Open Forum #5 Bridging digital divide for Inclusive Growth Under the GDC

Summary

This discussion focused on how African countries can leverage the Global Digital Compact’s five objectives—connectivity, inclusion, data governance, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence—to advance their digital transformation goals. The session brought together ministers from Lesotho, Gambia, and Chad, along with representatives from Senegal’s Universal Fund, Smart Africa, and other regional organizations to explore collaborative approaches to addressing Africa’s digital challenges.

The Minister of Lesotho emphasized the need to eliminate duplication among various digital initiatives and called for stronger integration, shared infrastructure, and accountability frameworks within existing programs like WSIS and IGF. She highlighted persistent challenges including high data costs, limited access to smart devices, and the need for comprehensive e-government services. The Minister of Chad shared concrete examples of progress, including Chad’s deployment of 6,000 kilometers of fiber optic infrastructure, and stressed the importance of public-private partnerships and regional cooperation in building digital capacity.

A significant portion of the discussion addressed misinformation and disinformation as critical threats to democratic stability. The Gambian Minister detailed their national campaign to combat false information, including plans for an AI-enabled National Misinformation Response Center with regional integration capabilities. This initiative represents a model for other African countries facing similar challenges to electoral integrity and social cohesion.

The conversation also explored digital public infrastructure (DPI) development, with emphasis on digital identity systems, payment platforms, and interoperability. Participants discussed funding mechanisms, noting that substantial international investment is available for DPI projects that demonstrate clear connections to Sustainable Development Goals. Smart Africa’s representative highlighted the upcoming launch of the Africa AI Council, designed to address computing power, datasets, algorithms, governance, and market development across the continent.

Several participants stressed that Africa’s definition of digital inclusion differs significantly from Western perspectives, particularly given the continent’s linguistic diversity with over 2,000 languages and its predominantly young population. The session concluded with commitments to develop collaborative projects in areas such as youth employment in ICT, regional misinformation response systems, and shared digital infrastructure, with plans to present concrete proposals at the upcoming Transform Africa summit in Kigali.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Global Digital Compact Implementation in Africa**: Discussion focused on how African countries can leverage the five objectives of the UN Global Digital Compact (connectivity, inclusion, data governance, cybersecurity, and AI) while avoiding duplication with existing frameworks like WSIS and regional strategies.

– **Infrastructure Development and Universal Access**: Ministers highlighted critical challenges around connectivity, affordability, and digital literacy, with concrete examples like Chad’s 6,000 kilometers of fiber optic infrastructure and Senegal’s universal service fund targeting 1,550 localities by 2029.

– **Combating Misinformation and Disinformation**: The Gambia’s national campaign and proposed AI-enabled Regional Misinformation Response Center were presented as models for addressing the weaponization of false information that threatens democratic processes and social cohesion across Africa.

– **Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and AI Development**: Emphasis on developing foundational digital systems including digital ID, payment systems, and interoperability, alongside Smart Africa’s upcoming AI Council launch to address computing power, datasets, algorithms, governance, and market development.

– **Regional Collaboration and Integration**: Strong consensus on the need for African countries to work together rather than in silos, sharing infrastructure, harmonizing policies, and developing joint projects to achieve the scale necessary to compete globally in the digital economy.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to develop concrete collaborative strategies for African countries to maximize benefits from global digital frameworks, ultimately seeking to establish joint projects that could be presented at the next Transform Africa summit in Kigali.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a constructive and solution-oriented tone throughout, with participants demonstrating genuine commitment to pan-African collaboration. While acknowledging significant challenges like funding gaps and policy fragmentation, the conversation remained optimistic and forward-looking, culminating in concrete project proposals and commitments for future cooperation.

Speakers

**Speakers from the provided list:**

– **Dr. Mactar Seck** – Session moderator/Program Director

– **Nthati Moorosi** – Honorable Minister of Information, Communication, Science, and Technology, and Innovation of Lesotho

– **Boukar Michel** – Minister of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy of Chad

– **Dr. Ismaila Ceesay** – Honorable Minister of Information, Broadcasting of the Gambia

– **Fatou Blondin Diop** – Former Minister of ICT of Senegal, Chair of the Senegal Universal Fund, Coordinator of the Universal Telecommunication Service Development Fund of Senegal

– **Hossam Elgamal** – CEO of ICANN

– **Lacina Kone** – Director General of Smart Africa

– **Maha Abdel Nasser** – Member of parliament from Egypt

– **Participant** – Various unidentified participants from the audience

**Additional speakers:**

– **Wisdom Donko** – From Ghana

– **Kwaku Entry** – From Ghana, African Community Internet Program

– **Shadrack** – From Ghana

– Various other audience participants who asked questions but were not fully identified by name

# Comprehensive Summary: Leveraging the Global Digital Compact for African Digital Transformation

## Introduction and Context

This ministerial-level discussion, moderated by Dr. Mactar Seck, brought together key African leaders to explore how the continent can strategically leverage the United Nations Global Digital Compact’s five core objectives—connectivity, inclusion, data governance, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence—to accelerate digital transformation across Africa. The session featured ministers from Lesotho, Gambia, and Chad, alongside representatives from Senegal’s Universal Fund, Smart Africa, ICANN, and various civil society organisations.

Dr. Seck opened the session by emphasizing the critical need to avoid duplication between existing frameworks and promote policy coherence, particularly aligning the WSIS Plus 20 review with Global Digital Compact objectives. With over 1.4 billion people and a predominantly young population (65% under 35), Africa’s digital transformation potential is immense, yet the continent continues to grapple with fundamental challenges requiring coordinated continental responses.

## Infrastructure Development and Universal Access

### National Infrastructure Progress

Boukar Michel, Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Economy of Chad, reported significant infrastructure achievements, including deployment of 6,000 kilometres of fibre optic infrastructure and construction of a data centre. Chad’s ambitious infrastructure projects demonstrate the scale of investment required for meaningful connectivity across vast African territories.

Fatou Blondin Diop, representing Senegal’s Universal Telecommunication Service Development Fund, outlined Senegal’s systematic approach to connect 1,550 localities by 2029, requiring 80 billion CFA francs and impacting nearly 2 million people. The project includes 490 “white zones” requiring new infrastructure and 1,160 localities for 2G to 4G migration, representing a comprehensive model for addressing connectivity gaps.

### Systemic Challenges

Nthati Moorosi, Minister of Information, Communication, Science, Technology, and Innovation of Lesotho, identified persistent challenges including high data costs, limited access to smart devices, and absence of comprehensive e-government services. She emphasized viewing internet access as a human right requiring universal provision regardless of geographic location or economic status.

Minister Moorosi also raised critical concerns about organizational duplication, stating: “I think going forward, WSIS has to look into this issue of duplication… do you ever take time as different entities and organisations to sit down and see where you are duplicating, where there are similarities of activities that you do, programmes that you do.”

### Regional Collaboration Necessity

Lacina Kone, Director General of Smart Africa, articulated the scale imperative: “the difference between the United States and China today, it’s about size. The difference between India and Africa today, it’s about integration and size. Africa is 1.4 billion. If we all want to develop in silo, it exactly becomes late commerce into the technology.”

This perspective drove discussions about shared satellite infrastructure, regional data centres, and coordinated spectrum management, with participants recognizing that individual African countries lack the scale to compete effectively in the global digital economy.

## Combating Misinformation and Building Information Resilience

### Comprehensive Threat Analysis

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Gambia, provided detailed analysis of misinformation challenges facing African democracies. His research revealed that “politicians and religious leaders are key sources of misinformation but often the media and journalists are the conduits that disseminate this fake news or this disinformation.”

### National Response Framework

The Gambian government is establishing a National Misinformation and Disinformation Response Centre equipped with AI-enabled platforms for real-time information verification. This centre will operate as a rapid response mechanism capable of identifying, analyzing, and countering false information before widespread circulation.

Significantly, Dr. Ceesay announced plans to expand this model regionally, working within the ECOWAS framework for cross-border data sharing and collective resilience. This approach acknowledges that misinformation campaigns often transcend national boundaries and require coordinated responses.

### Community Engagement Strategies

The discussion addressed reaching communities with limited digital access through local leaders and platforms like WhatsApp to educate people about identifying fake news. However, participants raised important questions about building trust in public information, particularly in rural communities with limited digital platform access.

