Apply Now: Google Accelerator Support for AI Startups in India India’s AI startup ecosystem is booming! Artificial intelligence accounted for 84% of the country’s deep tech startups and 91% of deep tech funding in 2025. Yet seed-stage funding fell 30% last year as investors grew more selective.…

Surprise! Blocking Mobile Internet Access Makes People Happier, Healthier, and More Focused I've spent over a decade advocating for mobile phone access as a pathway to development. Like many in our community, I firmly believed that connecting everyone to smartphones and mobile internet was an…

UK Just Quietly Did to Aid What Trump Did Loudly. Yet Nobody is Screaming When this USA administration dismantled USAID, people noticed. Courts intervened. Senators held hearings. Aid workers went on television. The chaos was loud, and the resistance was proportional. When the UK's Foreign,…

Apply Now: £200,000 for Your Digital Inclusion Solutions Three billion people — 38% of the world's population — experience the digital divide daily. They live within mobile broadband coverage but remain offline, blocked by barriers like device affordability, unreliable electricity, and limited…

African Citizen Digital Health Data Is Now a Condition of Global Health Funding The conversation we've been having about digital sovereignty just became concrete with the America First Global Health Strategy. The United States had signed 26 bilateral health Memorandum of Understanding with African…

Gender Productivity Paradox: Artificial Intelligence Is Failing Women We are witnessing a significant disconnect in modern development economics. While AI promises unprecedented productivity gains, with forecasts of adding $19.9 trillion to the global economy by 2030, we're simultaneously creating…

Apply Now: $30 Million to Improve Government Services with Artificial Intelligence The global market for artificial intelligence in government is projected to grow from $22 billion to nearly $100 billion by 2033, yet most developing countries have no AI initiatives in their public sectors. A…

AI Preparedness Index Shows Global South Is Not Ready for Artificial Intelligence Soltuions The IMF's AI Preparedness Index destroys the comfortable fiction that Global South countries are "leapfrogging" into AI readiness. While development practitioners debate which chatbot to deploy in refugee…

Apply Now: $60 Million to Evaluate AI Decision Support Tools for Frontline Health Workers The evidence crisis in artificial intelligence for health is stark. AI-powered triage assistants, diagnostic aids, and LLM-based symptom checkers are being deployed from Kenya to Myanmar — but without…

India Just Proved A Better Way to Build AgriTech Solutions How many AgriTech solutions promise to revolutionize smallholder farming with comprehensive digital advisory platforms? The formula is always the same: aspirational technology like sleek mobile apps, blockchain supply chains, or AI…

Direct-to-Cell Satellite Internet Is a Key Humanitarian Connectivity Tool The ICT4D community continuously debates how to connect the unconnected. We've argued about spectrum allocation, community networks, and whether Starlink is extractive. Those are important conversations. But while we debate,…

Apply Now: $500,000 to Strengthen Democracy Projects with Artificial Intelligence For the first time in more than two decades, autocracies outnumber democracies globally — 91 to 88 — according to the V-Dem Institute's Democracy Report 2025. 72% of the world's population now lives under autocratic…

Why Does AI4D Ignore Billions of People in the Global South? I've been tracking the artificial intelligence for development (AI4D) conversation for years, and I have to call out what's become an increasingly troubling pattern: we've reduced the entire Global South to just one continent. A recent…

SAHI: Radical Artificial Intelligence for Health Framework from India Many LMIC countries are releasing artificial intelligence strategies. Some of those AI strategies focus on healthcare. Most of those follow the same template: aspirational language, vague commitments to equity and safety, a…

Apply Now: $360,000 for AI4Good AgriTech Farmer Solutions Traditional agriculture extension workers are overwhelmed. Advisor-to-farmer ratios exceed 1:1,000 across developing countries. Government extension systems are unable to meet the needs of hundreds of millions of farmers. Digital solutions…

Stop Fighting Starlink Restrictions and Support Digital Sovereignty I worry that the humanitarian community is on the wrong side of the Starlink debate. We bemoan Starlink bans across Africa and beyond. We treat every restriction as an attack on connectivity. Are we missing a deeper truth?…

