Media Hub

Summary

This discussion from the Internet Governance Forum in Norway featured an interview with Ms. Salimah Bah, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Communications, Technology and Innovation, conducted by journalists from Nigeria and Jamaica. The conversation focused on Sierra Leone’s digital transformation efforts and broader challenges facing African countries in developing their digital economies. Minister Bah highlighted the significant female representation in her government, noting that over 40% of cabinet positions are held by women, and emphasized how ICT ministers across Africa are predominantly young women who support each other through networking and collaboration.

The discussion addressed the critical balance between pursuing digital transformation while bridging the digital divide in the Global South. Bah explained that technology has become essential across all sectors and that Sierra Leone has made digital development a national priority through partnerships between government, development partners, and private sector. She announced Sierra Leone’s recent launch of West Africa’s first 5G open access network, demonstrating the country’s infrastructure progress. The minister outlined Sierra Leone’s strategy to position itself as an “AI lab” similar to Estonia or Singapore, creating an environment to attract, test, and scale innovative ideas within the region.

When questioned about cybersecurity challenges, Bah stressed the need for proactive rather than reactive approaches and comprehensive capacity building across law enforcement, judiciary, and technical sectors. She expressed particular concern about artificial intelligence’s potential to either close or dramatically widen the digital divide, emphasizing the importance of African participation in AI development to ensure local contexts and realities are represented. The interview concluded with discussions about ensuring African voices and data are included in global AI systems to prevent misrepresentation of the continent.

Keypoints

**Major Discussion Points:**

– **Women’s leadership in African technology sectors** – Discussion of Ms. Bah’s role as one of the youngest government ministers in Sierra Leone, the increasing representation of women in ICT ministerial positions across Africa (over 40% female representation in Sierra Leone’s cabinet), and how female leaders are supporting each other across the region

– **Digital transformation and infrastructure challenges in the Global South** – Addressing the digital divide through prioritizing technology investment, building critical infrastructure (electricity, fiber networks, devices), and the recent launch of West Africa’s first 5G open access network in Sierra Leone

– **Sierra Leone’s strategic positioning as a regional innovation hub** – The country’s ambition to become an “AI lab” for the region, creating an environment to attract, test, and scale innovative ideas, drawing inspiration from models like Estonia and Singapore while adapting to local context

– **Cybersecurity and AI governance concerns** – Discussion of the need for proactive rather than reactive cybersecurity measures, capacity building across multiple sectors (law enforcement, judiciary, technical experts), and ensuring African perspectives and data are included in AI development to avoid perpetuating stereotypes

– **Role of multi-stakeholder partnerships and platforms like IGF** – Emphasis on collaboration between government, private sector, development partners, and civil society, with IGF serving as a platform for knowledge sharing and regional coordination on digital governance issues

**Overall Purpose:**

The discussion aimed to showcase Sierra Leone’s digital transformation efforts and explore broader challenges and opportunities facing African countries in building digital economies, with particular focus on women’s leadership, infrastructure development, and emerging technology governance.

**Overall Tone:**

The conversation maintained a consistently positive and optimistic tone throughout. Ms. Bah spoke with confidence about Sierra Leone’s achievements while acknowledging challenges pragmatically. The interviewers were respectful and engaged, and the atmosphere remained professional and encouraging. The tone became slightly more serious when discussing cybersecurity and AI governance concerns, but overall remained constructive and forward-looking.

Speakers

– **Salima Bah** – Minister, Ministry of Communications, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone

– **Zach Danz** – United Nations Department of Global Communications (moderator/host)

– **Kelesha Williams** – Television Jamaica in Jamaica (interviewer)

– **Justina Asishana** – The Nation newspaper in Nigeria (interviewer)

– **Audience** – Jean-Dominique Mastawo from Burundi News Agency, East Africa

**Additional speakers:**

– **Salimah Bah** – This appears to be an alternate spelling/pronunciation of Salima Bah used by the moderator when introducing her

# Digital Transformation and Women’s Leadership in Africa – Internet Governance Forum Discussion

## Event Overview

This report summarizes a discussion held at the 20th Internet Governance Forum in Lillestrom, Norway, featuring an interview with Ms. Salimah Bah, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Communications, Technology and Innovation. The session was moderated by Zach Danz from the United Nations Department of Global Communications and conducted by journalists Kelesha Williams from Television Jamaica and Justina Asishana from The Nation newspaper in Nigeria. The IGF brought together 8,000 participants with over 150 sessions on digital governance topics.

## Women’s Leadership in African Technology

### Female Representation in Government

Minister Bah highlighted Sierra Leone’s commitment to gender representation, noting that over 40% of cabinet positions are held by women, exceeding the government’s initial commitment of over 30% female representation. She positioned herself within a broader regional context, explaining that female ICT ministers across Africa have created a supportive network for knowledge sharing and mutual support.

The minister specifically mentioned her colleagues: Sina Lawson from Togo, Paula from Rwanda, and Emma from Namibia, describing how they share advice and support each other’s initiatives. She acknowledged the responsibility that comes with being one of the youngest government ministers in Sierra Leone, particularly as a woman in the technology sector.

