The primary objective of the Digital for Resilience and Food Security project is to improve agriculture-led economic growth, resilience, nutrition, and water security through digital tools and technologies. By building a robust digital practice, exploring innovative solutions, and expanding access to technology, we can catalyze advancements in the global food systems and achieve USAID’s goals of inclusive economic development.

Launched in 2017, Digital Frontiers is a buy-in mechanism implemented by DAI and available to USAID’s Bureaus and Missions until 2023. Digital Frontiers works closely with a wide variety of international and local actors to identify successful and sustainable digital development approaches and scale their impact globally while offering support in thought leadership, communications, research, and strategy implementation.

Digital Frontiers currently supports the Bureau for Resilience & Food Security with the Digital For Resilience and Food Security (D4RFS) buy-in continuing to build upon the effective Mission support model developed under Digital Development for Feed the Future (D2FTF). D4RFS focuses on building a robust digital practice, incorporating the technical themes of nutrition, water security and sanitation and hygiene, resilience, and agriculture, underpinned by strong evidence and learning on the impact of digital technologies in advancing food systems globally.  

Development Gateway (DG) and Athena Infonomics conducted an assessment of the digital agricultural ecosystem in Mali between September 2021 and January 2022. The assessment was conducted using DG’s Custom Assessment Landscape Methodology (CALM.) The CALM methodology uses a combination of desktop research and mixed data collection methods, including key informant interviews (KIIs,) surveys, and data analysis, to understand the context, collect user needs, and identify the links – or missing links – between key stakeholders in a specific sector.