How 5 Judicial AI Solutions Are Proving Skeptics Wrong in India Digital development experts often dismiss Generative AI adoption in government systems as either "techno-solutionism" or "digital colonialism." Yet, India's judiciary is quietly proving that AI can work when implemented with the right…

Apply Now: £40,000 UK Scholarships for 90 LMIC Women in STEM  The gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions is well documented. Women comprise just 28% of the global STEM workforce and only 35% of STEM graduates worldwide. These figures have barely budged…

What Are Generative AI Solutions for Community Health Workers? The findings from a Global Mapping of AI in CHW Programs across low- and middle-income countries by Nate Miller is very telling. He found 38 different AI systems to support community health workers, with a large majority (87%) of…

Digital Sovereignty Won’t Save Us From Internet Shutdowns The development community needs to wake up to a harsh reality: the same digital sovereignty rhetoric we've championed to counter American and Chinese tech monopolies is being weaponized by authoritarian regimes to justify mass surveillance…

Apply Now: €13,500 Scholarships for Global Development Leaders Only one in six countries will meet SDG4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030, while an annual financing gap of US$97 billion exists for low- and lower-middle-income countries to reach quality education targets.…

Why India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Will Democratize AI Usage Low- and middle-income countries often make the same mistake with every new technology wave. They chase the Silicon Valley model, throwing resources at private companies and hoping market forces will magically create equitable…

Apply Now: $5,000 Seed Grants for African Startup Technology Entrepreneurs African startups raised only $2.2 billion in 2024, representing just 0.6% of global startup funding, highlighting a massive financing gap that leaves promising tech entrepreneurs without the capital needed to scale digital…

Stop Development Project Failure! Use This People-Centered AI Playbook I've lost count of how many AI-for-development projects I've seen crash and burn. Not because the technology wasn't impressive or the intentions weren't noble, but because teams fundamentally misunderstood what makes Generative…

Apply Now: $14,000 for Independent Media AI Adoption in LMICs Independent news outlets worldwide face an existential crisis. Media outlets in 160 out of 180 countries report achieving financial stability "with difficulty" or "not at all," according to the 2025 World Press Freedom Index. Meanwhile,…

India’s Small Business Revolution is Rewriting Social Impact GenAI Development practitioners are focusing on the wrong AI narrative. We are debating ChatGPT's impact on humanitarian aid and fret over whether 90% of corporate AI pilots fail. Yet, something extraordinary is happening in India that…

Apply Now: $1 Million for Free and Open Source Software Projects The IndiaAI Mission is spending taxpayer money for open-source LLMs. India is also a strong advocate of Digital Public Goods and Digital Public Infrastructure on the global stage, both of which are deeply intertwined with FOSS. FOSS…

African Countries Should Demand Better than $150M Zipline Deal The State Department's $150 million grant to Zipline represents everything wrong with current "America First" aid policy. This deal positions African governments as paying customers for a proprietary American technology system they'll…

What the Top 10 ICTworks Posts in 2025 Say About 5 ICT4D Trends in 2026 I started ICTworks seventeen (17!) years ago to engage digital development leaders, and help us all implement technology solutions more effectively in international development programs. This humble website is now the blog of…

Apply Now: $5,000 for Your African Telecom Hardware Startup Idea African startups raised just $2.2 billion in 2024. That is only 0.6% of global startup funding. Worse, most startups primarily focused on software-driven solutions, while hardware and semiconductor ecosystem remains underdeveloped.…

How Will You Respond? 6 Forces Reshaping Global Health in 2026 The global health sector faces its most dramatic transformation since the creation of multilateral institutions 70 years ago. While most organizations are still planning for recovery, the data reveals something entirely different:…

An African AI EduTech Moment: Move Forward with Intention We're at a critical inflection point for artificial intelligence in African education. The conventional wisdom in our community is that AI represents an unprecedented opportunity to leapfrog traditional educational barriers. Genesis…

Apply Now: Digital Health Leadership Fellowship for Africans Africa's health systems are undergoing unprecedented digital transformation, yet digital health initiatives often remain fragmented or misaligned with national priorities. The continent needs health leaders who can collaborate…