Interviewer Kelesha Williams emphasized how female leadership in technology serves as inspiration for young girls considering careers in the sector. Justina Asishana described female representation in technology leadership as “a great stride that should be implemented by more governments.”

## Digital Transformation and Infrastructure Development

### Technology as Cross-Cutting Priority

Minister Bah explained the central role of technology in modern governance, stating: “I’d like to tease my colleague ministers that I’m the most important minister around, because, actually, technology plays a role in every other sector. I get to intervene in the different sectors and be part of those as well.”

When asked about prioritizing technology investment amid competing national priorities, Minister Bah responded: “Why, for a country with so many competing priorities, and so many other challenges, why are we focusing on technology? Why is this big push in technology? And I think, maybe the question should be, we’re too late, even if that’s really what should be the growing concern, not to why now.”

### Infrastructure Challenges

The discussion addressed fundamental infrastructure challenges facing Global South countries. Minister Bah outlined critical requirements for digital development: stable electricity, fiber connectivity, and device accessibility. Both she and interviewer Kelesha Williams acknowledged that infrastructure and resource constraints represent major challenges for Global South countries transitioning to digital economies.

### Public-Private Partnership Success

Minister Bah highlighted Sierra Leone’s recent launch of West Africa’s first 5G open access network as a successful public-private partnership model. She explained that open access models can prevent resource duplication and reduce costs for consumers while ensuring partnerships create lasting value.

Addressing concerns about extractive business practices, she noted: “I think sometimes within the region, sometimes we suffer from people coming in, taking and going away somewhere else. But I think it’s a good example of a company that’s taken government assets, built on top of it, but actually is expanding their reach.”

## Sierra Leone’s Strategic Positioning

### Regional Innovation Hub Vision

Minister Bah outlined Sierra Leone’s strategy to position itself as an “AI lab” for the region, drawing inspiration from successful models like Estonia and Singapore while adapting to local context and culture. She explained that smaller countries have flexibility advantages that can be leveraged for rapid innovation and implementation.

The minister argued that Sierra Leone’s relatively small size could be transformed into a strategic advantage, allowing the country to move quickly, implement changes efficiently, and serve as a testing ground for innovations that can later be scaled across the region.

## Cybersecurity and AI Governance

### Proactive Cybersecurity Approaches

Minister Bah emphasized the need for African governments to develop proactive cybersecurity approaches, stressing that effective cybersecurity requires comprehensive capacity building across law enforcement, judiciary, and technical experts. She argued that coordinated steps across African governments are essential to address rising cybercrime across the continent.

### AI’s Current Impact

Minister Bah demonstrated understanding of how AI is already affecting African societies: “AI is already here, it’s already happening and it’s already impacting… If you think about social media, how our social media space is being managed, that’s through AI and potentially the algorithm recommendations are not trained on data sets that reflect us, but we see the huge social impact and social influence.”

### The Representation Challenge

Drawing an analogy between historical media representation and AI’s potential impact, Minister Bah stated: “I take the same example with AI as well. It’s going to be the one thing that’s going to tell everybody who people are, who we are. So if we don’t ensure that our data is reflected, we’re participating in the LLM models… I think we’ll be also coming back in the next 20 years and trying to, again, to clean up or address the imagery of who we are.”

## Educational System Adaptation

Minister Bah mentioned ongoing conversations with the Minister of Education about adapting educational frameworks to integrate AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI effectively rather than banning them. She drew an analogy with calculators in examination halls, suggesting that education systems need to adapt to new technologies while maintaining assessment integrity.

## Role of International Platforms

### IGF as Collaboration Platform

Zach Danz highlighted the IGF’s role in bringing together diverse stakeholders for knowledge sharing and collaboration on digital governance issues. Minister Bah emphasized that IGF provides valuable opportunities for stakeholders to engage on critical issues and share best practices.

She particularly highlighted the importance of regional IGFs for enabling aligned advocacy and facilitating internal conversations before engaging in global platforms, suggesting that regional IGFs should be given more leverage for better coordination.

## Audience Engagement

The session included a question from Jean-Dominique Mastawo from Burundi News Agency about cybercrime and AI governance. Minister Bah responded by emphasizing the need for coordinated regional approaches to cybersecurity and the importance of ensuring African participation in AI development to avoid misrepresentation.

## Key Discussion Points

The conversation covered several critical themes:

– The importance of women’s leadership in technology sectors across Africa

– Infrastructure challenges as major barriers to digital transformation in the Global South

– The role of public-private partnerships in achieving digital development goals

– The need for proactive cybersecurity approaches involving multiple sectors

– The urgency of ensuring African participation and representation in AI development

– The value of international platforms like IGF for digital governance and knowledge sharing

Minister Bah also mentioned Sierra Leone’s annual tech conference that had taken place “a couple of weeks ago,” indicating ongoing efforts to build the country’s technology ecosystem and regional positioning as an innovation hub.