## Digital Public Infrastructure and AI Development

### Foundational Infrastructure Requirements

Hossam Elgamal, CEO of ICANN, emphasized digital public infrastructure (DPI) as the foundation for broader transformation, focusing on priority sectors including healthcare, education, finance, and crisis management. He noted significant funding availability, with $1.2 billion invested in DPI globally from 2017-2021, suggesting implementation capacity represents a more critical bottleneck than funding constraints.

### AI Governance Framework

Lacina Kone announced Smart Africa’s launch of the Africa AI Council on April 4th, addressing computing power, datasets, algorithms, governance frameworks, and market development. He highlighted Africa’s unique AI opportunity: “for us in Africa, the definition of inclusions in Africa is very different from the definition of inclusion in the West. For us, the AI will be equalizer for the inclusions… because we have over 2,000 languages in Africa.”

The discussion revealed that 19 African countries have already developed national AI policies, raising questions about harmonizing individual strategies with continental approaches while avoiding further fragmentation.

### Data Governance Challenges

Maha Abdel Nasser, Member of Parliament from Egypt, highlighted that “Africa has the largest datasets in the world but lacks integration, data flow regulation, and validation for AI models.” This observation points to significant untapped potential whilst acknowledging regulatory and technical challenges preventing effective utilization of African data resources.

## Organizational Coordination and Framework Integration

### Addressing Duplication Concerns

The discussion revealed significant concerns about overlapping initiatives across various frameworks including WSIS, Smart Africa, African Union digital strategies, and the Global Digital Compact. Minister Moorosi directly challenged organizations to examine duplication and coordinate more effectively.

### Integration Strategies

Minister Moorosi proposed that WSIS should drive e-government standardization across African countries and become “platforms of accountability” where countries report on targets and deliverables with leadership commitment. This suggestion reflects practical approaches to leveraging existing frameworks for concrete citizen service improvements.

Tensions emerged regarding the relationship between continental African initiatives and global frameworks, with some participants questioning whether African countries should focus on localizing African Union strategies rather than developing fragmented national approaches.

## Youth Inclusion and Grassroots Innovation

### Demographic Imperatives

The discussion consistently emphasized Africa’s demographic profile, with participants recognizing that successful digital transformation must create meaningful employment opportunities for young people whilst leveraging their technological fluency. Minister Moorosi proposed developing a job and market symposium to better understand ICT employment opportunities for African youth.

### Grassroots Innovation Integration

Kwaku Entry, representing the African Community Internet Programme from Ghana, provided a challenging intervention: “We often miss out the grassroots. And if we want that change to happen in Africa, it’s gonna be coming from the grassroots. Whatever top-down thing we’re doing, and we don’t have that innovation from the grassroots from down there, it’s gonna be very problematic.”

This observation challenged ministerial-level policy development by highlighting potential disconnects between high-level strategies and community-level implementation, sparking broader discussion about integrating grassroots innovation into national and regional strategies.

## Concrete Collaborative Commitments

### Four-Project Framework

The discussion concluded with commitment to develop four collaborative projects between participating countries (Lesotho, Gambia, Chad, and Senegal) to be presented at the Transform Africa summit in Kigali in July:

1. A job and market symposium for understanding ICT employment opportunities for African youth

2. A regional misinformation and disinformation response platform building on Gambia’s national model

3. Technology and data centre management sharing between countries

4. An information portal to identify challenges, opportunities, and best practices across African countries

### Institutional Commitments

Smart Africa committed to launching the Africa AI Council to coordinate AI policy harmonization across countries with existing AI strategies. The Gambian government committed to expanding its misinformation response centre to include regional ECOWAS integration.

Participants agreed to create an accountability framework for IGF and WSIS where countries report on targets and deliverables with leadership commitment, addressing concerns about the effectiveness of existing international mechanisms.

## Key Areas of Consensus and Ongoing Tensions

### Strong Agreement Areas

Participants demonstrated consensus on the fundamental necessity of regional collaboration, with all speakers emphasizing that individual African countries lack the scale and resources necessary to compete effectively in the global digital economy. There was also agreement on infrastructure as the foundation for digital transformation and the critical importance of capacity building, particularly for youth.

### Unresolved Tensions

Disagreements emerged regarding policy harmonization approaches, with tensions between continental and national strategies. Questions remained about Smart Africa’s coordinating role relative to other organizations, and subtle disagreements appeared between top-down policy frameworks and bottom-up grassroots innovation approaches.

## Future Directions and Implementation Challenges

The discussion represents progress towards more coordinated African digital transformation approaches, with the Transform Africa summit in July providing a concrete accountability mechanism for converting commitments into implementable initiatives. However, success will depend on sustained political commitment, adequate resource allocation, and effective coordination mechanisms that address the organizational fragmentation identified during the session.

Key unresolved challenges include bridging funding implementation gaps, developing mechanisms for harmonizing existing national policies with continental strategies, integrating grassroots innovation with policy frameworks, and creating sophisticated data governance frameworks that balance sovereignty concerns with regional integration requirements.

The emphasis on African-specific solutions rather than wholesale adoption of external models demonstrates growing sophistication in African digital transformation thinking, particularly the recognition that Africa’s linguistic diversity, demographic profile, and economic context require tailored approaches rather than generic technology adoption.

Dr. Mactar Seck: It’s okay. You can speak. Yeah, yeah. Good afternoon. Did you hear me? Hello. We should go to channel number one. Workshop one is channel one. Workshop one is channel one. Workshop one is channel one. Workshop one is channel one. Thank you. Channel number one. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Welcome to this session on the global digital compact. How African countries can take profit from the implementation to the five objectives of the global digital compact. As you know, United Nations adopted the UN General Assembly adopted in last September. The global digital compact. The global digital compact has five objectives. First, connectivity. Second, inclusion. Third, data governance. Fourth, cyber security and AI. Artificial intelligence. And our discussion today is how African countries, given the challenges they face, can take advantage of the global digital compact. We already have the African digital strategy transformation strategy 2020, 2013. We have also the WSIS process and all framework across the continent. We don’t want just to come to discuss what’s happened in any country in Africa. We need, at the end, to discuss we need at the end of this session to come up with a collaborative approach, collaborative project. between the country we have here at this panel. Today, we have the Honorable Minister of Lesotho. One issue of my. Honorable Morozi, Minister of Information, Communication, Science, and Technology, and Innovation of Lesotho. We have also Honorable Ismail Sissé, Minister of Information, Broadcasting of the Gambia. We have also the Honorable Minister of Chad. He is not yet here. I have also Madame Fatou Blondin-Diop, former Minister of ICT of Senegal, and Chair of the Senegal Universal Fund. And for the private sector, I have also Mr. Ossam El Ghami, CEO of ICANN. And you have also the Director General of Smart Africa. I think everybody knows Smart Africa at the continental level, Mr. Lassena Kone. Let me start now by the Honorable Minister of Communication and Information, Science, Technology, and Innovation of Lesotho. Honorable Minister, we have seen a lot of progress made by the government of Lesotho in terms of implementation of digital strategy and the usage of technology for sustainable development. How can the WSIS Plus 20 review effectively align with these five objectives of the Global Digital Compact in order to avoid duplication, also to promote policy coherence between all frameworks across the country and across the continent? and also to overcome the several challenges we are facing at the country level, like connectivity, affordability and digital literacy among others. Over to you, Minister.

