Digitalisation in Africa: adapting to a changing global landscape

Digital technologies are reshaping relations within and beyond the African continent at an unprecedented pace. The expansion of mobile connectivity, cloud computing, data analytics and platform-based services has transformed communication, payments, trade, governance and access to services. Digital tools are now central to socio-economic development and state capacity across Africa, as reflected in the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy (2020-2030) and the African Digital Compact (2024).

These shifts are driving profound changes in multiple spheres. Governments are experimenting with digital and data-driven governance systems, raising new questions around sovereignty, regulation and public-private power. Digital technologies are also increasingly embedded in financing, commerce and taxation and in border administration, policing and security; while social media platforms also shape protest mobilization, disinformation and surveillance.

This workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners and policymakers, to discuss how African countries are defining, shaping and adapting to the evolving international digital landscape.

Agenda

9.30 – 10.00am

Registration and refreshments 

10.00 – 10.30am

Opening address

Alessandra Lustrati, Head of Digital Development Cluster, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Professor Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Professor of Law and Technology, Leeds Law School, Leeds Beckett University

10.30 – 11.30am

Panel 1: Governing Africa’s Digital Economy

African agency in shaping global cyber diplomacy and digital governance

Ndidi Olibamoyo, Postgraduate Researcher, University of Bath Whose Digital Public Infrastructure? A Stakeholder Analysis

Mary Abounabhan, Research Officer, Institute of Development Studies

Fragmented Cross-Border Data Flows Regulations: Implications for the Digitisation of Regional Trade in Africa
Aduragbemi Odubela, Postgraduate Researcher, Leeds Beckett University

Chair: Alex Krasodomski, Programme Director, Digital Society Programme, Chatham House

11.30am – 12.00pm

Coffee break

12.00 – 1.00pm

Panel 2: Digital technology, security and conflict

Digital platforms, AI and conflict dynamics in Somalia

Dr Peter Chonka, Senior Lecturer, King’s College London

Surveillance and the state: people’s rights in Kenya’s Digital Public Infrastructure

Namir Shabibi, Visiting Lecturer in Geopolitics, University of Westminster; Investigative Journalist

Chair: Dr Tarela Ike, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Policing, Teesside University

1.00 – 1.15pm

Concluding remarks

Tighisti Amare, Director, Africa Programme, Chatham House

Dr Lesley Masters, Visiting Fellow, Loughborough London Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University

1.15-2.15pm

Lunch