The discussion demonstrated the interconnected nature of digital transformation challenges and the importance of regional cooperation, women’s leadership, and proactive governance approaches in addressing Africa’s digital future.

Zach Danz: Hello everyone. This session is about to start, so please take your seats if you’d like to join the next Media Hub session. Welcome to the Internet Governance Forum here in Lillestrom. My name is Zach Dans from the United Nations Department of Global Communications. I’m joined on stage by Ms. Salimah Bah, Ministry of Communications, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone. I’m also joined by Ms. Justina Asishana from The Nation newspaper in Nigeria, as well as Ms. Kelisha Williams from Television Jamaica in Jamaica. Together they will jointly be conducting the interview with Ms. Salimah Bah. We are, of course, speaking to you from the 20th edition of IGF in Lillestrom, Norway, convened by the United Nations Secretary General. We have an incredible 8,000 people joining us on site and online. The IGF has 150 plus sessions in the program. On Tuesday, we officially opened the IGF with leaders calling for action and cooperation in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, including a message from the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. Yesterday, we had a lively panel in the plenary hall on AI and the future of work with government leaders, OpenAI, MEDA, and actor and activist Joseph Gordon-Levitt. As you know, we have workshops and networking events taking place throughout the week, so please make sure to take advantage of these exciting opportunities. Now, let us hear from Ms. Salimah Bah. Ladies, the floor is yours.

Kelesha Williams: Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Ms. Bah, for agreeing to do this interview with us. It’s a privilege to have you here and to conduct this interview with you, as well as my colleague here, Justina. I’m just going to jump right into it. As a woman and one of the youngest, if not the youngest, government minister in Sierra Leone, how does it feel to be a part of your country’s mission to play a leading role in tech export in Africa?

Salima Bah: Thank you very much. It’s definitely a pleasure to be here with both of you, and definitely also to be part of this conference. It’s definitely a huge honour. It’s a huge responsibility to lead such a critical sector for not just the government of Sierra Leone, but really, to be honest, for the whole African region as well. If we think about the potential of technology, the digital economy, to really accelerate national development agenda, but the region-wide. It’s such a huge responsibility. I’d like to tease my colleague ministers that I’m the most important minister around, because, actually, technology plays a role in every other sector. I get to intervene in the different sectors and be part of those as well. It’s a huge factor. I think being female as well, never shy away from that. I think it’s a huge responsibility. I think it’s about time that more women are given the opportunities, but actually, for a government such as Sierra Leone, I don’t want to sound like I’m an outlier, actually. The government made a commitment to give over 30 per cent representation right across board, and, actually, in cabinet, we have over 40 per cent female. So, whilst I’m the youngest female, or the youngest in general, but definitely surrounded by other amazing women right across government, parliament, we see that reflected. But, even though within the region as well, if we look at other ministers in this space, there’s a huge female contingent, actually, and, actually, we had females who would say have laid the pathway. For example, you have Sina Lawson who is in Togo who has been there for so long and has done amazing things. You have Paula who is in Rwanda as well. They’ve all laid the pathway to where it’s no longer strange to see myself being appointed in these roles, to see Emma who is in Namibia being appointed in these roles, and I do think, actually, I haven’t taken a consensus on this, but I believe that, actually, within the region, the ICT ministers, it’s a majority female, and a majority young female, so we’re definitely in a good company that way, and, through that, we support each other, we lean on each other, we’re building a good foundation, a good network of where we can easily call each other up, ask questions, seek opinions, and really feel as if it’s a community together.

Kelesha Williams: And I’m sure it’s an inspiration for other young girls, you know, looking to join a field in technology. I’m sure it’s an inspiration for them as well. Justina, you want to take the next question?

Justina Asishana: Yeah, I do. It’s a very great fit for females in Africa, and it’s a great stride. I hope more governments will try to implement this. So next, my question is that, how do you balance the need for a digital transformation with the widening digital divide in the global south?

Salima Bah: Sure, I think, you know, actually, just a couple of weeks ago, we had an annual tech conference in Sierra Leone, and even for countries such as Sierra Leone, there’s been, over the past 10 years, there’s been a huge, huge prioritization of technology in terms of establishing new institutions, in terms of ensuring we have the right policies, in terms of driving investment into this space. And sometimes, there’s a question to be asked, you know, actually, sometimes, well, somebody actually did ask that question once. Why, for a country with so many competing priorities, and so many other challenges, why are we focusing on technology? Why is this big push in technology? And I think, maybe the question should be, we’re too late, even if that’s really what should be the growing concern, not to why now, because if we look at where the world is going, if we look at what the potentials are, we look at how technology is changing and evolving our everyday life, and all across our life, if you think about our social interactions, if you think about our economic interactions, if you think about our political interactions, no, there’s no sector in the world currently that technology doesn’t play a role. And if we think about where, as a region, and obviously Sierra Leone being part of that, where we are now, we keep talking about, we don’t no longer want to be left behind, we want to catch up, we want to leapfrog, then it just is just essential that every country, if they’re not, they should be. There’s an area where they should be prioritizing, so bridging the digital divide, ensuring that the most farthest and underserved have access to the online space, ensuring that we’re driving accessibility and affordability for everybody, ensuring that people are growing up with these opportunities also, I think is important, ensuring that we’re supporting the development of our own ecosystem, when we talk about we no longer want to remain consumers of technology, where we’re always the end-users, where we always buy, buy, buy, we actually want to be innovating, and also seeing how we’re scaling our own solutions for ourselves, for our region, but also outside of our region. So this is making sure, first off, it’s a huge priority within our national development agenda and framework, it’s one of the most critical aspects.