Nthati Moorosi: Thank you, Programme Director, and thank you for inviting me to be part of this very important discussion, I must say. I think going forward, OASIS has to look into this issue of duplication. Just this afternoon I was asking somebody, I think it’s Smart Africa this morning, when I asked him, do you ever take time as different entities and organisations to sit down and see where at that level you are duplicating, where there are similarities of activities that you do, programmes that you do, and he did admit that indeed there is some duplication to some extent. I think that would be the starting point where we see the UN being deliberate to bring everyone together and see where the duplications are and eliminate the duplications. And whatever savings that we can realise then would be put into the projects, like the one you are proposing, where we have a project that is driving connectivity in the world and in Africa, if I may be allowed to talk for Africa specifically. I think the biggest gaps, as we say all the time, is the issue of accessibility, usability, the e-commerce and e-government. I think if OASIS can take the issue of e-government as a standard that is set for every country to oblige with, it is the starting point which I think we’ll see us through. Most of our countries are not yet giving services digitally. There are still long queues, there are still long walks, there are still heavy payments to be made for taxis. and transport to get to services. So if we can get to a point where Oasis drives e-government, I think that would be one of the biggest wins for us. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say all of them now or I can come back later. Okay, another issue is the issue of integration. I think the call for integration is now. We need to integrate Africa. We need to integrate the world. We need to get to a point where the software that is being developed is put on an open source, as an open source model. We need to share infrastructure more. Yesterday I talked a bit about the introduction of satellite, how much of it is it going to be shared? Or is it going to be satellite per country? Or is it going to be per region? So things like that can see us saving a lot of costs if we can integrate and share costs on infrastructure. The high cost of data, it’s a biggest concern for us in Africa. I think we need to be deliberate, bring private sector into a room and talk about the price of data, how it can be reduced. Talk about the price of smart devices, how we can reduce the price for smart devices or whether we need to build capacity to manufacture some of those smart devices in Africa. I think we need a different policy framework guided by OASIS to be cognizant of modern technologies and the changes that come with it. And as you said, Your Excellency, I think the issue of having deliberate projects that move us from point A to point B, this is what we need to do. We need to get to a point where we have programs and projects that move us from point A to point B. So what I need to see is to see IGF and OASIS being platforms of accountability where countries come and account and say this is what I was supposed to do, I couldn’t do it or this is what. This is the target that we set for ourselves and we’ve been able to deliver. And to get the leaders to also sign into those mandates, sign into those targets, so that we can all account and be held accountable by our societies.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you so much for your guidance. I think it’s very well understood. And you give us a lot of guidance on how we can put in place this strategy, how we can overcome the digital scale, the issue of connectivity. Also we have to work together and also to have an accountability framework for IGF, which is another framework across national level and regional level. Now let me move to the Minister of Chad. Mr. Michel, Minister of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy. You have heard the guidelines of the Honourable Minister of Law. In light of the Global Digital Pact, what examples of policies and concrete strategies can African countries put in place to fully benefit from the structural transformation offered by the technologies of information and communication? Through precise examples.

Boukar Michel: Thank you very much. Thank you dear panelists and dear participants at the Internet Governance Summit. I had the opportunity to thank the Norwegian government for the opportunity they have given us to finally focus on the topic you have just proposed. I would like to thank the Norwegian government and on my left, the CEO of Smart Africa, and all the time with us to accompany us, the African countries, in the good governance of the Internet. In fact, the governance of the Internet in Africa is a crucial space for inclusive dialogue, including the parties present. And as the Minister of the Auto Industry said, we need to go through much more targeted themes. First, for practical cases, we need the importance of cooperation for the evaluation of the IGF in Africa. How to do it? First, we need to strengthen regional synergies. With practical cases, the Internet Governance Forum in Francophone Africa, which is a regional platform, brings together actors from several Francophone countries in Africa. And through this theme, we can cite proven examples to share experiences between Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, which jointly developed, I would say, quite interesting guides on this topic. The sharing of experiences, of good practices on Burkina Faso, which sets up a participatory evaluation, is what we think that my country, Chad, on its own funds, on its own initiatives, has already been able to build about 6,000 kilometers of fiber optics, so that we can reach the Internet at all origins. Chad is 1,284,000 square kilometers. It’s very vast. And so we need a whole panoply of Internet Governance that will allow us to have a digital pact with the parties involved. We need sharing of experiences. We also need to make sure For those who use the internet as a luxury, I hope it won’t be a luxury for other countries like Chad. And for the practical case, we will withdraw the massive deployment of optical fibers that I just said earlier. On the project of PND, which will take place soon in Dubai, we have a program that is articulated from 2020 to 2030. The financing mechanisms that we can do it are through the structures that accompany us, ADETIC, LARCEP, who are in charge of building all these things. You have Rwanda, for example, the practical case of Rwanda, on the infrastructure backbone that Rwanda has built. Kenya, through Safaricom, and the deployment of 4G, which are already quite interesting. And the strategy of global implementation, through strengthening of private-public partnerships. Today, civil society plays a rather important role, and so it is a question of involving them. The mixed financing is associated with public funds, banks and development, private investors, and social impact funds adapted to reality. The sharing of infrastructures between operators to reduce costs and accelerate coverage, encouraged by community and local initiatives, in particular to serve the most remote areas. The strengthening of digital and digital inclusiveness skills. In this case, we need practical cases that can be incited on what I just told you. In partnership with NGOs, digital training, in Chad, we are going to involve all civil society to guarantee internet access at all levels. You must have noticed that the Chadian delegation has massively come, composed of civil society, because they play an important role in ensuring that the digital transformation that we want to see in the future, we were able to put something solid in place. The practical case is training. In Tunisia, there is Digital Tunisia in 2020. They have put in place something solid. In Kenya, there is the Coding Bonding which goes in this strategy. The strategy of global implementation, that’s what’s important. It is the integration of digital skills in school curricula and professional training. There is the targeted program for the marginalized groups, women, rural people, disabled people, with material and financial support. Thank you very much. And so, all these things that we have to try to put in place.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you very much for sharing several examples across the continent. In terms of capacity building, sharing infrastructure between some African countries, also some service sharing between also these countries. I think it is a very good example to show how we can use this technology and how we can work together to collaborate between African countries to make sure we can bridge several challenges in the continent. Now, let me go back to West Africa. I’m going to West Africa also. I think we talk about a lot of things about misinformation, disinformation. It is a key challenge, not only for Gambia, but for all African countries and across the world also with the development of this social media. In early 2025, the Gambia Ministry of Information, in collaboration with Wave Gambia, launched a national campaign to combat this misinformation and disinformation. The Gambia brought strategic priority and institutional action to counter online fast hold, and particularly in safeguarding electoral integrity. Can you talk a little bit about on this strategy implemented by Gambia and how this experience can be beneficial as an African country or can be duplicated in other African countries. Thank you very much. Honourable Minister Ismail Asise.

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay: Thank you for giving me the platform to discuss this very crucial phenomenon or phenomena if we consider both misinformation and disinformation. I think it is one of the greatest threats to our co-existence and stability as countries in not only in Africa but also around the world. I think you would all agree with me that misinformation and disinformation are not new phenomena. They are perennial. They’ve been here a while ago. What has changed is the speed at which now they are spread. That is why we believe that the proliferation of digital platforms and social media has amplified the spread of misinformation and disinformation but also fake news as well. In the Gambian context, these phenomena pose a unique threat to national cohesion, democratic consolidation considering our transition as a new democracy but also the credibility of the press as well. The spread of misinformation has been weaponised to manipulate public opinion which undermines electoral integrity as you rightly say. It also fuels political polarisation and incites tensions, societal tensions. Research has shown that politicians and religious leaders are key sources of misinformation but often the media and journalists are the conduits that disseminate this fake news or this disinformation. Therefore, journalists, media chiefs, editors are gatekeepers of information. They are on the forefront of combating these challenges. That is why the ministry, after having collaborated with Wave Gambia, doing nationwide sensitisation in communities, educating and enlightening people how to identify and counter misinformation, we are working with key stakeholders in the information economy. to train them and give them the tools to be able to do ethical, accurate, credible reporting. This is crucial in safeguarding democratic gains that we’ve made since the transition. Recognising this, the Ministry is also building partnerships with all stakeholders in information to manipulate public opinion, which undermines electoral integrity, as you rightly say. It also fuels political polarisation and incites societal tensions. The Ministry is also building partnerships with all stakeholders in the information ecosystem to empower the media with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to identify, counter and prevent misinformation and fake news. The objectives are one to strengthen professional journalism practices that safeguard public trust and democratic values in The Gambia, but also to enhance the capacity of media chiefs, editors and fact-checkers to identify, count and prevent the spread of misinformation. Also to foster collaboration among media leaders to develop newsroom strategies for managing misinformation and disinformation. How are we doing this? We are working with the participants in an inclusive manner. For the participants and the stakeholders to review guidelines for combating misinformation and fake news. These guidelines are non-legislative, but are based on existing practices locally and internationally in line with global standards of press freedom and freedom of expression. But we also want to develop a national action plan against disinformation. We call it the plan. Here participants will draft and commit to a national plan of action in response. to the threats of disinformation, misinformation, and fake news. The plan would outline approaches for a coordinated response on critical issues that seek to undermine national unity, peace, and tranquility. This action plan will seek to create synergy between government, the media, civil society to tackle disinformation through a code of practice. Now, in addition to this, we realize that in the age of deepfakes, AI-generated forgeries, and depleted news, you need tools to counter this, and there are no better tools than the tools that are used. That is why we are working, as a ministry, to establish what we call a National Misinformation and Dismissal Response Center. Now, this response center will be a very sophisticated and accessible one. We are working with ECOWAS to work on this. We are launching a centralized one, AI-enabled platform, that will help citizens, journalists, and government to verify questionable content in real time, tracking emerging threats, but also respond quickly with facts. I can go on and describe what this project is about, or maybe you want me to discuss it later so that we can, because it also has a regional component where we want to make sure it is an integrated component where we can work with other countries in the ECOWAS region to make sure that we use AI-generated tools to fight misinformation and disinformation.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Let’s come later. This is a very important project you highlighted, misinformation and disinformation. This platform also, I’m happy you have a regional component of this platform, we’ll discuss more about later to see how we can collaborate on this regional component. Now let me move, when we talk about policy, we have some key applications, but as highlighted by the Minister of Lesotho, we have several gaps on connectivity and access, and now we can cross the internet as part of humanity. rights, and we need to provide access to all. And while we have the concept of universal access, I’m going to ask this question to Madame Fatou Ndiaye Blondet-Diop. She was a former minister of ICT of Senegal, and now she’s a coordinator of the Universal Telecommunication Service Development Fund of Senegal. Madame Blondet, est-ce que vous pourriez partager les principaux défis et opportunités identifiés dans le processus de développement du service universel pour le contexte du Sénégal? Et vous pouvez aussi aller au-delà. Merci.

