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ICED · AI & EVIDENCE

AI at ICED

Building new ways to discover, understand and use evidence.

EVIDENCE PORTAL · LIVE
AFRICA EVIDENCE PORTAL · IN DEVELOPMENT
AI POLICY · IN DEVELOPMENT
“Using AI to strengthen evidence, and evidence to understand AI.”

ICED is exploring how AI can strengthen evidence generation, synthesis and uptake, while supporting rigorous evaluation of AI’s effects, limitations and relevance across Africa and the Global South.

The International Centre for
Evaluation and Development
Watch the film · 1 min
Evidence is at the heart
of better decisions.
AI AT ICED · INTRODUCTORY FILM
AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

What We’re Building

Three areas of ICED’s AI development. Each one grows out of work ICED already does in research, evaluation and evidence synthesis. These are not a product catalogue.

IN DEVELOPMENT

AI-Enabled Africa Evidence Portal

A broader, AI-enabled evidence platform built on ICED’s existing Evidence Portal and its Evidence & Gap Maps. ICED lists it as coming soon.

See the portal story →
DEVELOPING · EXPLORING

AI-Enabled Evidence & Research

Exploring where AI can strengthen evidence generation, synthesis and uptake in ICED’s research, and studying AI’s own effects, limits and relevance in African contexts.

See where AI meets our work →
POLICY IN DEVELOPMENT

Responsible AI at ICED

An institutional AI Policy that will guide how ICED uses AI across its work. It is still being drafted.

Read about the policy →
IN DEVELOPMENT

AI-Enabled
Africa
Evidence
Portal

ICED’s Evidence Portal already publishes interactive Evidence & Gap Maps that show where studies exist and where they don’t. The AI-Enabled Africa Evidence Portal builds on this work and is being developed into a broader AI-enabled evidence platform.

Seven Evidence & Gap Maps published, from climate change adaptation to inclusive governance.
Each map plots interventions against outcomes, with primary studies, reviews and cell-wise summaries.
Evidence can be filtered by evaluation type, country, region, study design and publication date.
Built with EPPI-Reviewer and EPPI-Mapper, the tools ICED uses to code and map the evidence.
Explore the Evidence Portal →
The map
Filters
Records
products.iced-eval.org/egm-cca.html
Evidence and Gap Map of Climate Change Adaptation Interventions
376 Records
Climate Change Adaptation EGM Screenshot

Climate Change Adaptation EGM. 376 records on agricultural interventions for food security and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: 120 impact evaluations, 28 formative, 213 summative and 15 reviews. Bubble size shows how much evidence sits in each cell. Empty cells show the gaps.

Discover

AVAILABLE TODAY

Find studies by intervention and outcome on each map.

Explore

AVAILABLE TODAY

Filter by country, evaluation type, design and date. Switch between bubble, mosaic, donut and text views.

Synthesise

AVAILABLE TODAY

Cell-wise summaries of what the evidence says, with confidence ratings of high, medium or low.

Trace

AVAILABLE TODAY

Records link to the full article where available, and reference lists can be downloaded.

Use

AVAILABLE TODAY

EGM reports, policy briefs and stakeholder events turn the maps into decisions.

These stages describe the existing Evidence & Gap Maps. The AI-enabled portal is being developed to extend them; its features will be announced as they are confirmed.

THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY

From Evidence & Gap Maps to the Africa Evidence Portal

Evidence Portal & EGMs

• EXISTING

Seven published Evidence & Gap Maps, built by identifying and coding hundreds of studies, with summaries, reports and protocols.

AI-enabled evidence capabilities

○ EXPLORING

Testing how AI tools can help process research, generate summaries and support faster, policy-relevant outputs, as discussed at ICED’s E2A 2026 session on AI-powered evidence synthesis.

AI-Enabled Africa Evidence Portal

• IN DEVELOPMENT

A broader platform that brings ICED’s evidence together and makes it easier to discover and explore.

ICED researchers presenting an Evidence & Gap Map
ICED researchers presenting an Evidence & Gap Map at the Evidence to Action conference.

Why AI is being incorporated

Building an evidence map means finding and coding hundreds of studies by hand. The CCA map alone holds 376 records. As the body of evidence grows, AI offers ways to help researchers keep up, while ICED’s specialists stay responsible for judging quality and meaning.

OUR ESTABLISHED AREAS

AI Across ICED’s Work

ICED is exploring where AI can strengthen research and evidence workflows it already runs. Choose an area to see the foundation and what is being explored.

Research → Monitoring Evaluation Evidence Synthesis Evidence Use & Learning

Research

WHERE WE START
• Research for Evidence across nutrition, gender, governance, climate adaptation and finance
• Studies on digital infrastructure, digital literacy and digital innovation for farmers
WHERE AI IS BEING EXPLORED
○ Exploring how AI can strengthen evidence generation in ICED research
○ Treating AI in development as “a possibility to be explored”, with awareness of its limitations and potential

AI is being explored to strengthen this work, not to replace it. Nothing here is a separate AI product.

