Rwanda Signs Landmark AI Deal With Anthropic, Betting Big On Tech Leapfrog
Rwanda has signed a three-year agreement with U.S. artificial intelligence company Anthropic, marking the first time the San Francisco-based firm has formalised a multi-sector partnership with an African government through a memorandum of understanding.
The deal, announced Tuesday, spans health, education, and public sector modernisation—a bet by Kigali that strategic AI adoption can accelerate development in areas where traditional approaches have fallen short.
“This partnership with Anthropic is an important milestone in Rwanda’s AI journey,” Paula Ingabire, Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Innovation, said in a statement. “Our goal is to continue to design and deploy AI solutions that can be applied at a national level to strengthen education, advance health outcomes, and enhance governance with an emphasis on our context”.
Under the agreement, Anthropic will support Rwanda’s Ministry of Health in tackling ambitious national goals, including the elimination of cervical cancer and ongoing efforts to reduce malaria and maternal mortality. The collaboration builds on existing health infrastructure where AI tools are already showing results: in pilot areas like Gasabo District, AI-powered drone mapping of mosquito breeding sites contributed to a 90.6% reduction in malaria cases in under a year.
Developer teams across government institutions will gain access to Claude and Claude Code, Anthropic’s large language models, alongside hands-on training, capacity building, and API credits. The aim is to integrate AI into broader public sector operations, moving beyond isolated pilot projects toward systemic adoption.
The memorandum formally codifies an education agreement announced in November 2025, which included 2,000 Claude Pro licenses for educators across Rwanda, AI literacy training for public servants, and the deployment of a Claude-powered AI learning companion across eight African countries .
The learning companion, named Chidi, was developed through an earlier partnership between Rwanda, Anthropic, and African technology training provider ALX, and is now being rolled out to hundreds of thousands of learners across the continent.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Rwandan authorities held discussions with Cisco and data firm Amini focused on cybersecurity, AI computing infrastructure, and digital sovereignty, core tenets of the national digital agenda.
“Technology is only as valuable as its reach,” said Elizabeth Kelly, Head of Beneficial Deployments at Anthropic. “We’re investing in training, technical support, and capacity building to expand access so that AI can be used safely and independently by teachers, health workers, and public servants throughout Rwanda”.
The agreement positions Rwanda among a small group of African countries pursuing structured, government-led AI adoption to drive social and economic development. For Anthropic, it represents a beachhead on a continent where AI infrastructure remains nascent, but demand for leapfrog solutions is growing.
