Digital Villages Initiative in Africa

Accelerating rural transformation by leveraging innovative digital tools

The Digital Villages Initiative in Africa

 

The DVI is an integrated development vision that enshrines digitalisation at the core of rural transformation and prosperity, addressing on-farm and off-farm socio-economic elements. Pilot activities have been launched in countries including Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

 

The Initiative has three pillars: 

  • improving productivity through ICT, climate-smart agriculture services, and precision agriculture
  • market linkages and financial services
  • e-health, e-education, and agrotourism bolstered by digital technologies

The DVI in Africa is implemented as part of the Digital Innovation Strategy for Africa of FAO

Feature stories
FAO and partners push for inclusive digital innovation in African agriculture at FDiVi Mid-Term Workshop

FAO and partners advance inclusive digital agriculture in Africa
From AI chatbots to social media-driven cooperatives, the FDiVi Mid-Term Workshop in Malawi spotlighted how digital innovation is transforming rural livelihoods in Malawi, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.

FAO Rwanda Launches Fostering Digital Villages Project to Empower Farmers and Transform Agriculture

FAO and MINAGRI launched the FDiVi project in Musanze to empower farmers especially youth and women through digital tools, better market access, and smarter farming.

A bold step toward building digitally connected, resilient rural communities across Rwanda.

Publication
Pilot Digital Villages Initiative in Africa

The Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a corporate programme aiming to combat hunger, poverty and inequality by fostering digital rural transformation.

FAO hosts Digital Village twinning event in Rwanda to advance digital agriculture

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), hosted a Digital Village twinning event as part of the Fostering Digital Villages through Innovative Advisory and Profitable Market Services in Africa (FDiVi) project.

Lead Farmers empowered to champion digital transformation in rural Zimbabwe

 In an effort to catalyze digital transformation in rural Zimbabwe, FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, is implementing the "Fostering Digital Villages through innovative advisory and profitable market services in Africa (FDiVi)" project. The initiative seeks to improve efficiency in Zimbabwe’s agri-food systems by digitalizing production and marketing systems.

News
Public and private stakeholders and communities explore digital solutions for enhanced social protection in rural Liberia

Promoting equitable and inclusive agrifood systems transformations hinges on the integration of digital access and tools in rural communities.

Featured Publications
Publication
Fostering rural transformation through the Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) in Africa

FAO has launched the corporate programme with the goal of converting globally at least 1 000 rural localities into digital village hubs in which a variety of ICT-based services will be offered.

Publication
Digital innovation strategy for agrifood systems in Africa

The Digital Innovation Strategy (DIS) of the Regional Office for Africa (RAF) of FAO has been prepared to respond to critical challenges facing inclusive and sustainable agrifood system transformation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Publication
Digital agriculture in FAO projects in sub-Saharan Africa

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is spearheading efforts to leverage digitalization for sustainable agrifood systems.