AI for Development
and Impact
What AI4D 2026 explored
AI4D brings together leaders and practitioners across sectors to explore where AI delivers real value, its limitations, and how to adopt it responsibly.
It focuses on practical insights, real-world use cases, and honest discussions, not hype, along with lessons in implementation, governance, and partnerships.
Whether you're shaping strategy, evaluating tools, funding innovation, or leading projects, AI4D helps you make better, impact-driven AI decisions.
One summit. Three connected days.
Attend AI4D only, combine it with another day, or join the full three-day ECOSYSTEM experience.
AI4D: Intelligence for Impact
Responsible and practical AI for development, humanitarian action, NGOs, donors, public-good innovation, and impact.
Ownership Economy
Shared value, governance, rights, participation, and new economic models.
Sustainability, AI & Innovation
Sustainable procurement, digitisation, traceability, data infrastructure, and scalable sustainability solutions.
From AI potential to practical impact.
AI4D is focused on what it takes to use AI responsibly and effectively across development and humanitarian work — from evidence and adoption to institutional capacity and accountability.
Evidence
Move beyond AI hype. Examine where AI is creating measurable value, what is working, what is not, and how organizations can make better decisions about where to invest.
Adoption
Explore how development organizations move from experiments and pilots to AI that is embedded in real workflows, teams, programmes and decision-making.
Responsible AI
Put governance, human oversight, local context, data responsibility and accountability at the centre of AI implementation.
Institutional Capacity
Understand the people, skills, partnerships, data infrastructure and organizational change required to make responsible AI useful at scale.
The people funding, building, implementing and evaluating AI for impact.
AI4D is designed to bring different parts of the development ecosystem into the same conversation — connecting strategy and funding with implementation, evidence and technical practice.
Meet some of the speakers.
Practitioners, funders, researchers and technology leaders working on the realities of AI adoption, evidence, governance and delivery.
Zineb Bhaby
AI Lead Norwegian Refugee Council
View profile →
Caryl Feldacker
Senior Program Officer Gates Foundation
View profile →
Kent Freeze
Program Officer Gates Foundation
View profile →
Emily Janoch
Associate VP, Evidence & Learning CARE
View profile →
Kristen Cordell
Senior Director, Policy Grand Challenges Canada
View profile →
Mala Ram
Digital Technology Programmes Specialist GOAL Global
View profile →
Catherine Vogel
Coordination Lead GIZ Data Lab
View profile →
Samuel Garman
Head of Data Science & Analytics BAO Systems
View profile →
Melissa Omino
Director CIPIT
View profile →
Grace Cramer
Deputy Team Leader, Tech & Innovation FCDO
View profile →
Joshua Beretta
Humanitarian Project Coordinator KoboToolbox
View profile →
Tetyana Zelenska
Director, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Digital Green
View profile →Featured Insights on AI in Development
How the development sector is finding its own way with AI
As funding shrinks and ethical questions abound around AI, development organizations are charting a cautious path forward — prioritizing local data, diverse perspectives, and AI literacy.
One big misconception about AI in development? It taking over the workforce
In this interview with Devex at the AI for Development conference in Barcelona, entrepreneur and creative technologist Javier Ideami explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and global development.
Organizations represented at previous gatherings.
AI4D brings together practitioners and leaders working across international development, humanitarian action, research, public institutions, technology and philanthropy.
Selected organizations represented at previous events.
Funders & supporters
Organizations supporting the conversations, research and practical work around responsible AI for development and impact.
The AI for Development and Impact Conference examines how the practical applications of artificial intelligence can be utilized to advance development goals and tackle global challenges. The event brings together experts, practitioners, and policymakers to examine AI-driven solutions that strengthen humanitarian response, advance sustainable development goals, and improve public service delivery in low-resource and crisis-affected settings.
AI for Development
and Impact.
AI4D brought together practitioners, funders, researchers, public institutions and technology leaders to examine where AI can create real value in development and humanitarian work — and what responsible adoption requires in practice.
From AI potential to practical impact.
The day focused on the practical conditions that make AI useful: stronger evidence, real organizational adoption, responsible governance and the institutional capacity to use new tools well.
Evidence
Move beyond hype: understand where AI is creating measurable value, what remains uncertain, and what evidence should guide investment and scale.
