Development Gateway

🚨Join us next week!

On Wednesday, 10 June 2026, at 9:00am EDT, Development Gateway and IREX will continue the discussions from as we host a webinar focused on university AI readiness. “The Higher Education AI Reality Check: From Global Insights to Institutional Action” will bring together senior higher education leaders to discuss the findings and implications of the recently launched report, From Ambition to Adoption: Insights into University AI Readiness from Around the World. (Read the full report at: https://www.irex.org/universityaireadiness.)

Moderated by Cameron Mirza from IREX, we’ll explore how universities are approaching AI adoption in teaching, research, and administration, while also considering the governance, workforce, and institutional changes needed to support responsible and effective use.

Speakers include:
Aleksander Dardeli from IREX
Dr. Rick Burnette from Florida State University
Dr. Njeri Ngaruiya Ng’ang’a from Strathmore University
Professor Malek Alsharairi from جامعة اليرموك (Yarmouk University)
Yaw Akuamoah Duah from The Education Collaborative

Register to attend at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__ZJQeWGATz24zFkT_xBszQ

🚨Happening today! If you are at Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data’s hashtag this week you don’t want to miss it. Details ⬇️

AI adoption is not just about the technology itself- it is also a human and governance challenge. Our work in AI adoption in higher education shows that some of the primary hurdles include leadership, training, funding, and institutional trust. Over the coming months, DG and IREX will have several exciting sessions spotlighting our work in AI in higher education and exploring actionable and scalable solutions.

The first of these sessions will be next week at the Global Data Festival by Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. DG and IREX are co-hosting a session at DataFest: “From Ambition to Adoption: African & MENA Universities Shaping AI Governance”.

During this session, we will ask the important question: how do we ensure there is equitable distribution of power in the age of AI and space derived data? Our speakers will discuss translating university AI strategies into responsible, context-specific practices despite existing resource constraints, focusing on higher education institutions in Africa and the MENA region.

Speakers include:
–Tom Orrell from Development Gateway
–Cameron Mirza from IREX
–Rachel Sibande from Gates Foundation
–VP Madam Judy Khanyola from AFREhealth
–Yaw Akuamoah Duah from The Education Collaborative
–Professor Ziad Hawamdeh from the University of Jordan

📍 If you are at , join us Tuesday, June 2 at 2:00 PM EAT and watch this space for more information about other upcoming events.

AI adoption is not just about the technology itself- it is also a human and governance challenge. Our work in AI adoption in higher education shows that some of the primary hurdles include leadership, training, funding, and institutional trust. Over the coming months, DG and IREX will have several exciting sessions spotlighting our work in AI in higher education and exploring actionable and scalable solutions.

The first of these sessions will be next week at the Global Data Festival by Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. DG and IREX are co-hosting a session at DataFest: “From Ambition to Adoption: African & MENA Universities Shaping AI Governance”.

During this session, we will ask the important question: how do we ensure there is equitable distribution of power in the age of AI and space derived data? Our speakers will discuss translating university AI strategies into responsible, context-specific practices despite existing resource constraints, focusing on higher education institutions in Africa and the MENA region.

Speakers include:
–Tom Orrell from Development Gateway
–Cameron Mirza from IREX
–Rachel Sibande from Gates Foundation
–VP Madam Judy Khanyola from AFREhealth
–Yaw Akuamoah Duah from The Education Collaborative
–Professor Ziad Hawamdeh from the University of Jordan

📍 If you are at , join us Tuesday, June 2 at 2:00 PM EAT and watch this space for more information about other upcoming events.

As countries continue navigating the long-term effects of global aid disruptions, conversations around sustainable data systems, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), and resilient financing are becoming increasingly urgent.

In a new blog, our CEO, Josh Powell, and Open Data Watch Managing Director, Shaida Badiee, with Lorenz Noe, Deirdre Appel, Eric Swanson, and Ashlin Simpson, reflect on how funding disruptions exposed long-standing vulnerabilities across critical health and gender data systems and how countries across Africa are responding.

