Data Strategy Briefing — February 10, 2022

Executive briefing: On 10 February 2022 the African Union released the Data Policy Framework for the African Union, outlining governance principles, institutional models, and cross-border collaboration mechanisms for public and private sector data programmes across the continent.^{African Union framework}

Key governance checkpoints

Institutional design. Establish national data councils and stewardship roles recommended in the framework to coordinate policy, infrastructure, and innovation agendas.
Rights and ethics. Integrate safeguards for privacy, inclusion, and non-discrimination into data programmes, mirroring the AU’s emphasis on human-centric governance.
Continental interoperability. Plan for cross-border data flows supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area, using common standards and mutual recognition arrangements.

Operational priorities

Policy alignment. Map national legislation and sector regulations against the AU framework to identify harmonisation and capacity-building needs.
Infrastructure planning. Prioritise investments in broadband, data centres, and open-data platforms highlighted as prerequisites for inclusive data ecosystems.
Capability building. Launch training and fellowship programmes to develop data stewardship, analytics, and privacy expertise as encouraged by the AU.

Enablement moves

Engage regional economic communities to coordinate implementation roadmaps and data-sharing pilot projects.
Develop measurement frameworks that track socio-economic outcomes of data initiatives, supporting the AU’s monitoring guidance.
Prepare funding proposals and partnerships aligned with AU priorities to unlock technical assistance and donor support.

Sources

Zeph Tech supports African public and private stakeholders with maturity assessments, institutional design, and funding cases aligned to the AU data policy framework.