Emerging Technologies Resource Navigator

📚Reflecting the Past, Shaping the Future: Making AI Work for International Development, USAID - This document aims to inform and empower those who may have limited technical experience as they navigate an emerging ML/AI landscape in developing countries. Donors, implementers, and other development partners should expect to come away with a basic grasp of common ML techniques and the problems ML is uniquely well-suited to solve.

📚 Hello, World: Artificial intelligence and its use in the public sector, OECD - Long report, motivated by the need to understand the role of the public sector in the private sector-dominated AI space, and the need to inform public servants on AI trends.

📚 Elements of AI, Reaktor and the University of Helsinki - A series of free online courses created by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki. The site helps teach what AI is, what AI can and cannot do, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory with practical exercises and can be completed at one’s own pace.

📚 Artificial Intelligence in Society, OECD - This report helps build a shared understanding of AI in the present and near-term by mapping the AI technical, economic, use case and policy landscape and identifying major public policy considerations.

📚 Releasing the power of digital data for development, Frontier Technologies, UKaid, NIRAS - Report investigating the potential of digital data in international development - based on a broad analysis of existing research, global stakeholder survey and direct evidence gathering within the UK DFID (now FCDO).

📰 IDIA Artificial Intelligence in International Development, IDIA - Discussion paper giving overview of history of AI and its potential for development, and summarising key challenges and debates around the deployment of AI for International Development. Links to promising initiatives and other useful guides.

🛠️Digital Rights Check: Human Rights Impact Assessment Tool for Digital Development Projects, GIZ - GIZ is developing a human rights impact assessment tool. and guidance. It is meant for GIZ project staff and partners who are working on Digital for Development (D4D) projects or other projects that have digital components. It is intended as substantive guidance for project staff who want to ensure that the digital components of their projects respect human rights.

🛠️Future State PACT Framework, Rockefeller Foundation - Values-based guideposts for difficult decisions relating to digital transformation programmes, for personal data. Focus is individual empowerment.

🛠️Using Data Responsibly, USAID - Guiding checklists and to-do lists, for responsible use of data and optimising the use of data in development programmes. Links to further resources. Promotion of thoughtful conversations.

📰 EC Ethics Guidelines, European Commission - Guidelines setting out framework for achieving ethical and robust (technically and socially) AI systems. Theoretical basis of guidelines, and a user-friendly assessment list. To-do / to check list, evaluative criteria.

🛠️ Artificial Intelligence Suitability Toolkit, NetHope - Guiding questions / to check list on ethical and practical problems to assess when using AI to solve problems.

📚Closing the Human Rights Gap in AI Governance, Rockefeller Foundation - Short article summarising the outcomes of an expert workshop on a human rights approach to AI governance. There are recommendations on government policy, industrial policy, and the role of investors.

📚 Hello, World: Artificial intelligence and its use in the public sector, OECD - Long report, motivated by the need to understand the role of the public sector in the private sector-dominated AI space, and the need to inform public servants on AI trends.

📰 Principled Artificial Intelligence: Mapping Consensus and Divergence in Ethical and Rights-Based Approaches, Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University - List of published AI guidelines in Human Rights

📚A guide to using Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector, Government Digital Service, Office for Artificial Intelligence, UK Government - UK Government guide giving an introduction to AI concepts and principles, for a range of civil servants and others working in the public sector

📚 AI Principles overview, OECD - The OECD AI Principles focus on how governments and other actors can shape a human-centric approach to trustworthy AI. As an OECD legal instrument, the principles represent a common aspiration for its adhering countries.

📚 Artificial Intelligence in Society, OECD - This report helps build a shared understanding of AI in the present and near-term by mapping the AI technical, economic, use case and policy landscape and identifying major public policy considerations.

📰 Mapping Principles of Artificial Intelligence, CeWeb - A non-exhaustive multisectoral mapping of Artificial Intelligence principles across different sectors.

📚 Artificial Intelligence: The road ahead in low and middle income countries, The Web Foundation - The report provides a detailed outlook of the risks and opportunities artificial intelligence (AI) poses for low and middle income countries, as well as the key elements that can be leveraged upon to maximise the benefits and minimize the risks generated by AI. The insights provided throughout the paper are the result of over two dozen in-depth interviews with key experts and practitioners based in these countries and an extensive literature review.

📚 Artificial Intelligence and Human Development, International Development Research Centre - A working paper proposing a proactive research agenda for the ethical and equitable application of AI in the Global South. Undergirding this agenda is a broad overview of the technologies associated with AI and the opportunities and challenges they present.

🛠️ Principles for Digital Development SDG Framework, Principles for Digital Development - This guide is intended to serve as a resource manual to non-technical specialists tasked with overseeing and funding digital development programs. Building on existing Digital Principles and donor organization resources, this manual provides a basic overview of effective use of technology in development programs, including good practices in investment at the local level.