Fatou Blondin Diop: Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Seck. Merci de m’avoir convié à cette rencontre. Merci au gouvernement norvégien de permettre de faire l’état des lieux et d’avancer sur toutes les difficultés à surmonter, pour l’Afrique principalement, et mes prédécesseurs qui se sont exprimés en ont montré un certain nombre. S’agissant du Sénégal, je dirige le fonds pour le développement du service universel des télécommunications. Nos missions sont, comme la plupart des services universels, tout d’abord la connectivité. Ça passe? Ça passe. On éteint les micros. Numéro 1. Numéro 1. Channel 1. Channel 1. Donc, je disais que, s’agissant de la connectivité, notre challenge est que, d’ici 2029, nous puissions connecter 1550 localités, dont 490 sites sans infrastructures, c’est-à-dire zones blanches, et près de 1160 à migrer du 2G vers le 4G. This must impact nearly 2 million people in Senegal, of which 18. We also have the digital inclusion section, which covers the connection and equipment for administrative institutions, such as mayors and various administrative buildings, health or school institutions, but we also have missions with disabled centers. So all this also requires a fairly substantial fund. We also have a mission to strengthen capacity through the development of content, depending on the locality and depending on the situation, it must be adapted to the needs. In terms of perspective, we must mobilize 80 billion francs CFA, that is 127 million dollars, 65 for connectivity, 7.5 for digital inclusion and the rest for operation. So we are obviously calling for the participation of operators who are in Senegal, but also financing from the World Bank. And we are studying alternative financing and above all building another financing model that would allow us to access resources more easily. And we are in discussion with the Ministry of Finance, which is our guardian. We must also improve the governance model of the fund, modernize it in its approaches and in its internal functioning. And we can do all this because Senegal has developed a project called New Deal Technologique. In this New Deal Technologique, the need is estimated at 1,500 billion francs and we are impacted. by a sum of 250 billion euros over five years as a fund for the development of the universal service. This will enable Senegalese to have connections and digital inclusion tools, to accelerate the development of the economy of the localities eligible for the universal fund, to work with buyers, both at the local and international level. This will give buyers the opportunity to find themselves in a highly potential sector.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you very much. I think this is a concrete example of the implementation of the universal fund across a country like Senegal. You have cited many strategies to implement this. When we talk about the universal fund, the first idea is to put in place the infrastructure. And now we are facing a lot of challenges in the African continent for the digital public infrastructure. When you talk about digital public infrastructure, it is related to digital ID, digital payment system and interoperability. And it is where we need the involvement of the private sector. Also on the regulatory side we have some issues to deal with. Let me ask now my friend Osam how we can improve the development of DPI across the continent. I think you can have an example from Egypt. And also how to fund. The funding part is very important.

Hossam Elgamal: He gave me the most difficult question. How to? Let me just start by saying that since the GDC and the last G20 meeting in Delhi, there is a push to boost DPI related projects. First of all, we appreciate very much the 20 years of efforts that took place in Africa delivering digital transformation. There are many challenges, challenges of power, challenges of connectivity, challenges of capacity building, challenges of governance and implementation of governance. Generally speaking, we can easily adjust digital public infrastructure. Do you all know what is the DPI? The digital public infrastructure? Who doesn’t know DPI? Everybody knows DPI, well, maybe, okay. For DPI, this is mainly to provide a framework that would give open source application standards, etc., so we can all collaborate in delivering solutions that serve the public. In order to do this, we have the core DPI, so the main infrastructure, and we have the application layer of the DPI that would provide the required. In fact, because now we are getting into more maturity, we can easily relate DPI investment to SDGs impact, and this is the whole thing. If we are able to identify properly the sectors of priority, like healthcare, education, finance, and others, crisis management, and identify proposals that reflect the return on investment that will take place, the impact that will happen by implementing the proper DPI, then we are able to generate. the required funds, whether from the funding, the assistant committee, or from the multilateral banking, development banking, or from even private sectors. It is quite important really to identify the priority sectors to work on. It is important also to collaborate with similar other African countries to identify their knowledge, experience, and best practice delivering DPI. And there are a few African countries that have already been on the front in delivering projects for DPI, and it would be quite better to learn from them their experience managing the challenges and also even identifying the funds to support their implementation of DPI. And really identifying the level of impact that took place accordingly. Along with that, there are several funds that are coming, and we expect more to come. By the way, during the period from 2017 to 2021, there were, I would say, I need to just to check the amount, there were around 1.2 billion US dollars invested in 2021 for DPI, and more is expected. And from Development Assistance Committee donors, that accounts for about 60 percent of this funding, multilateral development banks account for 23 percent, and private donors for 17 percent. Some of the main donors were UK, Germany, Norway. und, and I mentioned, they work with both EU-USE, a French government in Switzerland. Sweden and Canada. Along with South Korea, France and Netherlands. And generally, the approach for the funding agency is they support the global health and communication sectors specifically. So, the funding for the DPI sector, we have a lot of funding for the development assistance, and as well as financial inclusions through mobile Internet and data protection for digital payment. Funding for DPI, other sectors, includes big data for emergency response, e-government, and e-learning as well. And, by the way, most of the funding we’re going to sub-Saharan Africa. But also, we decided to take advantage of And we’re focusing on GDPR. we focus on delivering DPI to serve the SDGs. What is important is to identify properly the SDGs that we need to deliver to the SDGs and to accelerate the SDG process. Foundational digital system, DPI can help countries advance a wide range of development objectives and response more effectively to crisis and getting SDGs back on track. SDG 1, no poverty, decent work and economic growth, SDG 8. SDG 16, peace, justice and strong institutions. SDG 17, economic development, SDG 18, and SDG 19. SDG 20, enhancing resilience and emergency response. These are various SDGs, gender equality and reduce inequality, SDG 5, gender equality, SDG 10, reduce inequality. Clean Energy and SDG 12, Responsible Consumption Production, SDG 13, Climate Action. And accordingly, there are many that can be really done simply by looking at the other countries in our continent that have delivered on the DPI and provided projects with clear impact on the SDGs and repeating this on the other countries. Thank you very much. Also, it’s just to use as much as possible.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you very much. I think it’s very important to highlight very well. But you didn’t tell us where we are finding the money for DPI. Where we get money. The money is where, but it’s okay. We are going to discuss on this because DPI is very important for the continent and we are implementing the African free trade area. We need to have the adequate infrastructure to promote trade between all African countries with this digital payment system to overcome to the 700 million, 500 million African people without any legal form of ID. We need also to develop our e-government service to make more transparency for the citizen. Now, let me go back to my friend and brother, Lassina Konei. You do everything, but I will not ask you to tell you all about Smart Africa. Just let’s focus on AI. What you are doing now in AI, we have the Smart Africa AI blueprint. We are putting in place this AI fund, lot of activity around AI across the continent. Please tell us the challenge for AI in Africa and the key action by Smart Africa.

