Digital Humanitarian Governance in the Global South

Digital humanitarian governance refers to the policies, practices and platforms through which humanitarian actors, states and communities harness digital technologies to anticipate, respond to and recover from crises in low- and middle-income countries. In the Global South, this governance ecosystem spans international agencies, national governments, civil society groups and private technology firms. Emerging digital tools—ranging from artificial intelligence and big-data analytics to identity platforms and mobile reporting apps—are reshaping decision-making, resource allocation and accountability in contexts beset by natural disasters, displacement and entrenched inequalities. Yet these technologies carry new risks of exclusion, data exploitation and power imbalances. Research has therefore focused on how to embed principles of equity, transparency and local participation into digital humanitarian initiatives, as well as on the institutional frameworks needed to safeguard privacy, uphold human rights and foster interoperability across diverse infrastructures. Practical applications include anticipatory funding triggers based on satellite and meteorological data, digital platforms for refugee registration and blockchain-enabled cash transfers. Taken together, these developments point to a rapidly evolving field that seeks to balance innovation with ethical governance in order to improve humanitarian outcomes and strengthen resilience in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have scrutinised the deployment of big-data analytics and artificial intelligence in migration management within the Global South. These analyses reveal that migrant data are frequently controlled by state and corporate actors, often without meaningful oversight by the communities affected. The critiques highlight the risks posed by unregulated algorithms—such as discriminatory profiling and opaque decision-making—while calling for more inclusive governance models that involve migrants, civil society and migration scholars. There is growing consensus that ethical and legal frameworks must evolve in tandem with technological adoption to ensure accountability, protect privacy and harness data analytics as a tool for safeguarding, rather than policing, vulnerable populations.

Digital Humanitarian Governance in the Global South publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in digital humanitarian governance in the global south across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Digital Humanitarian Governance: The ensemble of norms, policies and institutional arrangements governing the design, deployment and oversight of digital technologies in humanitarian settings, especially within lower-income regions.

Artificial Intelligence for Social Good (AI4SG): A paradigm that promotes AI applications aimed at achieving social and development goals but which can also mask corporate agendas and displace participatory governance.

Datafication: The process by which human behaviours, social processes and environmental phenomena are converted into quantifiable data, often resulting in new power dynamics around data ownership and control.

Platformisation: The structuring of services and interactions through digital platforms that mediate exchanges among multiple stakeholders, thereby shaping governance, value creation and institutional relationships.

References

1. AI for social good and the corporate capture of global development. Information Technology for Development (2024).
2. Digital identity as a platform for improving refugee management. Information Systems Journal (2021).
3. The Changing Face of Accountability in Humanitarianism: Using Artificial Intelligence for Anticipatory Action. Politics and Governance (2020).
4. Big data for whose sake? Governing migration through artificial intelligence. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2021).
5. Datafication, Power and Control in Development: A Historical Perspective on the Perils and Longevity of Data. Progress in Development Studies (2022).