📚Considerations for using data responsibly at USAID, USAID - This document aims to provide USAID staff and local partners with a framework for identifying and understanding risks associated with development data. It is meant as a conversation starter—to highlight important concerns and provide actionable advice—to help those who use data in development programs maximize utility while also managing risk. By starting to have conversations around responsible data practices, staff and partners will begin to build competency in this area. USAID’s Journey to Self Reliance includes supporting countries to build their own technological capacity and readiness by taking ownership of their data and being held accountable that it is kept safe.

🛠️ International Open Data Charter, ODC - The six ODC principles were developed in 2015 by governments, civil society, and experts around the world to represent a globally-agreed set of aspirational norms for how to publish data. Find out more about the princiles with this resource.

📚 Policy Brief: Principles for Responsible Data Handling, The Internet Society - The policy brief looks at the issue of data handling from the data controller’s perspective, and identifies three principles to help them decide how to collect and process personal data in a responsible way: Transparency, Fairness, and Respect.

🛠️Digital Rights Check: Human Rights Impact Assessment Tool for Digital Development Projects, GIZ - GIZ is developing a human rights impact assessment tool. and guidance. It is meant for GIZ project staff and partners who are working on Digital for Development (D4D) projects or other projects that have digital components. It is intended as substantive guidance for project staff who want to ensure that the digital components of their projects respect human rights.

🛠️ Toolkit – Digitalisation in Development Cooperation and International Cooperation in Education, Culture and Media, GIZ - The toolkit explores how digital instruments can be employed to meet the sector- and region-specific needs of those planning, managing and implementing DC/IC measures. It provides political decision-makers and DC/IC implementers with information on the kinds of digital applications that are relevant for their work and on the value they can add to DC/IC projects. The toolkit constitutes a guide for analysing digital options and backs up advice with examples from different regions and sectors.

🛠️Responsible Data Guidelines, GIZ - GIZ has developed the company's principles and guidelines for the responsible usage of (personal) data.

🛠️Future State PACT Framework, Rockefeller Foundation - Values-based guideposts for difficult decisions relating to digital transformation programmes, for personal data. Focus is individual empowerment.

🛠️Using Data Responsibly, USAID - Guiding checklists and to-do lists, for responsible use of data and optimising the use of data in development programmes. Links to further resources. Promotion of thoughtful conversations.

🛠️ Principles for Digital Development, USAID - Principles to guide projects in international development, practical tips for use of each principle at each stage of a project, links to further resources.

🛠️ Digital Investment Tool, USAID - Supports work planning either on standalone e-government initiatives or on programmes with a digital component. Covers designing and creating creating proposals for digital systems, evaluating digital system, and making purchase decisions on digital proposals. Covers maturity assessment and action planning, with fields including stakeholder engagement, system users, and policy landscape. Relates to all digital investment.

🛠️ Artificial Intelligence Evaluation Criteria, ICTworks - List of evaluative criteria / guiding questions, based on the Digital Principles, adapted for AI.

🛠️ Artificial Intelligence Suitability Toolkit, NetHope - Guiding questions / to check list on ethical and practical problems to assess when using AI to solve problems.

📰 Decision-making in the Age of the Algorithm, Nesta - Article outlining principles for professionals in the public working with and designing AI.

📚A guide to using Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector, Government Digital Service, Office for Artificial Intelligence, UK Government - UK Government guide giving an introduction to AI concepts and principles, for a range of civil servants and others working in the public sector

📚 Artificial Intelligence: The road ahead in low and middle income countries, The Web Foundation - The report provides a detailed outlook of the risks and opportunities artificial intelligence (AI) poses for low and middle income countries, as well as the key elements that can be leveraged upon to maximise the benefits and minimize the risks generated by AI. The insights provided throughout the paper are the result of over two dozen in-depth interviews with key experts and practitioners based in these countries and an extensive literature review.

📚 Artificial Intelligence and Human Development, International Development Research Centre - A working paper proposing a proactive research agenda for the ethical and equitable application of AI in the Global South. Undergirding this agenda is a broad overview of the technologies associated with AI and the opportunities and challenges they present.

📚 Releasing the power of digital data for development, Frontier Technologies, UKaid, NIRAS - Report investigating the potential of digital data in international development - based on a broad analysis of existing research, global stakeholder survey and direct evidence gathering within the UK DFID (now FCDO).

