Digital transformation is accelerating in Africa and is introducing many gains. Internet connectivity is powering innovations, driving inclusion, providing jobs and generating solutions to legacy challenges. These gains, however, are limited to the connected, locking out over half of Africa’s population. The technology initiative at the Carnegie Africa Program seeks to provide policy makers and stakeholders with practical policy insights to bridge Africa’s digital divide and increase connectivity gains across the continent. We will provide evidence-based analysis, convene policy dialogues and forge partnerships to advance Africa’s digital transformation.
To modernize the U.S.-Africa relationship, U.S. diplomatic and development efforts should prioritize AI-powered technologies and the broader digital transformation.
Policymakers and legislators around the world are debating how to regulate artificial intelligence. Although the U.S., the European Union and China dominate coverage of this effort, a less-publicized but vital discourse about AI is taking place throughout Africa.
What the United States and Africa have accomplished in their first year of digital collaboration.
The redesign policy for Nigeria’s currency, the naira, resulted in a cash shortage and economic difficulties for Nigerians who rely on cash. However, implementation is still possible if policymakers consider several recommendations.
With financial commitments of over $350 million in investment and $450 million more in financing facilitation, the U.S. Digital Transformation with Africa aims to close the digital gap in Africa through investment across three core areas: the digital economy and infrastructure, human capital development, and the digital enabling environment.
The United States’ new digital initiative with Africa is timely and promising, but its vast potential will go unrealized if its mission isn’t translated into targeted action. These three proposals could help.
Join the Carnegie Africa Program on the margins of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit as we host African policymakers and representatives from the U.S. government to discuss how the United States can partner with African countries to promote innovation and build an inclusive digital economy.
Africa’s mobile phone market is one area where U.S.-China technology decoupling will be evident, an industry at the heart of Africa’s digital transformation.
Though the adoption of information and communication technologies in Kenya’s electoral process has served to remedy legacy concerns, it has also raised new issues, such as privacy matters.
A network of undersea cables connects the entire world and holds the internet together. In the last few decades, these submarine cables have also allowed millions of Africans to go online. Today, major tech companies and governments like Google, Meta, and China have made great efforts to connect Africa to the online world.
Persistent divides in digital connectivity threaten the socio-economic development of many countries and regions. Africa is among the most adversely impacted.
Digital connectivity is enriching the human experience—but the reality is that this is limited to those who are connected.
