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Generative AI Found 10 Innovative USAID Programs Advancing Digital Democracy

By Wayan Vota on October 24, 2024

usaid programs advancing digital democracy

Our recent posts on using Generative AI to explore the Advancing Digital Democracy RFP proved to be very popular. They broke many ICTworks email open rates and website click through records. Everyone is interesting in reading how to tools like ChatGPT and Grant Assistant can help them respond to the ADD RFP.

Here are two GenAI ADD posts in case you missed them:

Today, we will continue this series by looking at another GenAI tool for proposal development – DevelopMetrics – to see which programs are relevant to the ADD RFP. Tomorrow, we’ll explore DevDiscovery’s views on advancing digital rights and regulatory frameworks.

DevelopMetrics: Aid Insights on the DEC

The team behind DevelopMetrics did the impossible with the Development Experience Clearinghouse: they made the  DEC actually usable. They manually-coded a dataset comprising hundreds of thousands of labeled excerpts from carefully curated sources, and the results were peer-reviewed by USAID and the United Nations.

Join DevelopMetrics in Barcelona on Monday!

Now you can search the endless reports and data in the DEC and learn valuable insights almost instantly. No longer is the DEC where PDFs go to die.

10 Innovative USAID Programs for ADD

I used DevelopMetrics to find 10 innovative USAID programs that are relevant to the Advancing Digital Democracy RFP. These programs could be assessed for their potential as past performance, which the RFP says more important than cost but less important than other non-cost factors. The organizations behind these programs could also be considered as potential partners.

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1. Civil Society and Media Project

The CSM project helped civil society and media organizations become active participants in the democratic transition process. It was implemented by FHI 360 with its partners Voluntary Service Overseas and the Public International Law and Policy Group.

The four-year initiative was designed to help organizations run more effectively, reflect the interests of their constituents, advocate positively for and engage in the reform, and achieve financial sustainability. The consortium provided capacity support on organizational management, built the business and reporting skills of media organizations, and conducted events on executive leadership, disability rights and how to empower citizens to connect to government.

2. CSM-STAND

Civil Society and Media – Strengthening Together and Advancing in New Directions (CSM-STAND), is two regional programs that aim to strengthen independent media and civil society around the world. The programs are managed by Pact, which co-leads a consortium of organizations with IREX, pursuing three key objectives:

  • Build civil society and independent media capacity and leadership to credibly represent citizen interests and hold governments accountable through advocacy, oversight and outreach.
  • Provide the democracy, rights and governance sector with cutting-edge technical resources and adaptable program options.
  • Strengthen local, regional and cross-regional approaches that foster independent civic forces, enhance civic engagement, and build vibrant, resilient and self-reliant civil society and media sectors.

CSM-STAND employs comprehensive MERL systems to monitor online civic engagement and media freedom, adjusting approaches to counter digital repression and disinformation.

3. EPGA Program

The Enhancing Participatory Governance and Accountability Program focused on strengthening of civil society for transparent governance, public leaders’ accountability and inclusiveness in public policy development. Trocaire implemented the programme to promote the effective participation of citizens, especially women and youth, and civil society organisations in the development, implementation, and monitoring of agriculture policy and budget in five Rwanda districts.

They wanted to ensure that polices and actions respond to the priorities of vulnerable people and contribute to a sustainable and inclusive development in Rwanda. The project emphasized the use of free software tools like KoBo Toolbox for mobile data collection to enhance the capabilities and sustainability of projects beyond program implementation.

4. Human Rights Activity

The Human Rights Activity seeks to support the Government of Colombia and civil society in promoting a culture of human rights, preventing violations of human rights, and responding effectively to violations that occur. In order to accomplish this goal, the HRA is implemented by Chemonics with three overarching components:

  • Promotion of a culture of human rights,
  • Prevention of human rights violations,
  • Adequate and effective response to human rights violations.

Over the past 14 years, USAID has developed the largest U.S.-supported human rights program in the world. HRA aims to consolidate prior gains from previous human rights programs, as well as to more effectively confront the human rights concerns of vulnerable populations.

5. Justice, Human Rights, and Security Activity

The purpose of the Justice, Human Rights, and Security Activity known as “Unidos por la Justicia” is to create more effective and accountable judicial and security sector organizations to reduce violence in target areas, reduce impunity, and protect human rights. DAI is implementing this activity to improve these institutions’ performance, transparency, and quality of engagement with citizens.

Unidos por la Justicia will assist Government of Honduras institutions, civil society, and others at the national and local level – focusing on five target municipalities – to achieve the following results:

  • Citizen engagement with the security and justice sectors improved
  • Efficiency of security and justice systems improved
  • Increase effectiveness of community policing.

6. Mexico Economic Policy Program

MEEP promoted public sector transparency and fought corruption by creating solutions with impact through initiatives like holding government accountable with data journalism. Abt Associates implemented the program to reach civil society, government, and business sectors, offering courses on data visualization, data science, and data programming. MEPP also collaborated with Data Cívica to establish a data journalism network connecting journalists and analysts to develop stories using robust data.

Over the three-year activity period, technical assistance resulted in the creation of 12 public oversight mechanisms, 46 local government endorsements of transparency mechanisms, and training in public sector accountability provided to over a thousand government officials and 350 members of civil society, including reporters and NGO members.

7. PADF in Cuba

The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) program in Cuba supported civil society groups and individuals with $1.4 million from USAID to foster uncensored information sharing, utilize portable devices for information access, and expand citizen-led efforts to disseminate uncensored information effectively countering digital repression.

8. Support for Human Rights Defenders Activity

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is implementing the $8 million, five-year Support for Human Rights Defenders Activity cooperative agreement to support 35-40 human rights defenders from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua through the Centroamérica en Ascenso Fellowship.

Fellows will be able to continue their work in safety in one of the IIE’s three partner higher education institutions  in the United States of America, including American University, Notre Dame University, and University of Florida.

9. Strengthening Civil Society Globally

SCS Global is a successful five-year Leader with Associates cooperative agreement implemented by FHI 360. It’s 18 active associate awards work to strengthen independent media and civil society in challenging environments. The multi-stakeholder coalition fosters leadership to:

  • Enhance civil society and civil society organization effectiveness in any sector
  • Strengthen civic advocacy and citizen engagement
  • Promote independent media and access to information
  • Integrate participatory approaches, social inclusion, transparency and accountability in all sectors

10. ___

I am leaving #10 blank as an acknowledgement that Generative AI is not perfect. I am sure there are more innovative USAID programs that are advancing digital democracy – you may be working on one now! Please add your thoughts on what other programs we should consider in the comments.

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Written by
Wayan Vota co-founded ICTworks. He also co-founded Technology Salon, MERL Tech, ICTforAg, ICT4Djobs, ICT4Drinks, JadedAid, Kurante, OLPC News and a few other things. Opinions expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of his employer, any of its entities, or any ICTWorks sponsor.
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2 Comments to “Generative AI Found 10 Innovative USAID Programs Advancing Digital Democracy”

  1. Laura Adams says:

    This post is a great example of how GenAI is good for a starting point to find information, but needs a human to follow up before sharing with others. The last few lines about CSM-STAND are an example of AI incorrectly synthesizing information and being unable to distinguish central points from a set of searched-for peripheral points. So as much a cautionary tale as an example of the uses of AI, I’d say.

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