From regional cooperation and domestic resource mobilization to more sustainable, nationally integrated digital ecosystems, countries are increasingly focused on strengthening long-term control over how data are collected, managed, and shared. The piece also explores what it will take to build more sustainable, locally led data systems and how development partners can support resilience in the face of future funding shocks.
This conversation will continue at next week, where Josh will join an Open Data Watch session debating whether the data community is facing a true systemic crisis requiring transformative change, or whether existing approaches can still evolve and adapt.

Full blog: https://developmentgateway.org/blog/a-year-after-usaid-reclaiming-control-of-data-systems/

A Year After USAID: Reclaiming Control of Data Systems – Development Gateway: An IREX Venture – Data and digital solutions for international development. Just months after the 2025 U.S. aid freeze was announced, we published a blog post warning that the USAID cuts would result in a data crisis, with some countries losing access to their digital health data. This blog explores how those systems – and the countries relying on them – have fared near...

The Global Data Festival by Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data is right around the corner, and the DG team is gearing up for an exciting four days in Nairobi from June 2–5, alongside data peers, partners, and practitioners from around the world.

Here’s where you can find the team during :

📍 Tuesday, June 2 | 2:00 PM EAT
DG and IREX will host a session titled “From Ambition to Adoption: African & MENA Universities Shaping AI Governance.”
Speakers – DG’s Tom Orrell, IREX’s Cameron Mirza, Gates Foundation’s Rachel Sibande, VP Madam Judy Khanyola from AFREhealth, Yaw Akuamoah Duah from The Education Collaborative, and Professor Ziad Hawamdeh from the University of Jordan – will explore how universities across Africa and the MENA region can translate AI strategies into responsible, context-specific practices despite existing resource constraints.

📍 Thu, Jun 04 |11:00 AM EAT
DG, FAO, and the Global Partnership on Sustainable Development Data will cohost a session: “From Data to Decisions: How Governments Are Connecting Agricultural Surveys, Earth Observation, and Decision-Making Through the 50x2030 Initiative.” Mohammed Maikudi will represent DG on the panel.

📍 Thursday, June 4 | 8:00 AM EAT
Josh Powell will speak at Open Data Watch Watch’s session titled: “Data Systems at a Crossroads: Debating the Data Crisis.”

📍 Thursday, June 4 | 2:00 PM EAT
Mariam Ibrahim will speak at Datasphere Initiative’s session “Sandboxing the Future: Experimentation for Inclusive Data Systems”

We look forward to connecting with partners, collaborators, and the broader data community in Nairobi!

DG is heading to the ICT4D Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 20-22! Winnie Awuor, Program Manager, will be there to discuss our ongoing work on digital transformations and how we are partnering with governments and communities to build the data systems and digital tools that drive an equitable, responsible, and sustainable digital future.

Winnie will join a panel hosted by Catholic Relief Services and Norwegian Refugee Council, “From Analytical Ambition to Operational Decisions: Challenges and Lessons Learned.” The panel will highlight practitioners speaking from direct experience applying analytics and AI across humanitarian response, food security and livelihoods, and health programs. Come join us to hear lessons we are learning on how and when analytics can be used to drive decisions that meaningfully change development outcomes. The session will be held in Conference Room 3 on May 20 at 10:30 AM UTC+3.

Reach out to us if you want to learn more about our work, or visit https://ict4d.conference.tc/catalog/ict4d-conference-2026 to join the conference virtually.

As AI becomes increasingly embedded across nearly every facet of life, there is growing interest in how to make these technologies more practical, affordable, and sustainable. This has contributed to a shift toward Frugal AI: an approach to designing and deploying AI systems that prioritizes doing more with less.

In our latest blog, Mihai Postelnicu, DG’s Deputy Director of Software Development, explores how Small Language Models (SLMs) are emerging as one practical example of this shift, why they matter in resource-constrained or low-connectivity environments, and how they can help organizations keep sensitive data within their own infrastructure.

Mihai argues that the future of AI is likely to be hybrid: combining the broad capabilities of large models with the efficiency, privacy, and adaptability of smaller, locally deployable systems.

