WSIS+20 Outcome Document: Fostering Digital Transformation in Africa

Afework Temtime argues that while there are many global and regional frameworks and commitments, the critical gap lies in actual implementation at the country level. The main message he wishes to convey is that African countries must shift from making commitments to actively implementing digital policies in a coordinated manner across the continent.

He noted that there are a lot of global and regional frameworks and commitments, but when it comes to implementation, that element is absent, and most countries are trying to bridge this gap . The regional consultation in Addis Ababa confirmed the demand for coordinated African action, not actions in isolation, but coordinated action at the continental level .

Temtime argues that Africa has seen too many declarations emerge from regional consultations, and what is now needed is a concrete roadmap that translates global resolutions into national implementation actions. ECA produced a report that clusters the 127-paragraph GA resolution into nine thematic pillars as priorities for Africa, aligned to regional and global frameworks such as the GDC.

ECA produced a report analysing and translating the GA resolutions, which contain 127 paragraphs asking member states to implement the digital agenda . These were clustered into nine thematic pillars that are priorities for Africa, aligned to regional and global frameworks, and the resulting roadmap identified implementation challenges such as persistent connectivity gaps, limited financing, digital infrastructure deficits, digital skills capacity gaps, weak policy and regulatory harmonisation, data governance, AI governance challenges, weak monitoring systems, and institutional coordination challenges .

The regional consultation held in Addis Ababa from 1 to 2 July confirmed that African member states and partners are willing to collaborate, provided there is clarity on roles, indicators, reporting mechanisms, financing, and support mechanisms. The consultation focused on operationalising the WSIS Plus 20 outcomes and the Global Digital Compact.

The consultation meeting in Addis Ababa from 1 to 2 July focused on implementation of the WSIS Plus 20 outcomes and operationalising the WSIS Plus 20 and the Global Digital Compact, and showed that member states and partners are ready to collaborate provided there is clarity on roles, indicators, reporting mechanisms, financing, and support mechanisms .

Temtime argues that without measurement, there will always be a disconnect between political commitments and actual delivery at the country level. ECA proposed a minimum set of 15 primary indicators based on the nine identified thematic pillars to ensure comparability across the region.

He explained that having nice strategies and declarations at the global and regional level means nothing unless you measure what you are going to do, as measurement bridges the gap between political commitments and delivery at the country level . The report proposes 15 primary indicators based on the nine pillars as the minimum that all countries should report on, with some countries able to expand coverage, but the minimum ensures comparability across the region .

ECA developed a unified national reporting template to help countries report on various issues in a consistent and harmonised way, reducing the challenge of meeting multiple reporting requirements. This template complements the 15 priority indicators and makes it easier for member states to track and communicate progress.

Temtime noted that reporting on every reporting requirement is very challenging in some cases, and a unified reporting template makes it easier for member states to report on various issues . He emphasised that the 15 priority indicators are not just statistical tools but instruments for leadership accountability, peer learning, and timely corrective action .

The ECA roadmap identified a range of structural challenges that hinder Africa's digital transformation, spanning infrastructure, financing, skills, governance, and institutional coordination. These challenges must be addressed through targeted policy actions including mobilising sustainable financing, scaling up digital skills, and fostering regional collaboration.

The roadmap identified implementation channels including persistent connectivity gaps, limited financing and investment, digital infrastructure deficits, digital skills capacity gaps, weak policy and regulatory harmonisation, data governance and digital sovereignty challenges, AI governance challenges, weak monitoring and data systems, and institutional coordination challenges . It proposes policy actions such as mobilising sustainable and innovative financing, scaling up digital skills, AI and cybersecurity capacity, enhancing data governance programmes, and fostering regional collaboration and improving monitoring and accountability systems .

Temtime argues that multistakeholder consultation should go beyond dialogue and meetings to actively support the implementation of digital programmes. Governments, the private sector, civil society, and the technical community and academia must align their programmes and investments around common priorities.

He stated that multi-stakeholder consultation must support implementation, not only dialogue, and that it is critical for global digital governance in the framework of the Sao Paulo multi-stakeholder guideline . He summarised that the multi-stakeholder model remains central but must now be linked more directly to infrastructure implementation, with all stakeholders aligning programmes and investments around common priorities .