Kelesha Williams: And speaking of access, I know for countries in the global south, I’m sure Sierra Leone and even Jamaica, my country, one of the greatest challenges I see in transitioning to this digital economy is the lack of infrastructure and resources, so how is your country addressing this?

Salima Bah: Absolutely, I think when we talk about technology or digital transformation, infrastructure, the availability of infrastructure plays a significant role, and too many within that, you’re talking about electricity being one critical aspect, you can’t do digital transformation if you don’t have regular and stable electricity, you’re talking about the connectivity, your fiber backbone, and your fiber rollout has to be critical to that. You’re talking about devices, how we ensure that we’re getting devices in the hands of people, and that is also critical in infrastructure. And for us, it’s really, again, as I mentioned, the government, because we’ve made it such a high priority, we’re driving investment into it, significant government investment. We’re driving development partners to invest into this space. And we’re also partnering with private sector, because we understand that government alone cannot do this. There’s no government who’s been able to really make significant strides within this space, and it’s just government and financing. So private sector participation is really key. So making sure, as a government, we’re providing the right environment that would encourage private sector investments and participation in the key. And in Sierra Leone, I believe we’re seeing the dividend from that. What we have, actually, just a week ago or two weeks ago, we just launched the first 5G open access network in West Africa in Sierra Leone. And that was by private sector. So we’re seeing the results from the strategy that we’re implementing, where government, development partners, and private sector all play a role in investing in infrastructure.

Justina Asishana: OK, thank you. We are in IGF. We are attending the IGF. So what role do you think the IGF play in supporting and providing a platform for developing countries and the Caribbean to transition to digital economy?

Salima Bah: I think platforms such as the IGF, I think, are a great opportunity, where you get all stakeholders, right, government, development partners, private sector, civil society, to really come together and engage on critical issues, address, look at. First, I think every year is an opportunity to look at what’s been done well, take stock of things that have been done, improvements that have been made, what’s worked in different regions. And it’s an opportunity to identify potential challenges. It’s an opportunity to also have really hard discussions, as well, in terms of really critically how we look at how we improve. So I think having these platforms are amazing of bringing everybody together. But I think also the regional IGFs that also happen, as well, I think are critical, where, and I hope, we give those also more leverage. And because I think where we’re able to regionally have, quote, unquote, internal conversations, as well, I think are important. So maybe when we come to the big global platforms, we’re more aligned on certain issues. And maybe we’re pushing issues as a region, sometimes, rather than maybe individual countries advocating on their own.

Kelesha Williams: And speaking of what works in other countries, your government talks a lot about making Sierra Leone the Estonia of Africa. What lessons do you think you can learn from Estonia, and other countries in the Global South can learn from Estonia, in terms of building a digital economy?

Salima Bah: Thank you. I actually don’t think we say that specifically. I think we’ve talked about this idea of, Estonia is amazing, by the way. And actually, we’ve learned a lot from them. Like, five plus years ago, we took one of the very bold steps, in terms of launching national innovation and digital strategy. And actually, in launching that, our chief innovation officer then, the chief minister, the prime minister of Sierra Leone, actually did a whole trip to Estonia with sector stakeholders, and really looked at what they had. And we came up with a strategy, which is heavily influenced by the Estonia framework, in terms of setting up ourselves. But maybe why the attributes, that’s what we’re saying, is we talk about this idea of, five plus years ago, of positioning Sierra Leone as a lab. I think when we look about the role we want Sierra Leone to play in this global space, I think every country has to decide what role you’re going to play. I think because everybody’s clamoring for space within this amazing ecosystem. I think as a country, you have to define who you are and what role you’re playing. I think there’s several factors which go into that decision, right? You look at your country, the size of your country. I think that makes sense. You look at the positioning of your country, goes into that consideration. And Sierra Leone, one thing we spoke about is positioning Sierra Leone as an AI lab. What does that mean? Is we want to create an environment in Sierra Leone where we identify, we attract, we seed, we test, and we scale the brightest and the most creative ideas. We want to use Sierra Leone as a lab. We want to create this space where, and I think our size gives us that advantage, which you could say similar to potentially Estonia, similar to Singapore. I think sometimes when a smaller country, it means you’re more flexible. It means potentially it’s easier to navigate. I think gives us an advantage of being able to play that role where we really attract within the region, we really attract the best and most creative, innovative ideas and minds to come to Sierra Leone, come develop their ideas and see it as an attractive space where they can really scale those ideas. So really, that’s the concept we talk about when we say we want to create Sierra Leone as that space within the region and where innovation can thrive, where innovation can be scaled. But I do think, and obviously in doing that, we’ve looked around, we look at different examples. Again, I mentioned Estonia, an amazing example. Again, Singapore, amazing example. Ireland, amazing example. So I think there’s so many others where more developing countries can look at and model what framework they want to adapt. But I do think the most important thing for any country though is to clearly define and identify what you want to be. And then I think you look at different models and see how you take different bits and pieces. And within that, you can’t directly replicate what’s been done in other countries because our societies are different, our cultures are different, our context is different. But it’s definitely important to look at best practices and then just adapt to where you see your country, the role you want your country to play.