🛠️Digital Investment Tool, USAID - The Digital Investment Tool is intended to support USAID staff in concretely integrating the Principles for Digital Development (link is external) into programmatic digital systems through a participatory process with relevant stakeholders. The tool can be used throughout the program cycle, but is tailored for use during work planning and implementation. Use of this resource will support robust development of digital systems that are effective, sustainable, and support the self-reliance of local partners that own and operate these systems. The Digital Investment Tool will be most useful to technical staff, such as mission-based or mission-facing ICT advisors, who have background knowledge of digital technology use in USAID activities and will facilitate the participatory and prioritization processes presented in the resource.

🛠️ Guidance for Practicing the Principles for Digital Development in a Gender Transformative and Inclusive Way, Plan International & Principles for Digital Development - Incorporating digital into development projects will have gender and inclusion implications. The below guidance helps you ask some key questions to make sure your use of digital in development helps to bridge, as opposed to entrench, digital divides.

📚Considerations for using data responsibly at USAID, USAID - This document aims to provide USAID staff and local partners with a framework for identifying and understanding risks associated with development data. It is meant as a conversation starter—to highlight important concerns and provide actionable advice—to help those who use data in development programs maximize utility while also managing risk. By starting to have conversations around responsible data practices, staff and partners will begin to build competency in this area. USAID’s Journey to Self Reliance includes supporting countries to build their own technological capacity and readiness by taking ownership of their data and being held accountable that it is kept safe.

🛠️ Toolkit Digitaliserung: Practice, GIZ - This Toolkit gives an overview of the use of digital technologies in German development cooperation and provides practical support in the form of a variety of useful guidelines and aids for the strategic planning and implementation of digital measures.

🛠️ OCHA Data Responsibility Guidelines, OCHA - The aim of these guidelines is to help staff better assess and manage the sensitivity of the data they handle in different crisis contexts. Irresponsible or inappropriate processing of data in humanitarian contexts can place already vulnerable people and communities at greater risk of harm. This is of particular concern when humanitarian actors handle sensitive data. While personal data can categorically be considered sensitive, determining the risk of non-personal data is more complex.

🛠️A guide to using artificial intelligence in the public sector, UK Government digital servce and Office for Artificial Intelligence - The Government Digital Service (GDS) and the Office for Artificial Intelligence (OAI) have published joint guidance on how to build and use artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector. This guidance covers how: (1) to assess if using AI will help you meet user needs, (2) the public sector can best use AI, and (3) to implement AI ethically, fairly and safely

🛠️Guidelines for AI procurement, UK Government - These new procurement guidelines will help inform and empower buyers in the public sector, helping them to evaluate suppliers, then confidently and responsibly procure AI technologies for the benefit of citizens.

🛠️Companion to the Model AI Governance Framework – Implementation and Self-Assessment Guide for Organizations, PDPC, World Economic Forum - This Guide provides a set of questions and practical examples to enable organizations to assess the alignment of their AI governance practices with PDPC's Model AI Governance Framework.

🛠️ Model AI Governance Framework, Personal Data Protection Consortium Singapore (PDPC) - A sector-, technology- and algorithm-agnostic framework designed by the Singaporean government, which converts relevant ethical principles to implementable practices in an AI deployment process so that organizations can operationalize these principles.

📚Exploring Fairness in Machine Learning for International Development, MIT - Guide focused on achieving fairness and avoiding bias when developing ML for use in international development. Includes guidance on choice of algorithms, uses of data, and management of software development. It also illustrates the application of this guidance through a case study.

🛠️Software Global Goods Valuation Framework, USAID - This is an Excel-based tool that provides a framework to estimate (a) the retrospective development cost of a software global good, so that decision makers can assess the relative value of global goods as compared to building a new software from scratch; and (b) the ongoing costs required to enable the core software to remain stable, develop new features, and stay competitive.

🛠️Artificial Intelligence and Start-Ups in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Landscape, GSMA - GSMA mapping of 450 start-ups by sector in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and South Asia and Southeast Asia.

🛠️Global South of emerging areas in Artificial Intelligence, K4All - Map with introductory article, and talents and hotspots in AI specifically in emerging economies.

🛠️Digital Rights Check: Human Rights Impact Assessment Tool for Digital Development Projects, GIZ - GIZ is developing a human rights impact assessment tool. and guidance. It is meant for GIZ project staff and partners who are working on Digital for Development (D4D) projects or other projects that have digital components. It is intended as substantive guidance for project staff who want to ensure that the digital components of their projects respect human rights.

🛠️ Toolkit – Digitalisation in Development Cooperation and International Cooperation in Education, Culture and Media, GIZ - The toolkit explores how digital instruments can be employed to meet the sector- and region-specific needs of those planning, managing and implementing DC/IC measures. It provides political decision-makers and DC/IC implementers with information on the kinds of digital applications that are relevant for their work and on the value they can add to DC/IC projects. The toolkit constitutes a guide for analysing digital options and backs up advice with examples from different regions and sectors.

