Africa's Digital Transformation: Insights from the Cotonou Declaration

[a.shwehdy]

Dear colleagues and fellows,

As many of you closely follow the evolving digital policy landscape, I wanted to share key reflections from the recently adopted Cotonou Declaration on Accelerating Africa’s Digital Transformation, which emerged from the African WSIS+20 Review Summit (May 2025, Benin).

This declaration stands out as one of Africa's most structured, comprehensive, and forward-looking commitments to digital transformation in recent years. Some core elements I believe deserve special attention:

• Bridging Infrastructure Gaps: Ambitious targets to achieve 95% broadband coverage in leading countries by 2030, while tackling the persistent issue of high mobile data costs across the continent.

• Moving Beyond Digital Access: A shift towards advanced capacity-building, integrating AI, IoT, Big Data, and Quantum Computing into national curricula, addressing both foundational and frontier digital skills.

• Strengthening Governance & Regulation: Clear calls for developing adaptive AI governance frameworks, cross-border data harmonisation, and robust cybersecurity standards.

• Commitment to Measurable Progress: The introduction of an Africa Digital Performance Index and Ministerial Peer Reviews to ensure transparency, benchmarking, and shared learning across Member States.

• Linkage to Global Processes: The Declaration explicitly reinforces Africa’s engagement with WSIS, the IGF, and the GDC, ensuring Africa’s voice remains influential in shaping global digital norms.

In my view, this is not just a declaration, it is a blueprint for operationalising Africa’s digital ambitions, with a heavy emphasis on differentiated targets recognising our continent’s diversity in digital maturity.

I would love to hear your perspectives:

• How do you see this Declaration influencing the national and regional policy work you are involved in?

• How do you envision Member States and the African Union translating these ambitious targets into concrete action and accountability frameworks?

• Are you actively following or contributing to any UN processes related to digital governance (WSIS+20, IGF, Global Digital Compact)?

I believe cross-sharing between these tracks is becoming increasingly essential, and as fellows within the UN ECA community, we are well-positioned to contribute to that dialogue.

Let’s keep this conversation active; Africa's digital future depends on how effectively we move from commitments to coordinated action.