About GDDF
The 2024 Global Digital Development Forum is celebrating its 5th anniversary since being re-configured due to COVID-19. Each year, the digital development community comes together in new and more thoughtful ways to surface challenges, discuss solutions, and forge partnerships that drive innovation.
Organized by USAID, Chemonics, IBM, DAI, and TechChange around major themes important to international development, the 2024 edition of GDDF will take a deeper dive into hybrid programming. This marks a significant evolution from the first Forum in 2020 that took place entirely virtually - a format inspired by the ICTworks post, Coronavirus Canceled Your Conference – Let’s Organize a Virtual Event. That post led to a vibrant discussion on how we could develop a virtual ICT4D conference that built on previous USAID Digital Development Forums in Ghana, India, El Salvador, Zambia, and the United States.
Introducing the virtual conference modality expanded both the focus and participation beyond any specific donor or country, to include a global audience of LMIC practitioners that now stretches far beyond major implementers and includes hundreds of local actors.
At this year’s two-day hybrid forum, with global events online, and in-person events in DC as well as cities worldwide, we will continue our tradition of engaging sessions to connect government stakeholders, technologists, researchers, funders, implementers, and private sector firms from across the globe.
Global Digital Development Forum 2024 Themes
Explore some of the transformative questions, industry-defining discussion, new voices, and creative ideas for each area
21st Century Development
How are we tackling humanity’s most pressing problems using digital technologies?
Illustrative Topic Areas
Climate Change: How can ICT help to mitigate or adapt to a warming world?
Food Security: Where can ICT support better food nutrition and availability?
Pandemic Response: Who is preparing for the next pandemic, and how can digital technology help?
Siloed Solutions: When can we work together, across sectors?
Doing More with Less: How can we succeed when budgets shrink but expectations soar?
Overcoming
Digital Downsides
Can an ethical, human-centered approach help mitigate the risks associated with digital technology?
Illustrative Topic Areas
Cybersecurity: How can we mitigate risks and improve digital hygiene?
Evil Tech: When should we disengage from firms that actively do harm?
Digital Rights: How can we support democratic institutions?
Digital Harm: How can we ensure that we are protecting children, women, and other vulnerable groups?
Digital Exclusion: How can we improve digital illiteracy and inclusion?
Mis / Dis / Malinformation: Where are mis/dis/malinformation risks the most acute, and how can we reduce its impacts?
Pushing the Frontiers
of Development
How are development organizations, the private sector, and local innovators harnessing emerging technologies for increased impact in their communities?
Illustrative Topic Areas
Artificial Intelligence: When is it really useful for international development? (includes GenAI, pattern recognition, natural language processing, etc)
Quantum Computing: How is it relevant to emerging economies?
Internet of Things: Who is using IoT and what is its impact?
Remote sensing: What are we seeing in the data?
Web3: Where can we use it to improve outcomes?
Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence Conference Track
Brought to you by Save the Children, the 2024 GDDF features a content track that highlights Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence (TechGBV or TFGBV), or violence based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) that occurs using digital tools. TechGBV has existed since digital tools became available and is relevant to each of the Forum themes this year. It may take the form of online sexual harassment, digital exclusion, nonconsensual sharing of intimate imagery, the use of digital tools to control or spy on targets, such as former romantic partners, or many other forms of violence that harm users of those technologies or the general public based on SOGIESC.
Examples of content related to the track may include:
Research to help attendees understand the drivers behind TechGBV and the way in which TechGBV is manifested using digital tools
Intervention programs with the potential to prevent the occurrence of TechGBV or respond to the phenomenon in ways that support survivors of TechGBV
Regulatory actions or changes in community guidelines that can increase the safety of the platforms where TechGBV most often occurs
Frontier technologies or innovative use of existing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deepfakes, or Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality (AR/VR) that provide new spaces or contexts for TechGBV
Examples of participative consultations that support the inclusion of populations that are normally excluded based on SOGIESC to inform the deliberations and rulemaking processes of policymakers, academics, civil society and technology companies
Register Now!
Register Now!
Tickets Available Now
This hybrid conference will be a highly participatory, community-driven event and we are actively seeking practitioners from around the world with a wide range of ideas, experience, and backgrounds to lead each type of session.
What to expect at GDDF?
Exciting Lightning Talks
that showcase new ideas or focused learning on ICT4D successes and failures in short, fast-paced presentations.
Thoughtful Keynote Presentations
on transformative digital development topics of global importance.
Captivating Breakout Sessions
featuring lively debates on key contested issues or interactive roundtable discussions that explore complex deployment challenges.
Interactive Learning Workshops
with practical, hands-on exercises and innovative approaches.
Enlightening Solution Demonstrations
of new services, approaches and key innovations ready for rapid deployment.
Worldwide Local Organizers
acting as champions of GDDF in their respective communities and organizing conversations on GDDF topics within their local communities.