Join us for the ICT4D Conference 2026 in vibrant Nairobi, Kenya, where global leaders, practitioners, and innovators will gather to explore the future of digital transformation.
Can’t make the trip? No problem — you can connect and participate from anywhere in the world online.
Conference Themes
Data Theme: Charting the Future of Data in Development and Humanitarian Response
Explore the rapidly shifting data landscape – from AI’s potential and pitfalls to challenges associated with responsible data sharing, interoperability, and the power dynamics in data collection and use.
Impact Theme: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals in a Fragile World
Delve into how we can continue to leverage digital transformation to achieve sustainable outcomes, advance climate resilience, strengthen food systems, promote global health, and improve emergency response.
Future Theme: Shaping Tomorrow - Building Equitable and Sustainable Digital Futures
Unpack how funding shifts, the expansion of digital public infrastructure, and youth leadership are redefining localisation and shaping more inclusive digital futures.
Hands-On Theme: Practical Demonstrations & Interactive Learning
Learn by doing: engage with hands-on demos, skill-building workshops, and collaborative spaces designed for real-world problem solving.
The ICT4D conference has now concluded. I had registered as an online participant and so got to get a bit of a flavor of the event.
Aside: I was actually really impressed with https://www.techchange.org which did a decent job organizing the event, the event portal for perusing and signing up for sessions, the email alerts when sessions were starting, and the web-based interface for participating remotely. The UI is clean and it was nice to see the chat alongside the video. Did have to refresh the screen once when the audio/video went out of sync, but beyond that the events I participated in were surprisingly flawless and I felt I was there. Now that it’s over I see that I can watch all the recordings. Impressive. I think it’s still possible to sign up for free as an online participant to see them: https://ict4d.conference.tc/t/ict4d-conference-2026/events/agenda
Sadly, the timezone difference meant it was impossible for me on the US west coast to participate in many sessions live if I wanted to sleep during the night.
Here are some quick hits from the things I saw:
- not open source
- web app
- quick and easy to use
- allow analysis of large datasets, including open data from the world bank and spreadsheets stored locally
- has AI bot you can use to conversationally ask questions about your data
- purportedly works locally and offline, does not upload your data anywhere, but it’s in a web browser so not sure I would use it without checking into that first. don’t know if they have had a security audit.
- the programmer behind it was the one presenting who joked about making changes right up to the last minute
https://www.idinsight.org/article/evidential-a-new-experiment-engine-for-the-social-sector/
Evidential
A new experiment engine for the social sector
Evidential, a free, open‑source experiment engine, jointly developed by The Agency Fund and IDinsight, is purpose‑built for nonprofits to run their own randomized experiments.
I enjoyed this presentation which had an interactive portion - I could experience it directly myself. Open source FTW!
Lindra Raftree was on the closing panel and it was nice to see her again. I remember her from Kabissa days! And as ever, she was the adult in the room reminding everyone about the risks, who is being left out, and the costs of the tech flavor of the moment. MERL Tech is a mouthful (MERL stands for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning) but scanning their website is worthwhile - there’s alot of great projects they are involved in:
MERL Tech is a term for digital tools and approaches that enable monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL). The term also describes the wider field of work at the intersection of technology and MERL.
The MERL Tech Initiative (MTI) and its core collaborators work with social sector organizations to achieve thoughtful tech-enabled program design, implementation, and MERL.
We convene communities of practice to share learning and advance responsible, ethical, realistic digital approaches that center people, communities and societies. We advocate for a strong focus on equity, justice and avoiding harm. Learn more about our work!
Someone mentioned FEWSNET at the closing panel as well - that brought back memories of my first job connecting the field representatives of FEWS (Famine early Warning System) using Fidonet! Sadly, FEWSNET is gone and that was the context - many of the projects providing geospatial or developmental data are now on life support or simply disappeared.