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AI Preparedness Index Shows Global South Is Not Ready for Artificial Intelligence Solutions

AI Preparedness Index Shows Global South Is Not Ready for Artificial Intelligence Solutions

Published on: Mar 10 2026 by Wayan Vota - Leave a Comment
The IMF’s AI Preparedness Index destroys the comfortable fiction that Global South countries are “leapfrogging” into AI readiness. While development...
Apply Now: $60 Million to Evaluate AI Decision Support Tools for Frontline Health Workers

Apply Now: $60 Million to Evaluate AI Decision Support Tools for Frontline Health Workers

Published on: Mar 09 2026 by Wayan Vota - 1 Comment
The evidence crisis in artificial intelligence for health is stark. AI-powered triage assistants, diagnostic aids, and LLM-based symptom checkers are being deployed...
India Just Proved A Better Way to Build AgriTech Solutions

India Just Proved A Better Way to Build AgriTech Solutions

Published on: Mar 05 2026 by Wayan Vota - 1 Comment
How many AgriTech solutions promise to revolutionize smallholder farming with comprehensive digital advisory platforms? The formula is always the same: aspirational...
Direct-to-Cell Satellite Internet Is a Key Humanitarian Connectivity Tool

Direct-to-Cell Satellite Internet Is a Key Humanitarian Connectivity Tool

Published on: Mar 03 2026 by Wayan Vota - 2 Comments
The ICT4D community continuously debates how to connect the unconnected. We’ve argued about spectrum allocation, community networks, and whether Starlink...
Apply Now: $500,000 to Strengthen Democracy Projects with Artificial Intelligence

Apply Now: $500,000 to Strengthen Democracy Projects with Artificial Intelligence

Published on: Mar 02 2026 by Wayan Vota - 3 Comments
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...
Why Does AI4D Ignore Billions of People in the Global South?

Why Does AI4D Ignore Billions of People in the Global South?

Published on: Feb 26 2026 by Wayan Vota - 1 Comment
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...
SAHI: Radical Artificial Intelligence for Health Framework from India

SAHI: Radical Artificial Intelligence for Health Framework from India

Published on: Feb 24 2026 by Wayan Vota - Leave a Comment
Many LMIC countries are releasing artificial intelligence strategies. Some of those AI strategies focus on healthcare. Most of those follow the same template: aspirational...
Apply Now: $360,000 for AI4Good AgriTech Farmer Solutions

Apply Now: $360,000 for AI4Good AgriTech Farmer Solutions

Published on: Feb 23 2026 by Wayan Vota - 2 Comments
Traditional agriculture extension workers are overwhelmed. Advisor-to-farmer ratios exceed 1:1,000 across developing countries. Government extension systems are...
Stop Fighting Starlink Restrictions and Support Digital Sovereignty

Stop Fighting Starlink Restrictions and Support Digital Sovereignty

Published on: Feb 19 2026 by Wayan Vota - Leave a Comment
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...
How 5 Judicial AI Solutions Are Proving Skeptics Wrong in India

How 5 Judicial AI Solutions Are Proving Skeptics Wrong in India

Published on: Feb 17 2026 by Wayan Vota - 1 Comment
Digital development experts often dismiss Generative AI adoption in government systems as either “techno-solutionism” or “digital colonialism.”...