Amid Foreign Aid Cuts and AI Boom, Evidence Organizations Unite to Inform Development Strategies Across Africa

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (July 14 2026) – Drastic cuts to foreign aid budgets have left many African nations with a sizable funding gap in their economic and social development programs, threatening progress on public health, food security, education, and more. Yet, as global aid strategies shift and resources contract, evidence on the effectiveness of these programs can help decision makers get the most out of the financing that remains available. Meanwhile, innovations in data science, including generative artificial intelligence (AI), geospatial and remote sensing analysis, and other frontier technologies are rapidly changing the world, yet their welfare impacts and privacy concerns across the region remain unclear.

Against this backdrop, Ethiopia is set to host the Africa Evidence Summit, July 23-24, which will help leaders leverage new evidence, tools, and insights to sustain progress in the fight against poverty.

Co-hosted by the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), the Policy Studies Institute (PSI), and the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA), the Africa Evidence Summit will feature two days of research presentations and policy panels attuned to the needs of African leaders in a new era of technology and foreign aid.

“The Africa Evidence Summit is a testament to the power of global networks and collaboration in achieving our shared development goals,” said CEGA Founding Director Edward Miguel. “We are motivated by the leadership of talented African scholars to drive more cost-effective, evidence-backed policymaking on the continent. As growing financial constraints force governments to prioritize proven, scalable interventions and calls mount for greater coordination among actors, the global development community is increasingly relying on evidence generators and effective public-private partnerships to chart a way forward.”

Africa Evidence Summit 

The Africa Evidence Summit is co-organized by NIERA, an association of African scholars that advances decision-focused impact evaluation of development programs, and CEGA, a research hub at the University of California, Berkeley that generates innovative evidence for decision-makers to use to reduce global poverty. This year’s Summit will focus on “Powering Policy with Innovative, Inclusive, Transparent Data.”

The Summit will launch on day one with an expert panel on Ethiopian and East African development strategies amid climate change, conflict, and economic constraints. Following sessions will include representatives from the Ethiopian Government on policy priorities and how evidence and technology informs them. Senior Economic Advisor and Former Director of Research at the African Economic Research Consortium Abebe Shimeles will deliver keynote remarks on day two, emphasizing how academic institutions can best build trust between governments and think-tanks to drive evidence uptake. These plenary sessions will complement an array of presentations on policy-relevant research on global health, environment, agriculture; panels on AI deployments and safety best practices across sectors and disciplines.

The Africa Evidence Summit is an annual in-person gathering that convenes policymakers, NGOs, industry, African scholars, and global faculty at higher education institutions to advance the latest evidence on economic development and poverty alleviation in Africa. Now in its 14th year, the Summit amplifies African scholars’ voices, incubates new collaborations, and innovates new ways to integrate evidence and technology into decision-making. With an expected attendance of more than 400 in-person, the Africa Evidence Summit promises to help chart a new path for a foreign aid ecosystem beset by budget cuts as the global need surges and frontier technologies abound.

To learn more about the Africa Evidence Summit and to request interviews with presenters or press passes, please contact the media contacts listed below. Follow along on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and X with the #AES2026 hashtag.

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Notes to the Editor

About CEGA

The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) is a hub for research, training and innovation headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley. CEGA generates insights that leaders can use to improve policies, programs, and people’s lives. Its academic network includes more than 200 faculty, over 100 scholars from low- and middle-income countries, and hundreds of graduate students — from diverse academic disciplines across the globe — that produce rigorous evidence about what works to expand education, health, and economic opportunities for people living in poverty. 

About NIERA

The Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA) is a regional association of African scholars with multi-sectoral expertise in various thematic areas that advances decision-focused impact evaluation of development programs through capacity building, evidence generation and policy outreach. Established in 2018 by alumni of the CEGA fellows program, NIERA is a non-profit organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya and works with over 80 members across the continent.

About PSI 

The Policy Studies Institute (PSI) is a policy think tank in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia established in 2018 by the Government of Ethiopia that conducts high quality and objective economic, social and governance research and policy analysis. PSI disseminates its findings to the policy and research community, academia, and other stakeholders. 

Media Contacts

CEGA
Lauren Russell
Director of Operations and Strategy
laurenrussell@berkeley.edu
+1 415 895 8648

NIERA
Jennifer Nyakinya
Director of Programs
jennifer.nyakinya [at] nieraglobal.org
+254 723 424 862

Policy Studies Institute (PSI)