Lacina Kone: Thank you very much, brother Mokhtar. We hear from my brother on the left. Talked about DPI, we heard from Minister of Lesotho, talked about connectivity and the lack of coordinations and all that, and we heard from Senegal about universal access. We heard also from Chad, and also from my brother from the Gambia, talking about misinformation, all of these, of course, the underlying things, is the technology. Now we have the AI, and if you look at your question, it talks about inclusive growth. For us in Africa, the definition of inclusions in Africa is very different from the definition of inclusion in the West. For us, the AI will be equalizer for the inclusions. Why? Because we have over 2,000 languages in Africa. How do we make sure all of these people who do not speak any other language to be included in the current life and contribute in the socioeconomic development? That’s why Smart Africa will launch April 4th, the Africa AI Council. We are now working in operationalizations by consultation of our country members, not only government, because this is a multi-stakeholder platform. Why? We are putting this together to address five things. When you talk about AI, we’re talking about computing power. Are we able to have, do we have a necessary computing power today in the light of all these challenges we’re facing? Number two, data sets. The AI actually is nourished from the data. And three, we have the algorithm, which is, of course, a bias, so we need to know exactly where is it coming from. And four, AI governance. Exactly, it does not mean to step in to put the rigid regulation, but we need to have some safeguard to make sure the AI will be used ethically, inclusively, and sustainably. And number five is the market. How actually we can use the AI as a tool to actually grow the market and create jobs in Africa. That’s exactly what we’re doing. But there are challenges, of course. There are challenges, those challenges can only be overcome if we work together. That’s why Smart Africa exists with only one vision to transform Africa into a single digital market by 2030. By the way, 2030 is only five years away. No country in Africa can actually succeed in AI alone. That’s why we need to work together in terms of computing power, in terms of policy harmonization. In the policy harmonization, we’ve already started work. There are over 19 countries in Africa who already have their AI national policy. How do we make sure these are actually coordinated to the AI governance actually elaborated by the UN, as well as even the Global Digital Compact, as well as the WSIS, as well as the Internet Governance Forum? That’s our role for policy harmonization, because you know why? At the end of all this, when any nation talks about the AI, they always talk about their private sector. The frontier model in America, the frontier model from Europe, the frontier model in China. So we Africa also, we need to be talking about the frontier model, which will be driven by African private sector. Let’s not forget that. The government should be creating a conducive environment for private sector to step in for the right appropriate time with the appropriate investment to be able to strive in the digital era, particularly in the AI. Thank you.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you very much for this Dry Light Challenge, also the key activity undertaken by Smart Africa to make AI adoption available across the continent. Now let me open the floor for 10 minutes. If you have any contribution, one minute each. Let me start by the first row. Poncele. Yeah, thank you. You can come on this side if you want to take the floor. Is the mic on? Yeah, yeah.

Participant: Okay, thank you very much, distinguished panelists. I’ll first talk to Mr. Lansana Conner in regards to your talk on AI. First, we have the AI continental strategy that was adopted in Accra. 19 countries, as you said, in Africa has already done their own national AI strategy. Why don’t you think we just localize our own AU strategy instead of individual countries? And this same thing also has happened with the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy. And I feel we don’t really have harmonization when we don’t listen to what the AU does. We see our own Malabo cybersecurity and personal data protection. We see what has happened with that. Less than 25 African countries have signed it. So it makes us look like we are joking. We don’t respect what our union does. So I would like you to address that in regards to with this strategy. Thank you. Yes, thank you very much for the wonderful presentations from my sister to Senegal, all the way to Lesotho. But my issue is here is this, just to make a suggestion. You know, oftentimes we meet as African continent from different countries, talking about bridging the digital gap, talking about security, cybersecurity, talking about misinformation, disinformation. I was wondering if we can maybe concentrate on one or two items where those countries that are available here can concentrate on. Particularly, for example, when you talk about misinformation, disinformation, what can we do together, you know, as a continent or as a region to help fight? Because it is a critical issue and it’s actually threatening our democracy on the continent. So I was suggesting maybe if we can come up with one project or one thing where we can collaborate to see what we can do to ensure that we have something in place that will actually help us to fight misinformation and disinformation because it’s a threat to the democracy of this continent. Thank you. Thank you very much. My name is Wisdom Donko from Ghana. My issue got to do with Smart Africa. This is my personal understanding of what I’ve seen. It looks like Smart Africa is trying to do the same thing that we the community are doing. But then what I think is that I would like to see Smart Africa on top there. Then look at all of us, what we are doing, and then try to bring us together to see what we can do to achieve whatever aim that we want to achieve. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much to all the panelists and to the submissions that have been made. I think the session has not only been informative, but it’s been a very enlightening regional perspective. Speaking on the topic of inclusion, I think it’s very important, especially as the representative from Smart Africa said, in Africa, inclusion looks different to the West, to Asia, and to the European areas. It’s representing different groups. It’s different identities. And understanding those marginal identities within policymaking, within our project implementation, within our theories of change, and our actual implementation of projects, whether it’s civil society, government, we need to go directly to those people. Standing here today, I’m speaking on behalf of the youth. And I’m saying that here, if we’re going to be talking about bridging the digital divide and inclusive growth, and we go back to Africa, a continent that is 65% youth, people under 35 years old, we’re going to need to make sure that they’re going to be part of these conversations, that their voice is going to be heard. But also, when speaking specifically on the topic of the internet, and using it as a vehicle of growth and transformation in South Africa, we’ve got what we call the the fourth industrial revolution. Thank you. Thank you. And we’re using this as a vehicle of change. Next, please. Thank you. Next. Hi, my name is Kwaku Entry from Ghana. In terms of what we’re talking about and following from Toko, in terms of internet connectivity, Minister talked about it, but there’s one important aspect that we talk in the context of Africa. We often miss out the grassroots. And if we want that change to happen in Africa, it’s gonna be coming from the grassroots. Whatever top-down thing we’re doing, and we don’t have that innovation from the grassroots from down there, it’s gonna be very problematic. So, Minister and other panelists, we are here to help you. We are from the African Community Internet Program. We help the grassroots to be able to be connected. We have our internet backpack device here, a community backpack, and we will be able to help you solve some of these problems. And we solve African problems with African innovation and technology.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you. Thank you. Next.

Maha Abdel Nasser: Thank you. My name is Maha Abdel Nasser. I’m a member of parliament from Egypt. Actually, I want to talk about the datasets that you’ve been talking about. As we all know, of course, data is the most important thing in the AI and in the future, it will be the new gold and everything. And Africa, of course, had the largest datasets in the world, but we are not integrating. We’re not working together. We don’t have data flow. We don’t have even regulation or any kind of forming these datasets to be able to be validated and to be used for the AI models. And we can have this leverage on all AI companies. It’s just we need to integrate and work together. Thank you. I will take you.

Participant: Hi, my name is Shadrack from Ghana. This one goes to Dr. Ismaila. And hearing what is put in place to handle misinformation was so awesome. It’s something I really got interested in. But I wanted to ask this. So how are you doing this? How are you doing to build the trust in public information, especially in communities, the rural communities? You know they don’t have access to all these platforms. So how are you going to start from there? Because if someone can just go to our great grandmothers and tell them AI is coming to kill all of you, and they will start spreading it. And then all of a sudden, everybody starts running from the village without knowing whether it’s true or false.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you very much. So how are you solving that? Thank you. Now we don’t have enough time. Sorry for the rest of the speaker, of the participant. I’m going to give the floor to the panelists to answer for two minutes. And also, for each of you, what we can do together. There are several questions you can answer, or any question. But more important, what we can do together between Lesotho, Senegal, Gambia, and Chad. And we’ve support from South Africa and ECA. We are here together. Egypt also. I’m going to start by the Honorable Minister of Lesotho to answer to some questions. Also, to provide guidance what we can do together. I suggest we agree on one collaborative project. And we can start working together. And we’ll present during Transform Africa, we can brainstorming on this project. Transform Africa will be in July in Kigali. If we have an idea of project, we can work together and to see how we can move forward for this project. during Smart Africa, during Transform Africa meeting. Let me start by the Honorable Minister of Lesotho.