Jimson Olufuye presents AFICTA as a key private sector-led body that brings together ICT associations, companies, and professionals across Africa to advance digital development. AFICTA works in partnership with UNECA, African governments, civil society, and technical and academic groups to implement a multistakeholder approach aligned with WSIS frameworks and the SDGs.

AFICTA was founded in 2012 with six countries and has grown to more than 40 countries in Africa . Its vision is to fulfil the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa, and it partners with UNECA, African governments, civil society organisations, technical and academic and youth groups to foster a multistakeholder process in line with the WSIS framework towards the achievement of the SDGs and the 2063 Africa Agenda .

Wariowei explains that the WSIS Plus 20 outcome document, Resolution A/RES/AT173, emerged from concerted UN efforts and lays out critical pathways for member nations to harness digital society offerings in support of global development goals. These pathways are guided by the WSIS action lines, which serve as building blocks for UN agencies and cover areas such as capacity building, ICT security, and enabling environments.

He noted that the outcome document, Resolution A/RES/AT173, came up with critical pathways that member nations should follow to utilise the offerings and provisions of the digital society in helping and aiding global developmental objectives, including the GDCs and the SDGs . The WSIS action lines, which are building blocks guiding UN agencies, range from capacity building, building confidence and security in ICTs, enabling environment, and cultural diversity .

Wariowei highlights Nigeria's significant national achievements in digital transformation, including the ICT sector's consistent contribution to GDP and major government-led initiatives in talent development and digital identity. These reforms are positioned as concrete examples of how the WSIS Plus 20 framework is being operationalised at the national level.

The ICT sector has consistently contributed 13% to 14% of Nigeria's GDP . The government launched the 3 Million Technical Talents Programme targeting the training of 3 million talents by 2027 in various emerging knowledge areas , and re-enacted the National Identity Management Act to address emerging issues as a critical step forward in digital identity . Nigeria also established structures for interoperable transcontinental payment systems through the Body of Nation coordination of central banks of African countries .

Following Nigeria's landmark multistakeholder delegation and side event at the UNGA high-level meeting on WSIS Plus 20 review, NIDA received a mandate to lead the WSIS Plus 20 outcome document implementation in Nigeria and to coordinate the Africa Digital Acceleration Cooperation. NIDA has since created structures for accelerated digital cooperation and inaugurated the South-South Branch with the Port Harcourt Declaration.

NIDA was assigned the role of coordinating the Africa Digital Acceleration Cooperation at the WSIS Plus 20 side event in New York . It has created structures for accelerated digital cooperation and started regional groupings, which culminated in the inauguration of the South-South Branch with the Port Harcourt Declaration, with efforts ongoing to inaugurate the remaining five geopolitical zones .

Martha Alade argues that Africa's education systems, particularly at secondary school level, rely too heavily on rote learning and memorisation rather than problem-solving approaches. She advocates for a shift to problem-based learning, evidenced by the transformative impact seen when girls are encouraged to identify community problems and develop technological solutions.

She noted that the current education system is appealing and moving towards rote learning and memorisation instead of a problem-solving approach, and that using the problem-solving approach has transformed the STEM ecosystem in Nigeria . At their summit, they had over 265 entries where girls went to their communities, identified problems such as water and waste, related them to biology and physics, and with mentors built solutions to exhibit .

Alade argues that training alone is insufficient if women lack access to foundational digital infrastructure such as digital identity, affordable connectivity, and financial opportunities. Without these structural elements in place, women remain excluded from the digital ecosystem regardless of how much training they receive.

She recommended improved structural access in terms of digital identity, connectivity, affordable access, and more financial opportunities for women, noting that no matter how much women are trained, if they don't have digital identity or digital infrastructure, they are already excluded from the digital ecosystem .

Alade argues that gender-responsive capacity building must go beyond classrooms and workshops to redesign the entire digital ecosystem so that women and girls can innovate, thrive, and lead. Training must be brought directly to rural and marginalised communities, with flexible formats that accommodate women's daily realities such as running small businesses.