Read the full blog here: https://developmentgateway.org/blog/why-the-future-of-generative-ai-is-local-and-specialized/

Why the Future of Generative AI is Local and Specialized – Development Gateway: An IREX Venture – Data and digital solutions for international development. As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in daily life, there is growing interest in how to make these technologies more practical, affordable, and sustainable. This blog discusses a shift toward Frugal AI, an approach to designing and deploying AI systems that prioritizes doing...

DG is heading to the ICT4D Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 20-22! Dorcas Jalang’o, Kenya Country Lead for the Soil Nutrient Roadmap program, and Winnie Awuor, Program Manager, will be there to discuss our ongoing work on digital transformations and how we are partnering with governments and communities to build the data systems and digital tools that drive an equitable, responsible, and sustainable digital future.

Dorcas will join a panel hosted by Catholic Relief Services and Norwegian Refugee Council, “From Analytical Ambition to Operational Decisions: Challenges and Lessons Learned.” The panel will highlight practitioners speaking from direct experience applying analytics and AI across humanitarian response, food security and livelihoods, and health programs. Come join us to hear lessons we are learning on how and when analytics can be used to drive decisions that meaningfully change development outcomes. The session will be held in Conference Room 3 on May 20 at 10:30 AM UTC+3.

Additionally, both Dorcas and Winnie will be part of a breakout session with DataKind and Kaikai, “From Data to Decisions: Building Integrated Systems for Climate, Health, and Food Resilience”. They will be on hand to discuss how we can turn seemingly fragmented data on issues like soil analytics into actionable insights that inform decision-making on climate and health-related policies that enable community-led action and resilience. Join the session in Conference Room 2 on May 21 at 4:00 PM UTC+3.

Reach out to Winnie and Dorcas if you want to learn more about their work, or visit https://ict4d.conference.tc/catalog/ict4d-conference-2026 to join the conference virtually.

🚨Development Gateway has just launched the strategic plan for 2026-2028, a reflection of how we are responding to the dramatic shifts in global power dynamics and technological innovations. As governments face growing pressure to do more with fewer resources, the rapid adoption of new technologies also risks widening the digital divide, as our partner institutions grapple with models and tools they neither own, control, nor often fully understand.

For over twenty-five years, DG has navigated multiple technology trends and development funding disruptions. Throughout, we have remained committed to our mission: supporting the use of data, technology, and evidence to create more effective, responsive, and trusted institutions.

Our strategy for the next three years is grounded in four key pillars:
✦ A time-tested foundational philosophy of working with institutions to cut through the noise of technology to support them in choosing a path that is ethical, sustainable, and able to be practically implemented.

✦ Integrative methods that bridge research and evidence into policy making, ensuring that new tools are sustainable and responsive to changing environments to avoid becoming quickly obsolete.

✦ A focus on high impact sectors such as agriculture, health, education , public financial management, and digital governance, where we have a unique ability to cut through complex stakeholder ecosystems and deliver technology that drives better service delivery, governance, or social welfare outcomes.

✦ A cross sectoral approach to AI which helps institutions build their existing data systems in a way that makes it easier to implement AI, design plans that address the needs of their specific contexts, and conduct hands-on experimentation in a safe environment before solutions are rolled out to the public.

Read the full strategy here: https://developmentgateway.org/publication_landing/strategic-plan-fy-2026-2028/

📄 Our report on Insights into University AI Readiness is out!

Universities around the world are innovating with AI across teaching, research, and operations. Together with IREX, we examine how this momentum translates into institutional readiness. The findings show that while adoption is accelerating, the foundations needed to turn AI into system-wide value are still catching up with leadership ambition.

Three key insights stand out:
🔹 Institutional readiness is trailing leadership ambition, with few institutions reporting clear AI strategies
🔹 Workforce capability and skills are emerging, but remain uneven and insufficiently supported
🔹 Governance and policy foundations for AI are still underdeveloped across institutions

We see three interconnected audiences for action – universities, governments, and funders – all with a role in moving from ad hoc experimentation toward systematic, ethical, and scalable AI integration. This means treating AI as a strategic capability, strengthening enabling policy environments, and investing in the institutional foundations needed to sustain impact.

Read the full report: https://www.irex.org/universityaireadiness

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