Global Digital Development Forum 2024 .

Chemonics was proud to co-host the 2024 Global Digital Development Forum, a highly participatory, community-driven event that brought together more than 3,000 digital development practitioners.

Chemonics, in partnership with TechChange, USAID, IMB, DAI, Save the Children, Deloitte, and Cadmus Group, was honored to welcome more than 3,000 participants from around the world for the fifth annual 2024 Global Digital Development Forum. This year’s hybrid event was organized around the themes of 21st Century Development, Overcoming Digital Downsides, and Pushing the Frontiers of Development. The two day event – which included seven keynotes, 43 live sessions, 30 lightning talks, and 30 tech demonstrations – also offered in-person sessions and networking events in Washington, D.C., Moldova, and Senegal.

Recordings of the sessions featuring Chemonics’ staff are linked below.

Tech Tales from Beyond the Western Frontiers

Less than 20 percent of the world’s population resides in the West, comprising North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The remaining 80% live in the geography collectively referred to as “the rest of the world”—an area as vast as it is rich in sociocultural diversity, active civic movements, and thriving innovation ecosystems.

Anup Kaphle, editor-in-chief of  Rest of World joined Manisha Aryal, global practice lead for digital development at Chemonics, for a discussion that delved into technology trends from beyond the West, narratives that challenge stereotypes, and stories that epitomize human ingenuity and interconnectedness.

Building a Justice Sector Without Breaking the Treasury

Often, justice comes with a hefty price tag and a long wait. While many rule of law programs aim to make the justice system accessible, affordable, and more efficient, they find themselves spending a fortune on fancy digital tools that may not work or be sustainable after the project ends. How can we ensure that the justice system is locally owned and maintained by the people who use it? How we can leverage open-source and locally-owned digital tools to build more sustainable systems that can deliver justice for all, without breaking the bank?

Scaling Proven Supply Chain Digital Solutions for Better Health Outcomes

Health supply chains need to leverage digital technology to boost health outcomes in low-and-middle-income countries. This panel draws on real-life experiences across Africa to understand how government, private sector, and innovation hubs work together to identify supply chain challenges, design effective solutions, launch pilots and scale them out.

Open Data Goes to Work: Building a Data Ecosystem that Fosters Transparency, Efficiency, and Policymaking

Open data can be a powerful tool to enhance transparency, efficiency, and decision-making in the public sector. But how can we collaborate with governments, businesses, and civil society stakeholders to create digital ecosystems and legislation that support open data initiatives? Join panelists from Kosovo and Jordan as they compare approaches, highlight lessons learned, and share best practices when leveraging existing digital solutions, work within the legislative parameters, and build the capacity and social behavioral change of government institutions to implement open data solutions.

Sharing Data Without Revealing Secrets: Using Data for Good Without Compromising on Security

Speakers:
Juan Camilo Gonzales, Chief of Party, USAID/Colombia Integra Activity, implemented by Chemonics International
David Castrillón, Coordinator for the Observatory on Migration, Migrants, and Human Mobility Observatory, OM3 of Migración Colombia
David Florez, Director of Government and Human Rights for the National Department of Planning, National Observatory of Migration

Governments, NGOs, and development projects collect and process mountains of sensitive data to understand and track the world’s stickiest challenges, including migration. This data is critical for providing effective public and emergency services that often need to be coordinated across national ministries, local service providers, and more frequently across borders. But sharing large amounts of sensitive data threatens the security of that data which can be used to harm individuals and marginalized groups. During this session, experts discuss how we can balance our interest to use and share data with our duty to keep it safe.