THE FOUNDATION

Built on Evidence. Exploring What AI Makes Possible.

AI at ICED builds on expertise and infrastructure that already exist and are in use today.

EVIDENCE & GAP MAPS

Seven published maps →

Interactive maps of what has been studied and where the gaps are.

Climate Change Adaptation Infrastructure, Nutrition & Gender Inclusive Governance Women’s Economic Empowerment Retail Finance Distribution Ecosystem Mapping Educational Landscape
EVIDENCE PORTAL

Digital evidence products

Actionable data to support ongoing research projects across the region.

Open →
RESEARCH

Research for Evidence

Primary research and systematic reviews, including an update of Masset et al. (2012) on agriculture and child nutrition.

Open →
MONITORING & EVALUATION

Monitoring and evaluating impact

Programme monitoring, impact evaluations, and M&E technical support and training.

Open →
TOOLS & INSTRUMENTS

Validated research tools

Questionnaires, capacity assessment tools, mobile data collection and KoboToolbox training.

Open →
DATA HUB

Datasets from our projects

Downloadable datasets from IINDWEGE, ALL-IN and cost-benefit research.

Open →
24
African countries
21+
Current projects
20+
Partner organisations & institutions
7
Evidence & Gap Maps
DIRECTION OF TRAVEL

An AI-Enabled Evidence Workflow

The direction ICED’s AI-enabled evidence work is heading. Each stage shows what ICED does today and where AI is being explored. Not every stage is automated or available.

What exists today
Where AI is being explored
01
Discover
02
Organise
03
Synthesise
04
Explore
05
Trace
06
Use

Discover

WHAT EXISTS TODAY

Searches and expert recommendations identify the studies for each Evidence & Gap Map.

WHERE AI IS BEING EXPLORED

AI tools that help researchers find relevant studies across a fast-growing literature.

ICED’S ADVANTAGE

Technology + Evidence + Expertise

AI on its own does not produce credible evidence. ICED’s strength is combining it with deep evidence and evaluation expertise rooted in African contexts.

EVIDENCE

What we know

Evidence & Gap Maps, systematic reviews, evaluation reports and project datasets.

+
DATA & TECHNOLOGY

How we collect it

Digital-assisted data collection, phone interviews (CATI), KoboToolbox and agile monitoring systems.

+
AI

What we’re exploring

AI tools that could help process research, summarise findings and speed up policy-relevant outputs.

+
EXPERTISE

Who makes it count

Research and evidence synthesis, M&E, and data and AI specialists, working across 24 African countries.

= Better ways to generate, understand and use evidence.
Harnessing Technology & AI
Harnessing Technology & AI, E2A 2026.
AI-Powered Evidence Synthesis for Better Public Policy
AI-Powered Evidence Synthesis for Better Public Policy, hosted by eBASE Africa and ICED.
POLICY IN DEVELOPMENT

Responsible
AI at ICED

ICED is developing an institutional AI Policy to guide the responsible use of AI across its research, evaluation and evidence work.

Status: draft in progress

The policy has not yet been approved. Its principles will be published here once it is adopted.

QUESTIONS ICED HAS ALREADY RAISED IN ITS WORK

Governance, bias and African ownership

How AI systems used in evidence work are governed, how bias is handled, and who owns them.

AI-Powered Evidence Synthesis session, E2A 2026

Knowing the limits

AI used without grounded, evidence-based understanding can have negative effects. Its use in development calls for awareness of both limitations and potential.

ICED, Machine Learning & AI sector page

Using technology responsibly

Digital tools, data science and AI should be used responsibly to accelerate evidence synthesis and build public trust.

Accra Declaration, Pillar 05 (E2A 2026)

Evaluating AI itself

Rigorous evaluation of AI’s effects, limitations and relevance across Africa and the Global South.

ICED, AI & Evidence

These are themes from ICED’s public work. They are not the policy’s principles, which are still being developed.

WHERE THINGS STAND

What’s Next

• EXISTING

Our foundation

Evidence Portal and seven Evidence & Gap Maps
Research, monitoring and evaluation programmes
Data Hub, research tools and publications
Digital data collection and agile monitoring systems
• IN DEVELOPMENT

Being built

AI-Enabled Africa Evidence Portal
ICED AI Policy
○ EXPLORING

Being explored

Potential applications of AI and machine learning across ICED’s evidence and development work
SHAPING THE FUTURE

Building the
Future of Evidence

“ICED is exploring how responsible use of AI can strengthen the generation, synthesis and use of evidence for better decisions.”

Explore the Evidence Portal →Explore ICED’s WorkContact ICED