Justina Asishana: Okay, I think your country is really on track on what you’re doing. I would like you to speak a bit about the project you just spoke about. You mentioned about the 5G open access. Can you speak more about it?

Salima Bah: No, absolutely. I think we’re super, super proud of that, actually. And why? Well, as a government, I say we’ll take credit because the company who launched this was the company which won the government contract to manage our fiber cable. And I think it’s a good example of a government partnering with private sector. We gave them the fiber landing cable to manage. They improved on the infrastructure we gave them. We’ve seen them expand and double down on their investments in Sierra Leone. I think sometimes within the region, sometimes we suffer from people coming in, taking and going away somewhere else. But I think it’s a good example of a company that’s taken government assets, built on top of it, but actually is expanding their reach. So super excited, the 5G open access network. We had one or two of the other telcos also launching 5G, but it was closed. It’s a closed network. And if you think about really potentially not duplicating efforts, if you think about leveraging on existing resources, I think that’s an open access model. I think it’s an amazing potential because I think His Excellency, the president, mentioned it when we were launching. And in his message to the other sector players is the hope that they leverage on the investment that has been made by this company to tap into that rather than this feeling, this need of they have to build their own, which means that they were going to maybe resources that they could have used to maybe improve on their network. They’re going to go replicate something that’s been done already. And then which would mean they’re pushing that cost potentially on the consumers in Sierra Leone. So really something we try to protect to make sure that let’s leverage on that, let’s improve it where we can, let’s make sure it’s fair for everybody. But if all the players can tap into that, and we think that’s why the open access, we’re really proud of it, so that we can accelerate digital transformation and agenda and make sure that prices are affordable for citizens as well.

Kelesha Williams: Thank you so much, I think that’s all the time we have. I’m going to hand over back to you, Zach

Zach Danz: Thank you. Thank you so much. So we’re going to open the floor now to any questions that you have for Ms. Selima. If anybody has a question, please raise your hand, and if you’re from a media outlet, please start by stating your name and the media outlet that you’re from.

Audience: Thank you very much. My name is Jean-Dominique Mastawo. I’m from Burundi, East Africa, and I work for Burundi News Agency. I have two questions. With the rise of cybercrime across the continent, what coordinate steps should the Africa government take to strengthen cyber security and protect citizens online? Second, as Africa advances in AI and emerging technologies, how can we ensure that innovations reflect our local realities, languages, and values? Thank you very much.

Salima Bah: Thank you. I think definitely the first one, I think cyber security is a huge aspect when we think about our digital transformation agenda. So I think first of all, in terms of countries, I think you have to set up dedicated frameworks to address this. I think, you know, we keep referring to it like bees to honey. The moment a country starts transforming from paper-based to digital, you’re attracting the bees to yourselves. So as much as you’re moving towards a new system, we know that cybercrime is a big business for people, so you have to ensure that you have systems in place. And I think maybe one of the things towards that as well is maybe looking at your cyber positioning. I think sometimes countries within the region tend to be a bit more reactive. We’re set up in a way to react to potential attacks or to react to potential threats. I think we need to change that positioning slightly to be proactive, to change our readiness stance, to be proactive, to be preventative of these. So I think that’s been critical. I think capacity building is a big aspect, and I think you get to really think about so many sectors that need the skill sets and the capacity to be able to handle this. You need the law enforced, you need the judiciary, the court system to be able, you need your judges to understand the cyber space and the cyber offenses, you need the lawyers to be trained, you need the police to be trained, and you need the technical experts as well. So it’s a huge investment, I think. So it’s a side-by-side investment, I would say, for countries. As much as you’re investing in digital transformation, you should be equally investing in your cyber protection systems. AI is a big, I actually say it might be the one thing that fares me, it gives me a huge fare when we talk about the digital divide, in the sense that I do believe it’s the one thing that would really and potentially close the digital divide, but it could also be the one thing that widens it to a position where we can never get back. Because if we look at the, and maybe to the point of, I think people like to say AI for the future, but it’s not the future. AI is already here, it’s already happening and it’s already impacting. In the region, I think we tend to feel as if we don’t know or we don’t recognize that it is. If you think about social media, how our social media space is being managed, that’s through AI and potentially the algorithm recommendations are not trained on data sets that reflect us, but we see the huge social impact and social influence that has been done through those recommendations. So it’s already impacting us and we think about, I was having an interesting conversation with my Minister of Education on what we’re going to do with the charge GPTs, open AIs and deep seeks of the world. How are we going to make sure that our education system is set up in a way that, and again, it’s not about stopping it because you can’t. I think the same thing of when the calculator came and they told us we couldn’t go into examination halls with calculators because people think they can stop technology, you can’t. I think it’s about learning how you live with it. So how do we ensure our education system is set up in a way that kids can take advantage of these platforms, but we make sure that when we’re doing assessments, we make sure that it’s something we’re thinking about and working around. So I do think a huge potential, I think, just on how we ensure that it reflects our context and our realities. Again, it might be long-winded, but I take the example of, especially for our region, when previously, because we didn’t have access to the global media space, other people told the stories of what Africa was. Maybe it might not be the most politically correct, but people would think, oh, Africa, the kid with the malnutrition flies on their face and everybody, that’s the image of what everybody thought Africa was because that’s what was shown what Africa was, right? I take the same example with AI as well. It’s going to be the one thing that’s going to tell everybody who people are, who we are. So if we don’t ensure that our data is reflected, we’re participating in the LLM models and we’re ensuring that when these systems are designed, it’s with us in the room, and we’re also participating and contributing to this. I think we’ll be also coming back in the next 20 years and trying to, again, to clean up or address the imagery of who we are. So I do think it’s something as governments, as civil societies, as media, as private sector, I think even with our partners as well, I think it’s something we all should really take critically and work towards.

