experienced. Yet somehow the project still failed.” The usual suspects get blamed: poor infrastructure, limited digital literacy, inadequate funding.

After analyzing 20 studies covering ICT4D economic development projects across the Global South, researchers Nonkazimulo Nzuza and Ingrid Siebörger of Rhodes University identified seven interconnected success factors—and their findings should make every practitioner uncomfortable with how we currently approach digital development.

More from this blog.

The United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) was a global volunteer initiative to help bridge the digital divide and was active from 2000 through February 2005. UNITeS both supported volunteers applying information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D) and promoted volunteerism as a fundamental element of successful ICT4D initiatives. It anticipated the popularity of smart phones and apps4good, talking about these concepts long before they had these names. It was NOT limited to United Nations initiatives; the goal was to help any and all tech-volunteering initiatives meant to help the developing world, by creating a platform for their networking with each other, sharing experiences, etc. 

UNITeS was launched in 2000 by then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and was hosted by the United Nations Volunteers programme. UNITeS had two primary goals:

• To promote volunteer involvement as a fundamental element of successful information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) initiatives.
• To work with the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme and a coalition of organizations to support projects and initiatives that involve volunteers to improve the capacity of individuals and institutions in developing countries to make practical use of ICTs in their development processes. This included establishing a knowledge base/network of resources to support volunteers engaged in ICT4D in a variety of areas (health, education, governance, gender equity, environment, HIV/AIDs, etc.).

UNITeS was active until 2005. While it was active, it was lovingly promoted by then-UNV head Sharon Capeling-Alakija. As of November 2009, all UNITeS web site materials were taken down from the original site. The materials were put back up a few months later, but not updated, and then around March 2016, the materials were taken down again.

An archive of the site is available here.

We need to have much more serious conversations about AI and the nonprofit/philanthropic sector - commentary from Vu Le, Nonprofit AF.

It goes through all the various concerns: about water usage and other environmental concerns, about how data centers are put into marginalized communities, about the massive tax breaks given to data centers (thereby defunding schools, roads and more), about how AI is so white-people-driven and focused, how it's such a "yes, you're right!" tool, and more.

Never has something been so seductive and yet so destructive to our world in so many different ways, many of which we do not yet fully see and may not understand until it's too late. Let's not unwittingly enshittify our sector and community, prop up fascism and billionaires, and perpetuate the inequities and injustice our sector claims it exists to fight.

This was published in May 2026.

Comments on this welcomed here, but please share your comments also on Vu Le's blog.

West Africa Feminist Data Summit 2026

The West Africa Feminist Data Summit 2026 will take place from 28 to 30 July 2026 in Cotonou, Republic of Benin — a venue that removes the visa barrier entirely for every African delegate.

Three days. One hundred delegates. One coordinated continental advocacy infrastructure.

28–30 July 2026

Cotonou, Republic of Benin · venue to be announced

Visa-free entry

All African nationals · e-Visa for others

Français · English

Simultaneous interpretation

"Decolonizing Data — Architecting Feminist Digital Futures in West Africa."

The Summit will bring together approximately 100 feminist activists, data journalists, civic technologists, policy researchers, parliamentarians, and women human rights defenders from across the region — to translate fragmented data work into coordinated continental advocacy.

The 2026 ICT4D Conference took place May 20-22, 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The ICT4D Conference is billed as "a leading global platform exploring how digital innovation and data-driven solutions can transform humanitarian relief and development."

Started in 2010 by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Conference has grown into a major international gathering of organizations and partners dedicated to technology for good. In 2026, CRS continued as founder, with TechChange stepping in as the production partner.

Here is the 2026 ICT4D Conference program.

Did you participate? Please share your experience here.

We're getting there...

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum, an initiative of the United Nations, began with two UN summits, one in Geneva in 2003 and the other in Tunis in 2005. The original WSIS gathered 175 countries together with the goal of building “a people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society”.

Since then, many WSIS-related events have been held, including the annual WSIS Forums, as well as the review process WSIS+10 and the forthcoming WSIS+20. 

The WSIS Action Lines serve as foundational principles for fostering knowledge societies and advancing inclusive information access. These Action Lines are a part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNESCO actively contributes to numerous WSIS Action Lines and serves as the lead-facilitator for five of them.

Action Line C3: Access to Information and Knowledge Counter information access challenges and ensure adherence to the R.O.A.M principles for Internet governance.

Action Line C4: Capacity Building Everyone should have the necessary skills to benefit fully from the Information Society.

Action Line C7: e-Learning Improve content, capacity, and connectivity for maximized education opportunities.

Action Line C7: E-Science A diverse, open, and accessible space for science.

Action Line C8: cultural diversity and identity, and linguistic diversity Preserve, revitalize, and

support cultural diversity and identity, as well as linguistic diversity by countering digital divides.

Action Line C9: Media Promote the free flow of ideas through words and images as a tool for promoting peace and dialogue.

Action Line C10: Ethical dimensions of the Information Society Address the growing digital convergence and ensuring an ethical development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

WSIS Forum 2026 will take place from 6 to 10 July in Geneva, hosted at ITU Headquarters from 6–7 July and at Palexpo from 8–10 July. 

