The NetHope Global Summit held from October 26-29 in person and November 3 Virtually, brought together nonprofit organizations, technology partners, funders and community members to explore how emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), are shaping the future of humanitarian and development work.

Hosted by NetHope, a global consortium of nearly 60 nonprofit organizations working to improve IT connectivity among humanitarian organizations, particularly in the Global South and disaster-affected areas, the three-day in-person event held at at the Van Der Valk Hotel Schiphol provided a platform for sharing ideas, learning from one another and building trust in an increasingly digital world.

Bonface Witaba, Senior Researcher at Digital Agenda for Tanzania Initiative (DA4TI), presented the organisation’s “Strengthening Ethical AI with Journalists in Tanzania” case study, supported by the NetHope Connected AI Grant. The initiative promotes the ethical and responsible use of AI in journalism and civic media, with a target of training 5,000 journalists and civic media practitioners across Tanzania’s Southern Highlands by 2028 through our Trainer of Trainers (ToT) capacity building programme, aiming to improve their AI knowledge, skills and employability by 80%. 

Looking ahead, DA4TI’s initiative plans to expand its work to neighbouring Mbeya and Njombe regions, support institutional change and establish an AI Hub in Iringa for journalists and civic media practitioners. The proposed hub will provide opportunities for training, knowledge sharing and practical exploration of responsible AI applications in journalism and civic engagement.

We believe partnership is the key. We invite stakeholders, media leaders, and partners to read our AI Case Study and explore opportunities to support the next phase of this work. Together, Digital Agenda for Tanzania Initiative (DA4TI) and NetHope Connected are advancing ethical, purpose-driven AI in journalism.