Zach Danz: Thank you. We have time for one more question, if anybody has one. If not, then thank you so much, Ms. Bha, for sharing your insights. Thank you, Ms. Asishana and Mrs. Williams, for sharing your expertise as well, and thank you to everybody who joined us here in person as well as online. This interview was streamed and it can be viewed later on you in web TV. Please join us tomorrow for our final Media Hub interview of the IGF of this year. Thank you. This concludes our session.

Agreement points

Women’s leadership in technology is important and inspirational

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Kelesha Williams
– Justina Asishana

Arguments

Being a young female minister carries huge responsibility for national and regional development

Female leadership in technology serves as inspiration for young girls entering the field

Female representation in technology leadership represents a great stride that should be implemented by more governments

Summary

All speakers agree that women’s leadership in technology sectors is significant, carries important responsibilities, and serves as inspiration for future generations of women entering the field

Topics

Gender rights online | Development

Infrastructure challenges are major barriers to digital transformation in the Global South

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Kelesha Williams

Arguments

Infrastructure development requires stable electricity, fiber connectivity, and device accessibility

Infrastructure and resources remain major challenges for Global South countries transitioning to digital economy

Summary

Both speakers acknowledge that lack of infrastructure and resources represents one of the greatest challenges for Global South countries pursuing digital transformation

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Public-private partnerships are essential for digital development

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Justina Asishana

Arguments

Government, development partners, and private sector must collaborate for successful digital transformation

Sierra Leone’s 5G open access network project represents significant progress in digital infrastructure

Summary

Both speakers recognize the importance of collaboration between government and private sector in achieving digital infrastructure goals, with Sierra Leone’s 5G project serving as a successful example

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

International platforms like IGF are valuable for digital governance

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Zach Danz
– Justina Asishana

Arguments

IGF provides valuable platform for stakeholders to engage on critical issues and share best practices

The IGF brings together 8,000 participants and features 150+ sessions on digital governance

The IGF serves as an important platform for developing countries and the Caribbean in digital economy transition

Summary

All speakers agree that the IGF serves as an important international platform for bringing together diverse stakeholders to address digital challenges and share best practices

Topics

Development

Similar viewpoints

Both emphasize the critical importance of ensuring African participation and representation in AI development to reflect local contexts, languages, and values rather than external impositions

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Audience

Arguments

African participation in AI development is crucial to ensure proper representation and avoid mischaracterization

Ensuring AI innovations reflect local realities, languages, and values is critical for the continent

Topics

Development | Cultural diversity | Multilingualism

Both recognize the fundamental challenge of pursuing digital advancement while ensuring inclusive access and addressing the digital divide affecting underserved populations

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Justina Asishana

Arguments

Countries must ensure access and affordability for underserved populations while developing local innovation ecosystems

Balancing digital transformation with the widening digital divide is a critical challenge for the Global South

Topics

Development | Digital access

Unexpected consensus

Regional cooperation and networking among female ICT ministers

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Justina Asishana

Arguments

Female ICT ministers across Africa have laid the pathway and created a supportive network

Female representation in technology leadership represents a great stride that should be implemented by more governments

Explanation

The discussion revealed an unexpected level of regional cooperation and mutual support among female ICT ministers across Africa, with established networks for sharing advice and coordinated advocacy – this represents a significant but often overlooked aspect of digital governance in the region