Nthati Moorosi: Thank you, Program Director. I think I had other ideas until I had a lady who represents young people in the room. And I’ve been having this idea that I think we need to bring the youth and understand what is the job opportunities for them in the ICT spectrum. Job and market symposium is what we need to do together. Thank you.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you. Minister Ismaila.

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay: Well, thank you very much. I think our platform that we are talking about, it has a regional component. And we call it the Regional Integration Strategy. Here, we designed it to integrate seamlessly with broader ECOWAS efforts to combat misinformation across West Africa. Now, as a pilot within ECOWAS framework, the center will share insights, alerts, and tools with counterparts across the region to enable collective resilience against this information campaigns. So briefly, we’ll structure the platform to do cross-border data sharing, to be able to scale the architecture, but also allow the platform to evolve so that we can support participation in regional early warning systems, enabling the Gambia to contribute actively to the security and information stability of West African community. We can discuss this later to see how we can all collaborate so that we create a synergy that can allow us to fight together this phenomenon. Now, to answer the gentleman’s question on how we really engage people in the communities, that is why our first initiative was to send people to the communities. And we take leaders from the communities. We don’t send people to go there. People who are leaders in the communities go there and do community outreach. Talk to people in their natural habitat to discuss these issues with them so they can identify what is. fake news, but also how to also verify fake news. And also, we work together a lot with WhatsApp platforms, because we realize that most of the people in communities use WhatsApp. So we engage them to use WhatsApp platforms, and also create a system where they can verify information that they deem to be misinformation.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Thank you. Honorable Minister of Chad.

Boukar Michel: Thank you very much, Mr. Sekh. I think that in Chad, in my country that I know, we have, as I said earlier, built 6,000 kilometers of data centers. We have a data center that is already ready to be inaugurated. What we can do together is share technology. The CEO of Smart Africa is here. How do we manage our data center? This is what we can do together, and see how we can extend the network. We have built about 3,000 kilometers. Okay. No, but it’s good, thank you. It’s good. Nayfatou?

Fatou Blondin Diop: Yes. I think we have all the organizations that we need. We also have all the technologies, since it’s accessible to everyone. And we have a lot of opportunities to meet and share experiences. What is really still the weak point, that is to say that it is a voluntary policy through the financing of infrastructures and applications adapted to our needs and to our societies. For me, these are the essential challenges that I see through any infrastructure policy, which is mainly to take into account now that AI is imposed on us without us having an AI agenda and how to integrate it into our systems. in our societies, and what will be the consequences? What can Senegal do with other countries? What Senegal is already doing with other countries. I think that the Minister of Chad, in his speech, had already presented the initiative that exists between Senegal and the Ivory Coast. We also have initiatives within the CDAO. We have a lot of them. Fifteen days ago, in Abuja, there was a conference of IJF Africa. That’s why I say that at the organizational level, at the synergy level, at the project level, there are a lot of things that are there at the conceptual level. Now, at the level of the active facts, the results on the ground take time to be felt, but we have everything we need to get there.

Hossam Elgamal: Thank you. Osam, quickly. I have two projects and two recommendations. What is clear is that we don’t have enough synergy between Africa and the continent, and this is what we have seen in the cyber security and other things. There are efforts taking place by ECA, by the African Union, but the fact is that we still have a path to go. Now, one project is that we need, very shortly, to agree together on a project where we have an information portal where we can identify a project, where we have an information portal where we can identify the challenges of each country, the opportunities of each country, the best practice that took place in implementing DPIs and other opportunities, and what type of projects are there, and what successful projects have been taking place, so that we can replicate this. We will consider countries that have successfully implemented a project in the digital transformation as a pilot for the rest of our continent. And then we simply bring the company, deliver it, and replicate it.

Dr. Mactar Seck: We have only one minute left. Another one? No, no, it’s okay. Let’s go to Lassina. No, it’s fine. We have enough projects now. I suggest an AI… No, Osam, we have enough projects. Let me give the floor to Lassina.

Lacina Kone: If I have one thing to say to respond also to all these answers, it’s not about one size should fit all. All sizes should fit together. They are a common denominator in any policy harmonization. But trust me, in Africa, if we do not get together, we will not be leveraging the size. The difference between the United States and China today, it’s about size. The difference between India and Africa today, it’s about integration and size. Africa is 1.4 billion. If we all want to develop in silo, it exactly becomes late commerce into the technology. That’s why we have an obligation in this AI era to work together. So let’s work together.

Dr. Mactar Seck: Okay, thank you very much. It is the end of this session. I think we learned a lot about policy challenge perspective in Africa, AI, digital public infrastructure. We already identified four projects. We can work together on these four projects and we’ll make a proposal to the Honorable Minister of Lesotho. One project also to Mr. Ismail, the Minister of Gambia, and also the Minister of Chad, and to see how these projects can work quickly. And we need by next IGF, Inshallah, we can present some quick win coming from this discussion. Otherwise, I would like to thank you, everybody, all my panelists, and see you soon, Inshallah. Bye-bye.

Agreement points

Need for regional collaboration and elimination of duplication between organizations

Speakers

– Nthati Moorosi
– Boukar Michel
– Lacina Kone
– Dr. Mactar Seck

Arguments

Need to eliminate duplication between organizations and frameworks to save costs for connectivity projects

Need for strengthening regional synergies through platforms like Internet Governance Forum in Francophone Africa

No African country can succeed in AI alone; collaboration is essential for policy harmonization and private sector development

Need to avoid duplication and promote policy coherence between frameworks like WSIS, Global Digital Compact, and African digital strategies

Summary

All speakers strongly agree that African countries must work together, eliminate organizational duplication, and coordinate their digital transformation efforts through regional platforms and frameworks

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Critical importance of digital infrastructure development across Africa

Speakers

– Nthati Moorosi
– Boukar Michel
– Fatou Blondin Diop
– Lacina Kone
– Dr. Mactar Seck

Arguments

WSIS should drive e-government as a standard for every country to eliminate long queues and heavy transport costs for services

Chad has built 6,000 kilometers of fiber optics infrastructure to reach internet access across the vast territory

Senegal’s universal fund aims to connect 1,550 localities by 2029, impacting nearly 2 million people with 80 billion CFA francs investment

Computing power and data infrastructure are fundamental challenges for AI implementation in Africa

Internet access should be considered part of human rights and universal access must be provided to all

Summary

There is unanimous agreement that robust digital infrastructure is fundamental to Africa’s development, with speakers sharing concrete examples of national infrastructure projects and emphasizing universal access as a human right

Topics

Infrastructure | Development | Human rights

Importance of capacity building and skills development for digital transformation

Speakers

– Boukar Michel
– Nthati Moorosi
– Lacina Kone

Arguments

Integration of digital skills in school curricula and professional training with targeted programs for marginalized groups

Need for job and market symposium to understand ICT job opportunities for youth in Africa

AI will be an equalizer for inclusion in Africa, addressing over 2,000 languages through multi-stakeholder platforms

Summary

Speakers agree that building digital skills and capacity is essential, particularly for youth and marginalized groups, with emphasis on educational integration and job creation in the ICT sector

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Need for alternative financing models and improved funding mechanisms

Speakers

– Fatou Blondin Diop
– Hossam Elgamal
– Dr. Mactar Seck

Arguments

Need for alternative financing models and improved governance to access resources more easily for universal service development

DPI investment can be related to SDGs impact across healthcare, education, finance, and crisis management sectors

Digital Public Infrastructure is crucial for African development, requiring involvement of private sector and regulatory frameworks

Summary

There is consensus that traditional funding approaches are insufficient and that innovative financing models, private sector involvement, and clear linkage to development outcomes are necessary for digital transformation