She noted that over 70% of African women reside in rural and underserved communities, representing a huge number not just in Africa but in the global south . She gave the example that when training is taken to women in their communities, they can leave their shops for 30 minutes to participate, rather than having to travel to urban centres .

Alade argues that most current data measures participation rather than transformation, which is insufficient for assessing genuine progress. She calls for disaggregated data that reflects the knowledge and experiences of marginalised groups, which is essential for ensuring fair AI and meaningful measurement of success.

She noted that most of the data currently available measures participation when measuring success, but participation is not enough to measure success, and that we should be measuring transformation instead . She further argued that this data should reflect the knowledge of those who are marginalised for us to really have fair AI in this era of the AI revolution .

Alade highlights that government, academia, and civil society organisations are currently operating in silos, duplicating efforts and wasting resources that could be better utilised through coordinated partnerships. She recommends more coordinated partnerships as a key priority for WSIS Plus 20 going forward.

She observed that government, academia, and civil societies are doing projects in silos, replicating resources that could have been conserved if there were coordinated partnerships . She recommended more coordinated partnerships as one of her key recommendations for WSIS Plus 20 moving forward .

Christiana Onoja presents stark statistics demonstrating Africa's severe deficit in computing infrastructure relative to the rest of the world. She frames this not merely as an infrastructure gap but as a fundamental question of power — determining who builds artificial intelligence and who is left only to consume it.

Africa hosts just 0.6% of the world's data centre capacity, while the United States accounts for approximately 45% . Barely 0.2% of global AI compute is located in Africa, and only around 5% of African AI researchers can reliably access the compute they need . She also noted that while G7 countries can train models and get information in just 30 minutes, African counterparts would wait about six days to access some AI models .

Onoja argues that the solutions to Africa's compute deficit are already known and available, including shared compute infrastructure, renewable power data centres, and sovereign public digital infrastructure that can attract private investment. The missing ingredient is coordinated investment and political will to implement these solutions.

She stated that the solutions are already known, from shared compute infrastructure, renewable power data centres, or sovereign public digital infrastructure that attracts private investment, and that what remains is coordinated investment and political will .

Onoja highlights a critical gap in AI language representation, noting that despite Africa's extraordinary linguistic diversity, the vast majority of African languages are absent or poorly represented in leading AI models. This underrepresentation has serious consequences for the relevance and safety of AI systems deployed across the continent.

Africa is home to more than 2,000 languages, yet only about 42 are meaningfully represented in today's leading AI models, and nearly 9 out of 10 African languages remain underrepresented or even invisible . She referenced this in the context of WSIS Action Line 8 .

Onoja argues that the poor performance of AI models in African languages is not merely a technical inconvenience but a serious risk to trust, inclusion, and safety when these systems are deployed in critical settings. When AI is used in hospitals, schools, or public services and fails to perform adequately in local languages, the consequences can be severe.

She noted that a model that performs well in English would degrade significantly when used in Hausa, Yoruba, or other African languages . Once AI enters critical zones like hospitals, schools, or public services, this becomes a question of trust, inclusion, and even safety .

Onoja argues that the challenge of building AI in African languages and the challenge of accessing sufficient computing infrastructure are fundamentally interconnected and cannot be addressed in isolation. Language sovereignty — the ability to develop AI in one's own languages — requires compute sovereignty as its foundation.

She noted progress in Nigeria through the Naija AI programme, an open-source foundation model built for African languages extended through partnerships with Nkena AI . She then stated that language sovereignty is impossible without compute sovereignty, and that local intelligence and compute are not separate challenges but the same challenge viewed from different angles .

Onoja argues that 20 years after WSIS, Africa still measures effort — counting workshops, strategies launched, and declarations signed — rather than measuring actual outcomes and progress. She proposes that the technical community develop a WSIS Implementation Maturity Index spanning all 11 action lines to provide a practical tool for measuring real progress.