Topics

Gender rights online | Development

Proactive rather than reactive cybersecurity positioning

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Audience

Arguments

African governments need coordinated steps and proactive rather than reactive cybersecurity frameworks

Capacity building across law enforcement, judiciary, and technical sectors is essential for cybersecurity

Explanation

There was unexpected consensus on the need to shift from reactive to proactive cybersecurity approaches, with recognition that this requires comprehensive capacity building across multiple sectors – a sophisticated understanding that goes beyond typical cybersecurity discussions

Topics

Cybersecurity | Capacity development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed strong consensus on the importance of women’s leadership in technology, the critical role of infrastructure development, the value of public-private partnerships, and the significance of international cooperation platforms. There was also agreement on the need for inclusive digital transformation that addresses the digital divide while ensuring local representation in emerging technologies like AI.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with complementary rather than conflicting viewpoints. The speakers demonstrated shared understanding of key challenges and solutions in digital transformation for the Global South, with particular alignment on gender representation, infrastructure needs, and the importance of inclusive development approaches. This consensus suggests strong potential for coordinated regional action and policy alignment.

Different viewpoints

Unexpected differences

Overall assessment

Summary

This discussion featured remarkably high consensus among all participants, with no significant disagreements identified. All speakers – Salima Bah, Kelesha Williams, Justina Asishana, Zach Danz, and the audience member – shared aligned perspectives on digital transformation, women’s leadership in technology, infrastructure development, and the importance of international cooperation platforms like IGF.

Disagreement level

Minimal to no disagreement. This high level of consensus suggests either a well-curated panel of like-minded participants or reflects broad agreement within the community on fundamental digital development principles. The lack of disagreement, while creating a harmonious discussion, may have limited the depth of critical analysis and alternative perspectives that could emerge from more diverse viewpoints. This consensus-driven approach is common in international forums but may not fully represent the complexity of challenges and trade-offs involved in digital transformation initiatives.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both emphasize the critical importance of ensuring African participation and representation in AI development to reflect local contexts, languages, and values rather than external impositions

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Audience

Arguments

African participation in AI development is crucial to ensure proper representation and avoid mischaracterization

Ensuring AI innovations reflect local realities, languages, and values is critical for the continent

Topics

Development | Cultural diversity | Multilingualism

Both recognize the fundamental challenge of pursuing digital advancement while ensuring inclusive access and addressing the digital divide affecting underserved populations

Speakers

– Salima Bah
– Justina Asishana

Arguments

Countries must ensure access and affordability for underserved populations while developing local innovation ecosystems

Balancing digital transformation with the widening digital divide is a critical challenge for the Global South

Topics

Development | Digital access

Key takeaways

Female leadership in technology across Africa has created a supportive network and serves as inspiration, with Sierra Leone achieving over 40% female representation in cabinet

Digital transformation requires coordinated investment from government, development partners, and private sector, with technology prioritization being essential as it impacts every sector

Infrastructure development must focus on stable electricity, fiber connectivity, and device accessibility to bridge the digital divide

Sierra Leone’s strategy of positioning itself as an AI lab leverages its size and flexibility advantages to attract and scale innovative ideas regionally

Open access models for telecommunications infrastructure can prevent resource duplication and reduce consumer costs

Cybersecurity frameworks must shift from reactive to proactive approaches with comprehensive capacity building across multiple sectors

AI presents both opportunities to close the digital divide and risks of widening it, requiring African participation in development to ensure proper representation

International platforms like IGF facilitate stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing, with regional IGFs being important for aligned advocacy

Resolutions and action items

Countries should invest equally in digital transformation and cyber protection systems

African governments, civil society, media, and private sector should work together to ensure African data and perspectives are reflected in AI development

Education systems need to adapt to integrate AI tools while maintaining assessment integrity

Regional IGFs should be given more leverage for internal conversations and aligned advocacy

Unresolved issues

Specific mechanisms for coordinated cybersecurity steps across African governments remain undefined

Concrete strategies for ensuring AI innovations reflect local languages and values were not detailed

How to balance technology prioritization with other competing national priorities in resource-constrained environments

Specific frameworks for capacity building across law enforcement, judiciary, and technical sectors for cybersecurity

Methods for ensuring meaningful African participation in global AI development and LLM model training

Suggested compromises

Leveraging existing infrastructure investments through open access models rather than duplicating efforts

Adapting best practices from countries like Estonia and Singapore while customizing for local context and culture

Balancing proactive cybersecurity measures with continued digital transformation rather than choosing one over the other

I’d like to tease my colleague ministers that I’m the most important minister around, because, actually, technology plays a role in every other sector. I get to intervene in the different sectors and be part of those as well.

Speaker

Salima Bah

Reason

This comment reframes the role of technology ministers from being sector-specific to being cross-cutting and foundational. It challenges the traditional siloed approach to government ministries and positions technology as the connective tissue of modern governance.