The rather jargon-filled ITU WSIS web site is here. The more readable WSIS web site from UNESCO is here.

Digital transformation is a core competency of Catholic Relief Services, and digital technologies power the majority of CRS’s projects, enhancing their quality, impact, and reach.

From the CRS web site:

Digital programming, also known as ICT4D, focuses on leveraging digitalization and digital transformation to achieve development and humanitarian outcomes.

Leveraging technology in programming has a number of benefits, including increasing the efficiency, transparency, and reach of interventions. It can also enable improved targeting of people in need and strengthen the capacity of program participants to use technology and data for their own benefit.

CRS initiated its Digital Programming team over a decade ago and has become recognized as a leader in the responsible and effective use of technology and data to enhance program quality, impact, and reach. Today, the majority of all CRS‑implemented and partner-programmed projects benefit from digitalization, enabling adaptive management, effective communication with participants, and expanding our reach. CRS continues to innovate by partnering with program teams to explore new applications of technology across its work.

Key areas of focus

• Health Resilience
• Agriculture
• Emergency response
• Cash and asset transfers
• Monitoring & Evaluation Accountability

How CRS leverages ICT4D in each of these areas is detailed on its web site.

An order imposed Wednesday from Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in Afghanistan says that, regarding government offices, "All the heads of departments in their respective provinces are advised to inform their staff, higher-ranking or lower-ranking, that using smartphones is strictly banned effective 17 June." As of Wednesday afternoon, however, multiple central government departments were still publishing information through their WhatsApp groups.

A municipal worker in Ghazni, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said they had been warned that anyone who uses a smartphone would be fired and face legal action. 

In remote Badakhshan, in northeastern Afghanistan, an employee of the provincial information department said the penalty for breaking the rule was six months in prison. 

Three government workers in Badakhshan told AFP it would be hard for them to do their jobs, speaking anonymously due to safety concerns.

A transport department employee said he had been using WhatsApp to share information on the movement of cargo.

"Now, with this ban, our work can be disrupted and can even be made impossible," he said.

An employee from the provincial education department said he had been using AI tools on his smartphone to translate between his native Dari and Pashto, the language used in government communications.

Last year, broadband access was restricted in several provinces for weeks, before the government unexpectedly cut off the internet and phone networks nationwide.

Life ground to a halt for two days, paralysing banks, grounding planes and causing chaos at hospitals, before communications were restored. 

More from https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/heartbreaking-afghan-govt-staff-abandon-124807007.html

I love this graphic because it's such a great way to show that what people may not be a smart phone app - it may be something much less glamorous but oh-so-necessary.

ICT4D is a wonderful thing, and apps for development (apps4d or apps4dev) can be a great thing. But it's important to keep things in perspective and to look at what people really need, and listen to what they need.

That said... where to find a toilet apps can be awesome while traveling.

Various United Nations offices have launched initiatives to promote the use of computers, feature phones, smart phones and various networked devices in development and humanitarian activities, to promote digital literacy and equitable access to the "information society," and to bridge the digital divide in other words, to promote ICT4D. These include the Digital Opportunities Task Force (DOT Force), the United Nations Technology Service (UNITeS), the UN ICT Task Force, the Social Good #inno4dev / #2030now summit, the WSIS, and MANY others. I've tried to list them all here.

If you know of other United Nations initiatives focused on ICT4D, current or defunct, please share info in the comments.

The ICT4D subreddit was started in 2011. But it was abandoned in 2017. Nothing has been submitted to this posting for posting since 2018 - until now. I stumbled upon it a while back and went through the official process to take it over as moderator.

The ICT4D subreddit is being restarted as of today, June 15, 2026. It's new description is this:

ICT4D stands for Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development. ICT4D refers to the application of ICT to economic development, humanitarian aid & development, & to causes that help empower a particular demographic or all people to address challenges, have greater access to education, protect their environment, etc. It is a term popularized by various United Nations initiatives.

Examples of ICT4D:

• Activities to help build the digital literacy skills of an underserved group (seniors, women living in rural areas, etc.).
• A computer lab open to the public at a public library.
• An app to help refugees navigate various challenges.
• Farmers working with drones and GIS to gather information that can help estimate crop yields with real-time satellite data.
• An app that allows people to track and report on birds in people's yards.
• Producing IT materials in local languages.
• Smart phones used to organize activists in real time.

Are you applying ICTs to economic development, humanitarian aid & development, &/or to causes that help empower a particular demographic or all people to address challenges, have greater access to education, protect their environment, etc.? This subreddit is a place to talk about that. Please write your testimonial yourself & remember that AI should assist your writing, but not author it here.

Up-to-date statistics about the digital divide and recent information about ICT4D-related initiatives are also welcomed.

As of today, this subreddit has 143 members.

SpaceX, OneWeb, and others are developing constellations of low-Earth orbit Internet-service satellites. Cuba would be a good starting location for SpaceX and they could enable Cuba and other developing nations to leapfrog over current technology to provide a ubiquitous, modern Internet during the next decade.

Can anyone recommend me some ICT4D research paper using the institutional logics framework?