Development Gateway

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!

📄 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

⬇️ Swipe for more insights

Development Gateway, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture - Ethiopia, recently hosted a co-design and validation workshop for the Soil Nutrient Roadmap (SNR) initiative. The workshop generated actionable insights and consensus on how to operationalize data-driven soil management in Ethiopia. It also consolidated technical findings, strengthened institutional coordination, and established clear pathways for integrating SNR into national policy and investment frameworks – linking evidence directly to decisions that shape agricultural outcomes.