Impact

This comment established the tone for the entire discussion, positioning technology not as a separate domain but as integral to all aspects of development. It influenced subsequent questions about digital transformation and infrastructure, with interviewers building on this holistic view of technology’s role.

Why, for a country with so many competing priorities, and so many other challenges, why are we focusing on technology? Why is this big push in technology? And I think, maybe the question should be, we’re too late, even if that’s really what should be the growing concern, not to why now

Speaker

Salima Bah

Reason

This comment fundamentally challenges the conventional wisdom about development priorities in resource-constrained countries. It flips the narrative from ‘why invest in tech when we have basic needs’ to ‘we’re already behind and can’t afford to wait longer.’

Impact

This reframing shifted the discussion from defensive justification of tech investment to proactive urgency. It led directly into deeper exploration of infrastructure challenges and how countries can leapfrog development stages, influencing the subsequent questions about 5G networks and digital transformation strategies.

I think sometimes within the region, sometimes we suffer from people coming in, taking and going away somewhere else. But I think it’s a good example of a company that’s taken government assets, built on top of it, but actually is expanding their reach.

Speaker

Salima Bah

Reason

This comment addresses a critical but often unspoken challenge in African development – extractive business practices. It highlights the importance of sustainable partnerships that build local capacity rather than exploit resources.

Impact

This observation added depth to the discussion about public-private partnerships, moving beyond technical specifications of 5G to the broader question of how developing countries can structure deals that create lasting value rather than temporary benefits.

AI is already here, it’s already happening and it’s already impacting… If you think about social media, how our social media space is being managed, that’s through AI and potentially the algorithm recommendations are not trained on data sets that reflect us, but we see the huge social impact and social influence

Speaker

Salima Bah

Reason

This comment challenges the common perception that AI is a future concern for developing countries. It demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how AI is already shaping African societies through existing platforms, often without local input or representation.

Impact

This insight transformed the AI discussion from abstract future planning to urgent present reality. It connected AI governance to immediate concerns about cultural representation and social media influence, making the topic more concrete and actionable for the audience.

I take the same example with AI as well. It’s going to be the one thing that’s going to tell everybody who people are, who we are. So if we don’t ensure that our data is reflected, we’re participating in the LLM models… I think we’ll be also coming back in the next 20 years and trying to, again, to clean up or address the imagery of who we are.

Speaker

Salima Bah

Reason

This analogy between historical media representation of Africa and AI’s potential impact is profound. It connects past struggles with narrative control to future challenges with algorithmic representation, showing how technology perpetuates or challenges existing power structures.

Impact

This comment elevated the entire discussion to a higher level of analysis, connecting technical AI development to broader themes of representation, dignity, and self-determination. It provided a compelling framework for understanding why African participation in AI development is not just technical but existential.

Overall assessment

These key comments transformed what could have been a routine interview about digital development into a sophisticated analysis of technology’s role in African development and global power dynamics. Salima Bah’s insights consistently reframed questions from defensive positions to proactive stances, challenged conventional development wisdom, and connected technical issues to broader themes of representation and sovereignty. Her ability to draw analogies between past and present challenges (media representation vs. AI representation) and to position technology as both opportunity and threat created a nuanced discussion that moved beyond typical talking points. The comments built upon each other to create a comprehensive narrative about how developing countries can navigate digital transformation while maintaining agency and avoiding extractive relationships. The discussion evolved from basic questions about women in tech to complex considerations of algorithmic governance and cultural representation, largely driven by Bah’s ability to see connections between seemingly separate issues.

How can African governments take coordinated steps to strengthen cybersecurity and protect citizens online with the rise of cybercrime across the continent?

Speaker

Jean-Dominique Mastawo (Burundi News Agency)

Explanation

This addresses a critical regional challenge that requires collaborative solutions across African nations as they undergo digital transformation

How can Africa ensure that AI and emerging technology innovations reflect local realities, languages, and values?

Speaker

Jean-Dominique Mastawo (Burundi News Agency)

Explanation

This is crucial for preventing AI systems from perpetuating biased representations of Africa and ensuring technology serves local contexts appropriately

How should education systems be restructured to work with AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI while maintaining proper assessment standards?

Speaker

Salima Bah (implied through her conversation with Minister of Education)

Explanation

This represents an urgent need to adapt educational frameworks to integrate AI tools effectively rather than attempting to ban them

How can African countries ensure their data is reflected in Large Language Models (LLMs) and participate in AI system design?

Speaker

Salima Bah

Explanation

This is essential to prevent AI systems from misrepresenting African contexts and experiences, similar to how global media previously portrayed Africa

What specific frameworks and capacity building programs are needed across law enforcement, judiciary, legal, and technical sectors to address cybersecurity proactively?

Speaker

Salima Bah

Explanation

This addresses the comprehensive institutional changes needed to shift from reactive to proactive cybersecurity approaches

How can regional IGFs be given more leverage to enable better alignment on issues before global platforms?

Speaker

Salima Bah

Explanation

This could improve the effectiveness of regional advocacy and coordination on digital governance issues at international forums