Adoption
Explore how development organizations move from experiments and pilots to AI embedded in workflows, programmes and decision-making.
Responsible AI
Keep governance, local context, human oversight, data responsibility and accountability at the centre of implementation.
Institutional capacity
Look at the people, skills, partnerships, data infrastructure and organizational change needed to make responsible AI useful at scale.
One summit. Three connected days.
AI4D opened the three-day ECOSYSTEM Summit, followed by the Ownership Economy Summit and Trusted Commerce.
AI for Development & Impact
Responsible and practical AI for development, humanitarian action, public institutions and social impact.
AI4DThe Ownership Economy Summit
Ownership, incentives and governance models that distribute agency, value and participation more broadly.
OwnershipTrusted Commerce
Trusted data, standards, traceability, verification and infrastructure for more accountable markets.
TrustThe people funding, building, implementing and evaluating AI for impact.
AI4D was designed to connect strategy and funding with implementation, evidence, technical practice and the realities of organizational change.
Funders & development institutions
Donors, foundations, public institutions and development organizations shaping AI investment and strategy.
NGOs & humanitarian organizations
Teams applying technology in programmes, operations, crisis response and service delivery.
Researchers & evidence organizations
Experts testing what works and building stronger evidence around AI in development.
AI, data & technology practitioners
Builders and technical teams translating AI capabilities into practical tools and infrastructure.
People who shaped the day.
A selection of speakers from the AI4D programme, spanning humanitarian response, funding, evidence, governance, health data and organizational adoption.
Zineb Bhaby
AI LeadNorwegian Refugee Council
View profile →Caryl Feldacker
Senior Program OfficerGates Foundation
View profile →Kent Freeze
Program OfficerGates Foundation
View profile →Emily Janoch
Associate VP, Evidence & LearningCARE
View profile →Catherine Vogel
Coordination LeadGIZ Data Lab
View profile →Samuel Garman
Head of Data Science & AnalyticsBAO Systems
View profile →Melissa Omino
DirectorCIPIT
View profile →Grace Cramer
Deputy Team Leader, Tech & InnovationFCDO
View profile →Joshua Beretta
Humanitarian Project CoordinatorKoboToolbox
View profile →Tetyana Zelenska
Director, Monitoring, Evaluation & LearningDigital Green
View profile →A day built around implementation.
The programme moved from humanitarian use cases and AI readiness into development delivery, organizational adoption, evidence, health data, governance and responsible AI.
Making AI Useful in Humanitarian Response
Zineb Bhaby · Norwegian Refugee Council
Connected ≠ Ready
AI readiness for women and vulnerable populations · Gates Foundation, MERL Tech, Digital Planet
Advanced Solutions for Development Delivery
Gates Foundation · World Bank ImpactAI · IATI · DevelopMetrics
The Reality of AI: Adoption, Capacity & Change Management
Oxfam · CARE · GOAL Global · Grand Challenges Canada
An Agent on the Inside: AI in Health-Data Workflows
BAO Systems · DHIS2 Data Agent case
Responsible AI: Ethics, Governance and Practice
BenevAI · Rachel Coldicutt · CIPIT · FCDO
The conversation continued beyond the room.
Selected coverage from earlier AI4D gatherings on how the development sector is approaching AI, capability, local context and responsible adoption.
How the development sector is finding its own way with AI
Development organizations chart a cautious path around AI, emphasizing local data, diverse perspectives and AI literacy.
Read article → Devex · 29 Oct 2025One big misconception about AI in development? It taking over the workforce
A conversation from AI4D in Barcelona about the gap between current AI capability and complex development decision-making.
Read article →Funders & supporters.
Organizations supporting the conversations, research and practical work around responsible AI for development and impact.
Organizations represented at previous gatherings.
A selected view of the international development, humanitarian, research and public-interest organizations represented across previous AI4D gatherings.
Selected organizations represented at previous events; this is not a current sponsor list.
A working room — and space to keep the conversation going.
AI4D 2026 took place at Norrsken House Barcelona, combining plenary sessions, breakouts, networking and a rooftop reception.
Explore the programme, speakers and ideas from Barcelona.
AI4D is part of an ongoing conversation about how development organizations can use AI with stronger evidence, better governance and more meaningful human control.