Apply Now: TechGirls 2026 Exchange for Young Women in STEM Gender gaps in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies become evident from a young age, with girls facing barriers including unequal access to digital assets and skills. Fewer than 1% of rural young women from the poorest…

Why Every ICT4D Practitioner Should Care About Responsible Technology When All Tech Is Human released its 2025 Responsible Tech Guide, it crystallized something I've been feeling: the work we've been doing at the intersection of technology and social impact has a name, a framework, and an…

We Must Help Countries Resist the Sovereign Generative AI Trap The digital development community has make this mistake before. We chase politically appealing solutions that sound like empowerment but actually deepen dependency on the very systems we claim to escape. Now we're doing it again with…

Apply Now: $100,000 for Your Student Climate Tech Startup Idea Developing countries currently receive less than 10% of the funding needed to adapt to climate change, creating a staggering $310 billion annual finance gap by 2035. This massive shortfall is driving unprecedented demand for innovative…

OLPC’s Predictable Failure: EduTech Lessons We Keep Refusing to Learn Spoiler alert: Giving children laptops without empowering teachers doesn't magically improve education I'm shocked - absolutely shocked - to learn that providing laptops to students in Peru for 10 years had zero positive impact…

Apply Now: $300,000 for Early-Stage Social Impact Organizations 2.8 billion people still live on less than $2 per day and critical gaps persist in healthcare, education, and digital access across the Global South. Yet early-stage social enterprises struggle to find the patient capital needed to…

Kenya Just Sold Citizen Health Data for $5.66 Per Person. Expect More & Worse. The development community may be asking the wrong question about Kenya's controversial new health agreement with the United States. While digital rights advocates express outrage over data sovereignty violations,…

Apply Now: $20,000 to Deploy Mobile Phone Education Technology Nearly 250 million children globally face educational disruptions each year due to natural disasters, conflict, illness, and systemic failures. In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the majority of students sit in…

Babyl Paradox: When Evidence-Based Digital Success Cannot Beat Corporate Failure  I've heard development practitioners say telemedicine is just a poor substitute for real healthcare. That virtual consultations can't possibly match the quality of face-to-face care. That we're shortchanging…

How Do You Explain ChatGPT to a Community Health Worker? I've been diving deep into groundbreaking research on community health worker perceptions of AI applications in rural India. The truth is more complex than the rosy predictions flooding our sector about artificial intelligence transforming…

Apply Now: $250,000 for Youth-Led Tech Solutions to End Poverty While 1.1 billion people live in acute multidimensional poverty, over half of them children, young innovators worldwide are proving that technology can bridge the gap between hardship and opportunity. Yet an estimated two thirds of…

Giving Thanks: Top 15 Digital Development Blogs Focused on LMICs Today is American Thanksgiving, and I'd like to give thanks to Tony Roberts, for his post from 2016: Let a Thousand ICT4D Blogs Bloom. It looked at the leading digital development blogs of that time. Reading that post recently, I was…

The Surprising Invisible Killer of African Health Information Systems Everyone wants to talk about digital infrastructure. Unreliable electricity, spotty internet, inadequate hardware budgets. These are real problems, and I've watched countless digital health conferences devolve into hand-wringing…

Apply Now: $150,000 Unrestricted Funding for Scaling Your Impact The gap between promising digital innovations and transformative impact at scale remains one of development's most persistent challenges. Subscribe Now for more funding opportunities  Countless enterprises demonstrate early success…

When Does NOT Using AI in LMIC Healthcare Become Unethical? We are quickly reaching an inflection point where withholding Generative AI solutions from healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will be as morally indefensible as denying any other life-saving intervention.…

Why Your Digital Health Pilots Never Scale: Government Procurement Challenges  How many promising digital health pilots have you seen celebrated at conferences for addressing mental health, only to disappear into the graveyard of good intentions? The sector's obsession with perfect pilots is…

Apply Now: $50,000 for AI-Powered Financial Technology Solutions Despite record progress in financial inclusion, 1.3 billion adults worldwide remain unbanked, with women comprising 55% of this excluded population. For communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, limited access to…