Topics

Economic | Development

Similar viewpoints

Both ministers emphasize the importance of regional integration through established frameworks like ECOWAS and Francophone Africa platforms to address shared challenges

Speakers

– Dr. Ismaila Ceesay
– Boukar Michel

Arguments

Regional integration strategy designed to work with ECOWAS framework for cross-border data sharing and collective resilience

Need for strengthening regional synergies through platforms like Internet Governance Forum in Francophone Africa

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Both speakers recognize Africa’s unique position in AI development – having significant linguistic diversity and data resources but lacking the integration and coordination needed to leverage these advantages

Speakers

– Lacina Kone
– Maha Abdel Nasser

Arguments

AI will be an equalizer for inclusion in Africa, addressing over 2,000 languages through multi-stakeholder platforms

Africa has the largest datasets in the world but lacks integration, data flow regulation, and validation for AI models

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Both emphasize the critical importance of youth inclusion in digital transformation, recognizing that Africa’s predominantly young population must be central to any successful digital development strategy

Speakers

– Participant
– Nthati Moorosi

Arguments

Africa’s 65% youth population under 35 must be included in digital transformation conversations and implementation

Need for job and market symposium to understand ICT job opportunities for youth in Africa

Topics

Development | Human rights

Unexpected consensus

Community-level engagement and grassroots innovation

Speakers

– Dr. Ismaila Ceesay
– Participant
– Boukar Michel

Arguments

Community engagement through local leaders and WhatsApp platforms to educate people on identifying fake news

Grassroots innovation is essential for African transformation, requiring support for community-level connectivity solutions

Strengthening digital inclusiveness through partnerships with NGOs and civil society involvement

Explanation

Unexpectedly, there was strong consensus across government ministers and civil society participants that grassroots engagement and community-level solutions are essential, moving beyond typical top-down government approaches to embrace bottom-up innovation and local leadership

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Technology sharing and infrastructure collaboration between countries

Speakers

– Boukar Michel
– Hossam Elgamal
– Nthati Moorosi

Arguments

Need for sharing technology and data center management expertise between countries

Importance of creating information portals to identify challenges, opportunities, and best practices across countries

Need to integrate Africa. We need to integrate the world. We need to get to a point where the software that is being developed is put on an open source, as an open source model. We need to share infrastructure more

Explanation

There was unexpected consensus on the need for countries to share not just policies but actual technology infrastructure and expertise, including open source approaches and shared data centers, which goes beyond typical diplomatic cooperation

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion revealed strong consensus on four main areas: the critical need for regional collaboration and elimination of organizational duplication, the fundamental importance of digital infrastructure development, the necessity of capacity building and skills development, and the requirement for innovative financing mechanisms. There was also unexpected agreement on grassroots engagement and technology sharing between countries.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with significant implications for African digital transformation. The agreement suggests a mature understanding among African leaders that digital development requires coordinated, collaborative approaches rather than isolated national efforts. The consensus on both top-down policy coordination and bottom-up grassroots innovation indicates a comprehensive approach to digital transformation that could be highly effective if implemented collaboratively.

Different viewpoints

Approach to policy harmonization – continental vs national strategies

Speakers

– Lacina Kone
– Participant

Arguments

No African country can succeed in AI alone; collaboration is essential for policy harmonization and private sector development

19 countries, as you said, in Africa has already done their own national AI strategy. Why don’t you think we just localize our own AU strategy instead of individual countries?

Summary

Kone advocates for collaboration while acknowledging existing national strategies, while the participant criticizes the approach of individual countries developing separate strategies instead of localizing the AU continental strategy

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Role and coordination of Smart Africa with other organizations

Speakers

– Lacina Kone
– Participant

Arguments

Smart Africa exists with the vision to transform Africa into a single digital market by 2030

It looks like Smart Africa is trying to do the same thing that we the community are doing. But then what I think is that I would like to see Smart Africa on top there. Then look at all of us, what we are doing, and then try to bring us together

Summary

Kone presents Smart Africa’s vision as leading transformation, while the participant suggests Smart Africa should take a coordinating role above other organizations rather than duplicating their work

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Unexpected differences

Criticism of African Union strategy implementation

Speakers

– Lacina Kone
– Participant

Arguments

Smart Africa exists with the vision to transform Africa into a single digital market by 2030

We see our own Malabo cybersecurity and personal data protection. We see what has happened with that. Less than 25 African countries have signed it. So it makes us look like we are joking. We don’t respect what our union does

Explanation

Unexpected criticism emerged regarding African countries’ failure to implement AU strategies, with the participant arguing that low adoption rates of AU frameworks like the Malabo Convention make Africa look unserious about continental integration, while Kone focuses on Smart Africa’s role in achieving integration

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement center around coordination mechanisms between organizations, approaches to policy harmonization (continental vs national), and the effectiveness of current African Union frameworks

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level. Most speakers share common goals of digital transformation, connectivity, and regional integration, but differ on implementation approaches and organizational roles. The disagreements are constructive and focus on methodology rather than fundamental objectives, suggesting potential for resolution through better coordination and clearer role definition among organizations

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both ministers emphasize the importance of regional integration through established frameworks like ECOWAS and Francophone Africa platforms to address shared challenges

Speakers

– Dr. Ismaila Ceesay
– Boukar Michel

Arguments

Regional integration strategy designed to work with ECOWAS framework for cross-border data sharing and collective resilience

Need for strengthening regional synergies through platforms like Internet Governance Forum in Francophone Africa

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Both speakers recognize Africa’s unique position in AI development – having significant linguistic diversity and data resources but lacking the integration and coordination needed to leverage these advantages

Speakers

– Lacina Kone
– Maha Abdel Nasser

Arguments

AI will be an equalizer for inclusion in Africa, addressing over 2,000 languages through multi-stakeholder platforms

Africa has the largest datasets in the world but lacks integration, data flow regulation, and validation for AI models

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Both emphasize the critical importance of youth inclusion in digital transformation, recognizing that Africa’s predominantly young population must be central to any successful digital development strategy

Speakers

– Participant
– Nthati Moorosi

Arguments

Africa’s 65% youth population under 35 must be included in digital transformation conversations and implementation

Need for job and market symposium to understand ICT job opportunities for youth in Africa

Topics

Development | Human rights

Key takeaways

African countries need to eliminate duplication between organizations and frameworks (WSIS, Smart Africa, AU strategies) to save costs and improve efficiency in digital transformation projects

Regional collaboration and integration are essential for Africa’s digital success – no single African country can succeed alone, especially in AI development

Four concrete collaborative projects were identified: job/market symposium for youth ICT opportunities, regional misinformation/disinformation response platform, technology and data center management sharing, and information portal for best practices

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) development requires proper identification of priority sectors (healthcare, education, finance) with clear SDG impact measurement to attract funding

AI governance in Africa must address five key areas: computing power, datasets, algorithms, AI governance frameworks, and market development through the upcoming Africa AI Council

Misinformation and disinformation pose significant threats to African democracies and require coordinated regional responses with AI-enabled verification platforms

Universal service funds and connectivity initiatives need alternative financing models beyond traditional government funding to achieve ambitious coverage targets

Youth inclusion (65% of Africa’s population under 35) and grassroots innovation are critical for sustainable digital transformation

Resolutions and action items

Develop four collaborative projects between participating countries (Lesotho, Gambia, Chad, Senegal) to be presented at Transform Africa summit in July in Kigali

Smart Africa to launch Africa AI Council on April 4th to coordinate AI policy harmonization across 19 African countries with existing AI strategies

Gambia to expand its National Misinformation and Disinformation Response Center to include regional ECOWAS integration for cross-border data sharing

Create an information portal to identify challenges, opportunities, and best practices across African countries for DPI implementation

Establish accountability framework for IGF and WSIS where countries report on targets and deliverables with leadership commitment

Present quick wins from identified collaborative projects at the next IGF meeting

Unresolved issues

Specific funding mechanisms and sources for Digital Public Infrastructure development remain unclear despite mentioning available funds

How to effectively harmonize the 19 existing national AI policies with continental AU AI strategy without creating more fragmentation

Concrete mechanisms for eliminating duplication between multiple African digital frameworks (WSIS, Smart Africa, AU Digital Transformation Strategy, Malabo Convention)