🛠️ Digital Investment Tool, USAID - Supports work planning either on standalone e-government initiatives or on programmes with a digital component. Covers designing and creating creating proposals for digital systems, evaluating digital system, and making purchase decisions on digital proposals. Covers maturity assessment and action planning, with fields including stakeholder engagement, system users, and policy landscape. Relates to all digital investment.

🛠️ Artificial Intelligence Evaluation Criteria, ICTworks - List of evaluative criteria / guiding questions, based on the Digital Principles, adapted for AI.

🛠️ Artificial Intelligence Suitability Toolkit, NetHope - Guiding questions / to check list on ethical and practical problems to assess when using AI to solve problems.

🛠️ Guidance for Practicing the Principles for Digital Development in a Gender Transformative and Inclusive Way, Plan International & Principles for Digital Development - Incorporating digital into development projects will have gender and inclusion implications. The below guidance helps you ask some key questions to make sure your use of digital in development helps to bridge, as opposed to entrench, digital divides.

🛠️ Toolkit Digitaliserung: Practice, GIZ - This Toolkit gives an overview of the use of digital technologies in German development cooperation and provides practical support in the form of a variety of useful guidelines and aids for the strategic planning and implementation of digital measures.

🛠️ OCHA Data Responsibility Guidelines, OCHA - The aim of these guidelines is to help staff better assess and manage the sensitivity of the data they handle in different crisis contexts. Irresponsible or inappropriate processing of data in humanitarian contexts can place already vulnerable people and communities at greater risk of harm. This is of particular concern when humanitarian actors handle sensitive data. While personal data can categorically be considered sensitive, determining the risk of non-personal data is more complex.

🛠️Companion to the Model AI Governance Framework – Implementation and Self-Assessment Guide for Organizations, PDPC, World Economic Forum - This Guide provides a set of questions and practical examples to enable organizations to assess the alignment of their AI governance practices with PDPC's Model AI Governance Framework.

🛠️ Model AI Governance Framework, Personal Data Protection Consortium Singapore (PDPC) - A sector-, technology- and algorithm-agnostic framework designed by the Singaporean government, which converts relevant ethical principles to implementable practices in an AI deployment process so that organizations can operationalize these principles.

📚Emerging Technologies and Approaches in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning for International Development Programs, Kerry Bruce and Joris Vandelanotte, Clear Outcomes; and Valentine Gandhi, The Development CAFE and Social Impact - This paper presents examples of emerging technology that are most often used in MERL for development programs, describes the pros and cons of their use, and discusses technology and ethics concerns that practitioners should keep in mind.

🛠️Digital Rights Check: Human Rights Impact Assessment Tool for Digital Development Projects, GIZ - GIZ is developing a human rights impact assessment tool. and guidance. It is meant for GIZ project staff and partners who are working on Digital for Development (D4D) projects or other projects that have digital components. It is intended as substantive guidance for project staff who want to ensure that the digital components of their projects respect human rights.

🛠️Compendium of Use Cases: Practical Illustrations of the Model AI Governance Framework, Personal Data Protection Consortium Singapore (PDPC) - This Compendium of Use Cases demonstrates how various organisations across different sectors – big and small, local and international – have either implemented or aligned their AI governance practices with all sections of the Model Framework.

📚Exploring Fairness in Machine Learning for International Development, MIT - Guide focused on achieving fairness and avoiding bias when developing ML for use in international development. Includes guidance on choice of algorithms, uses of data, and management of software development. It also illustrates the application of this guidance through a case study.

📚Reimagining Global Health through Artificial Intelligence: The Roadmap to AI Maturity, Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development - The report holds that while low- and middle- income countries may have the most to gain from the radical potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform health systems, they may also have the most to lose.

📚Artificial Intelligence in Global Health: Defining a Collective Path Forward, USAID - This report identifies opportunities for donors, governments, investors, the private sector, and other stakeholders to explore and accelerate the appropriate development and cost-effective use of AI at scale in global health.

📚Lacuna Fund - Lacuna Fund is the world’s first collaborative effort to provide data scientists, researchers, and social entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income contexts globally with the resources they need to produce labeled datasets that address urgent problems in their communities.

🛠️Artificial Intelligence and Start-Ups in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Landscape, GSMA - GSMA mapping of 450 start-ups by sector in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and South Asia and Southeast Asia.

🛠️ Toolkit – Digitalisation in Development Cooperation and International Cooperation in Education, Culture and Media, GIZ - The toolkit explores how digital instruments can be employed to meet the sector- and region-specific needs of those planning, managing and implementing DC/IC measures. It provides political decision-makers and DC/IC implementers with information on the kinds of digital applications that are relevant for their work and on the value they can add to DC/IC projects. The toolkit constitutes a guide for analysing digital options and backs up advice with examples from different regions and sectors.