Kenya, Stanford Partner On AI for Strategic Foresight

The Government of Kenya has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Emerging Markets Working Group at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution to strengthen collaboration on artificial intelligence, data governance, digital transformation, policy research and strategic foresight.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York by Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi and Dr Jendayi Frazer, Co-Director of Hoover’s Emerging Markets Working Group.

The partnership will explore how AI and data can help government analyse emerging trends, develop scenarios and anticipate technological, economic and other changes that could affect national development.

Kenya’s State Department for ICT and the Digital Economy said the five-year partnership is intended to move government from “data to insight, and from insight to action”, while building institutional capacity in evidence generation, analytics, monitoring, evaluation and policy development.

The collaboration will be anchored through the Hoover Institution’s Emerging Markets Working Group, linking its research and policy expertise with Kenyan government institutions.

AI enters strategic foresight

Strategic foresight involves examining possible future developments and their implications rather than relying on a single forecast.

For governments, this can include monitoring emerging signals, analysing trends, developing scenarios and testing policies against different possible outcomes.

AI can support this work by processing large volumes of information, identifying patterns and helping analysts generate and evaluate scenarios. The Kenya-Hoover partnership places these capabilities within a broader effort to strengthen institutional decision-making and long-term planning.

The initiative will include support for the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), which Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has identified as the proposed strategic policy home for the cooperation. Riara University is expected to provide a Kenyan academic and research base.

From foresight to practical tools

The partnership is already expected to support several analytical initiatives.

An immediate priority is an El Niño Impact Monitoring and Response System, which will integrate climate, geospatial, water, agriculture and infrastructure data to generate county-level intelligence and support coordinated responses.

Other planned tools include a Digital Trade Readiness Index, a Public-Private Partnership Governance Tracker and a Sectoral Resilience Scorecard focused on areas including agriculture and the digital economy. The tools are intended to strengthen investment decisions, governance and policy coordination. (

The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s briefing indicates that the proposed roadmap anticipates an initial working capability within about six months, followed by further development over 12 months.

The Hoover connection

The collaboration brings together Kenyan government institutions and experts from Hoover’s Emerging Markets Working Group, including Frazer and Dr Sanjeev Khagram.

Frazer is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-director of its Emerging Markets research team. She previously served as US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and as the first woman US ambassador to South Africa.

Khagram is a distinguished research fellow at Hoover and leads the Global Resilience, Intelligence Platform, and Partnership (GRIPP). His work covers technology and data, sustainable development, human security, governance and public-private partnerships.

The collaboration therefore combines Kenya’s policy and development priorities with Hoover’s research capabilities in emerging markets, technology and governance.

Part of Kenya’s wider AI agenda

The agreement comes as Kenya continues to expand its use and governance of artificial intelligence.

The partnership focuses not only on AI adoption but also on using data, research and technology to improve how government identifies risks, evaluates opportunities and develops long-term policy.

Kenya’s Ministry of ICT said the broader objective is to build lasting institutional capability in evidence generation, analytics, monitoring, evaluation and policy development.

The next phase will be measured through the implementation of the planned analytical systems and the development of institutional capacity around them.