Technical details of how the regional misinformation platform will integrate with existing ECOWAS systems and other African regions beyond West Africa

Specific governance models and operational frameworks for the proposed collaborative projects

How to ensure grassroots and community-level participation in top-down digital transformation initiatives

Integration of Africa’s vast datasets (largest in the world) for AI development while addressing data sovereignty and cross-border data flow regulations

Suggested compromises

Focus on one or two priority areas (like misinformation/disinformation) where countries can collaborate effectively rather than trying to address all digital challenges simultaneously

Use existing successful country implementations as pilots for replication across the continent rather than creating entirely new solutions

Combine public funding, development assistance, multilateral banking, and private sector investment for DPI projects rather than relying on single funding sources

Adopt ‘all sizes should fit together’ approach for policy harmonization rather than ‘one size fits all’ while maintaining common denominators

Leverage community leaders and local platforms (like WhatsApp) for grassroots engagement rather than imposing external communication channels

Share infrastructure and technology between countries (like Chad’s fiber optics and data centers) to reduce individual country costs and accelerate regional connectivity

I think going forward, OASIS has to look into this issue of duplication. Just this afternoon I was asking somebody, I think it’s Smart Africa this morning, when I asked him, do you ever take time as different entities and organisations to sit down and see where at that level you are duplicating, where there are similarities of activities that you do, programmes that you do, and he did admit that indeed there is some duplication to some extent.

Speaker

Nthati Moorosi (Minister of Lesotho)

Reason

This comment directly addresses a fundamental inefficiency in African digital development – the lack of coordination between organizations leading to duplicated efforts and wasted resources. It’s insightful because it moves beyond discussing individual country challenges to identify a systemic continental problem.

Impact

This comment set the tone for the entire discussion by establishing coordination and collaboration as central themes. It influenced subsequent speakers to emphasize regional cooperation and shared projects, and directly led to the moderator’s push for collaborative projects at the session’s end.

For us in Africa, the definition of inclusions in Africa is very different from the definition of inclusion in the West. For us, the AI will be equalizer for the inclusions. Why? Because we have over 2,000 languages in Africa. How do we make sure all of these people who do not speak any other language to be included in the current life and contribute in the socioeconomic development?

Speaker

Lacina Kone (Smart Africa Director General)

Reason

This comment reframes the entire AI discussion by highlighting Africa’s unique linguistic diversity challenge and positioning AI as a solution rather than just another technology to adopt. It demonstrates deep understanding of African-specific barriers to digital inclusion.

Impact

This shifted the AI conversation from generic implementation challenges to Africa-specific opportunities. It elevated the discussion from technical considerations to socio-cultural inclusion, influencing how other participants viewed AI’s potential role in African development.

Research has shown that politicians and religious leaders are key sources of misinformation but often the media and journalists are the conduits that disseminate this fake news or this disinformation. Therefore, journalists, media chiefs, editors are gatekeepers of information. They are on the forefront of combating these challenges.

Speaker

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay (Minister of Gambia)

Reason

This comment provides a nuanced analysis of misinformation by identifying both the sources and the transmission mechanisms, avoiding oversimplification. It’s particularly insightful because it acknowledges the complex role of media as both part of the problem and the solution.

Impact

This comment deepened the misinformation discussion beyond surface-level solutions to address root causes and systemic issues. It led to more sophisticated discussion about building institutional capacity and created interest from other participants about regional collaboration on this issue.

The difference between the United States and China today, it’s about size. The difference between India and Africa today, it’s about integration and size. Africa is 1.4 billion. If we all want to develop in silo, it exactly becomes late commerce into the technology.

Speaker

Lacina Kone (Smart Africa Director General)

Reason

This comment provides a powerful geopolitical perspective on why African integration is not just beneficial but essential for competing globally in the digital economy. It reframes fragmentation as a strategic disadvantage rather than just an inefficiency.

Impact

This comment served as a compelling call to action that resonated throughout the discussion. It provided the intellectual framework that justified the push for collaborative projects and reinforced the urgency of continental cooperation that became the session’s main outcome.

We often miss out the grassroots. And if we want that change to happen in Africa, it’s gonna be coming from the grassroots. Whatever top-down thing we’re doing, and we don’t have that innovation from the grassroots from down there, it’s gonna be very problematic.

Speaker

Kwaku Entry (Participant from Ghana)

Reason

This comment challenges the entire premise of the ministerial-level discussion by pointing out a fundamental gap between policy-making and implementation. It’s thought-provoking because it questions whether high-level strategies can succeed without grassroots engagement.

Impact

This intervention from the floor shifted the discussion to acknowledge implementation challenges and the importance of bottom-up approaches. It influenced Minister Moorosi’s final recommendation to focus on youth employment opportunities, showing how grassroots perspectives can redirect policy priorities.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by establishing three major themes that persisted throughout: the critical need for coordination to avoid duplication, the importance of Africa-specific solutions rather than copying Western models, and the necessity of grassroots engagement alongside policy-level initiatives. The comments created a progression from identifying systemic problems (duplication, fragmentation) to proposing Africa-centric solutions (AI for linguistic inclusion, regional misinformation platforms) to acknowledging implementation challenges (grassroots disconnect). This intellectual journey culminated in the moderator’s push for concrete collaborative projects, demonstrating how insightful comments can transform a discussion from theoretical to actionable. The interplay between ministerial perspectives and civil society interventions created a more nuanced and comprehensive dialogue than would have emerged from either group alone.

How can different entities and organizations eliminate duplications in their activities and programs to realize cost savings for connectivity projects?

Speaker

Nthati Moorosi (Minister of Lesotho)

Explanation

This addresses the need for coordination between organizations like Smart Africa, UN, and others to avoid redundant efforts and optimize resource allocation for digital infrastructure projects.

How can satellite infrastructure be shared – per country, per region, or through other models to reduce costs?

Speaker

Nthati Moorosi (Minister of Lesotho)

Explanation

This explores cost-effective approaches to satellite deployment for connectivity across Africa, which is crucial for bridging the digital divide.

How can private sector be engaged to reduce data costs and smart device prices in Africa?

Speaker

Nthati Moorosi (Minister of Lesotho)

Explanation

This addresses affordability barriers that prevent widespread digital adoption across the continent.

How can Africa build capacity to manufacture smart devices locally?

Speaker

Nthati Moorosi (Minister of Lesotho)

Explanation

This explores opportunities for local manufacturing to reduce dependency on imports and create jobs while making devices more affordable.

How can the Regional Misinformation and Disinformation Response Center integrate with other ECOWAS countries’ efforts?

Speaker

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay (Minister of Gambia)

Explanation

This addresses the need for regional coordination in combating misinformation, which is a cross-border challenge affecting democratic processes.

Where can funding be sourced for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) implementation across Africa?

Speaker

Dr. Mactar Seck (Moderator)

Explanation

This addresses the critical funding gap for implementing digital infrastructure projects that are essential for economic development.

How can African countries develop computing power necessary for AI implementation?

Speaker

Lacina Kone (Smart Africa)

Explanation

This explores the technical infrastructure requirements for AI adoption, which is crucial for Africa’s competitiveness in the digital economy.

How can data governance and cross-border data flow be established to leverage Africa’s large datasets for AI development?

Speaker

Maha Abdel Nasser (Egyptian Parliament Member)

Explanation

This addresses the need for regulatory frameworks and integration to utilize Africa’s data resources for AI model development and economic leverage.

Why don’t African countries localize the AU AI continental strategy instead of developing individual national strategies?

Speaker

Participant (First row)

Explanation

This questions the lack of harmonization with African Union strategies and the need for better coordination at continental level.

How can trust in public information be built in rural communities with limited access to digital platforms?

Speaker

Shadrack (Ghana participant)

Explanation

This addresses the challenge of combating misinformation in areas with limited digital literacy and infrastructure.

How can grassroots innovation be better integrated into top-down digital transformation initiatives?

Speaker

Kwaku Entry (Ghana participant)

Explanation

This explores the need to include community-level solutions and innovations in national digital strategies for more effective implementation.

How can youth employment opportunities in the ICT sector be better understood and developed?

Speaker

Nthati Moorosi (Minister of Lesotho) – in response to youth representative

Explanation

This addresses the need to create job opportunities for Africa’s young population in the growing digital economy.