RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTANCY FIRM FOR A DEEP DIVE ASSESSMENT OF RWANDAS DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE, DATA ECONOMY, AND AI TRUSTS SAFETY READINESS

1.      Background

 The United Nations Development Programme, in alignment with its global Strategic Plan, prioritizes the creation of human-centered, accountable, and future-ready public governance architectures. In pursuit of these objectives, UNDP Rwanda partnered with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation and the High Commission of Canada to deliver capacity-building sessions on Artificial Intelligence Trust and Safety (AI TCS). These sessions successfully equipped cross-sector stakeholders including financial institutions, telecommunications firms, and senior judicial officials with a foundational understanding of responsible AI integration, data quality verification, and privacy safeguards.

 As the Government of Rwanda accelerates its digital transformation agenda, AI is increasingly being deployed across vital socio-economic sectors. To ensure that these technologies scale safely and sustainably, UNDP and MINICT are transitioning from baseline training toward structured institutional interventions, beginning with an empirical national diagnostic assessment.

2.      Rationale

As Rwanda positions itself as a leading regional hub for technology and digital transformation, the accelerated deployment of AI across the public and private sectors brings critical socio-technical risks that demand localized, enforceable oversight. Relying entirely on ethical guidelines leaves institutions exposed to systemic vulnerabilities.

 To protect citizens, maintain digital trust, and foster a secure AI environment for local context, Rwanda must move proactively addressing these challenges with an empirical, data-driven baseline assessment to accurately map the countrys technical advancement in Digital Public Infrastructure, Data Economy and AI Turst C Safety, the existing regulatory frameworks, institutional capacity gaps and how these aspects influence each other.

  3.      Objective of the assignment