She noted that 20 years after WSIS, we still measure effort and not outcomes, counting workshops held, strategies launched, and declarations signed, but still struggling to answer which countries are actually progressing . She proposed that the technical community adapt maturity models into a WSIS implementation maturity index spanning all 11 action lines, as the WSIS Plus 20 outcome document calls for measurable targets and accountability .

Onoja defines the distinct role of the technical community as building and measuring, in contrast to governments that legislate and civil society that advocates. She argues that Africa's challenge is not a lack of digital ambition but an implementation gap, and that closing this gap depends on three things: accessible compute, local intelligence, and measurable progress.

She stated that the government legislates, the civil society advocates, and the technical community builds and measures, and that 20 years after WSIS, Africa does not suffer from a shortage of digital ambition but from an implementation gap . She identified the three pillars of implementation as accessible compute, local intelligence, and measurable progress .

Iwenjiora argues that empowering women and girls with digital and AI skills has a multiplier effect on communities, as mothers have more daily contact with children than fathers and therefore serve as informal educators. This means that investing in women's digital literacy is an investment in the next generation as well.

She noted that when the gap in digital skills exists, a lot of young people are left behind because a mother is a teacher who has more access and daily activities with her children than men . She argued that when we educate women more, we are also educating younger ones, and that empowering men and girls with digital skills creates opportunities, promotes innovations, and drives sustainable development .

Iwenjiora argues that digital development initiatives and funding must be extended to rural areas where people have no internet connectivity or electricity, rather than remaining concentrated in cities. She suggests that providing alternative power supply is one practical way to reach communities that have been left behind for the past 20 years.

She stated that it is not just about taking developments to the cities but going into rural areas where there is no internet connectivity and no electricity, and that providing alternative power supply could help reach those communities . She noted that this approach would allow us to reach the people that we have not reached for the past 20 years .

Jegede explains that Nigerian universities have unbundled computing programmes from a single computer science degree into multiple specialised programmes, including AI, data science, cybersecurity, information technology, and information science. This has led to higher enrolment rates and graduates with more focused, specialised skills in core computing areas.

He noted that computing programmes are no longer strictly computer science, and now there are about seven programmes in computing in Nigeria, including AI, data science, cybersecurity, information communication technology, information technology, and information science . Higher enrolment rates have resulted, with universities now able to admit more students, and graduates are trained in core areas of specialisation rather than only general computer science .

Jegede identifies a significant gap between the theoretical training of academic staff and the technical, practical skills that graduates need to be job-ready. He recommends enhanced collaboration between academia and industry, not just for students but for lecturers and professors, so that they can teach from real-world experience rather than purely from theory.

He noted that many academic staff are trained in theory and research areas of their specialisation, so the technical aspect is missing, making it difficult to impart technical skills onto graduates, resulting in students who are very sound theoretically but unable to leave university with job-ready skills . He recommended a scheme similar to the PTDF model in the petroleum sector, where lecturers go to industry for six to nine months to gain exposure to practical technical aspects of their specialisation .

Jegede highlights that brain drain is a major challenge for African universities, with skilled experts and top graduates leaving for greener pastures in Europe or the United States. He calls on governments and institutions to play vital roles in bringing these talents back home or retaining those already in Africa to ensure sufficient expertise for producing better graduates.

He noted that many universities struggle to retain academics, as many skilled or expert individuals leave for greener pastures, and even the best students, if they remain in academia, prefer going to Europe or the US . He recommended that government and institutions play vital roles in bringing these talents back home or keeping those already at home from migrating, so there will be sufficient expertise to produce better graduates towards enhancing digital transformation in Africa .

Jegede acknowledges that while basic computing facilities have improved in Nigerian universities thanks to government agencies such as Tech Fund, there remains a critical gap in access to powerful computing resources such as GPUs and quantum processors. This limits the quality of advanced computing education and research that universities can offer.

He noted that most universities, departments, or faculties of computing have access to basic facilities, but they do not have access to powerful computing facilities, especially very powerful processors such as GPUs, quantum processors, and other advanced computing facilities . He also acknowledged that government agencies such as Tech Fund have been supportive in providing basic computer and internet facilities, meaning government universities no longer struggle with basic computing facilities .