Many African countries will operationalize continental DPI frameworks in 2026: Report

Research and policy organization DigitA has projected that 2026 will be a turning point for many African nations where the digital policy foundations they have laid over the years will be translated into tangible outcomes that advance the operationalization of frameworks on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

This prognosis is part of a report by the outfit titled “Africa’s digital policy review: 2025 in perspective and outlook for 2026.”

Written against the backdrop of the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy (2020–2030) reaching its midpoint, the report makes an overview of how continental ambitions are being translated into concrete regulatory and institutional reforms aimed at building an integrated African digital market, despite stubborn challenges like infrastructure gaps, capacity constraints, policy inadequacies and coordination hurdles.

There were noticeable policy shifts across five critical domains of Africa’s digital economy in the year just ended, according to the report. These domains include fintech, AI, start-up and innovation, digital trade and data protection, privacy and cross-border data flows.

As mentioned in the report, fintech policy was significantly strengthened across some countries in 2025, AI adoption further matured with 16 African countries launching national AI strategies, start-up and innovation policy got a boost with operationalization of Start-up Acts in a number of countries, progress was recorded on the AfCFTA digital trade protocol, and there were equally some gains on data protection policy and privacy.

These advances notwithstanding, 2026 is expected to be a year in which they translate into effective implementation and operationalization.

Per the report, the success of the operationalization will depend on effective institutional coordination across national and continental levels; making frameworks operational for digital identity, payments, cross-border data flows, and digital trade; and investing in the building of digital systems that are trusted, resilient and accessible to drive inclusive growth.

Speaking in an interview with CNBC Africa regarding the report, Managing Partner of DigitA, Oswald Guobadia, reiterated that with most of the policies and frameworks to guide Africa’s DPI implementation now in place, “what is important now is that we come together and develop an implementation plan to drive these policy and strategy positions into fruition.”

“When you look at the 2020–2030 digital transformation plan, many of these ideas have already been embedded across the foundational elements for execution. What now needs to happen is for leadership to drive the actual implementation of these fantastic ideas and also to provide clear information to the market so that stakeholders can understand their role and can participate collaboratively,” he added.

Guobadia also shared his thoughts on digital trade, describing it as “a key driver of growth in Africa.” Experts agree DPI has a preponderant role in advancing the push for the AU’s single African market vision by 2030.

In the same light, another recent projection by experts indicates that Africa will continue to build on the gains of its DPI implementation in the next four years with focus on certain high-impact sectors such as health, education and climate adaptation.

Article Topics

Africa  |  African Union  |  DigitA  |  digital ID infrastructure  |  digital public infrastructure