International elements in digital transformation and development strategies of African countries

To encourage the uptake of digital technologies as drivers of growth and development, countries have developed or are working on various strategies, plans, and other policy documents that cover digital topics, from digitalisation strategies to broadband plans and digital economy policies. Some of these documents also include elements of foreign policy, be they related to enhancing countries’ competitiveness in international markets, building partnerships with international entities, or fostering overall international cooperation on digital policy topics.

Read full report Stronger digital voices from Africa: Building African digital foreign policy and diplomacy.

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Almost all African countries have national strategies, plans, and other policy documents that cover digital topics. These can be either documents specifically focused on digital issues (e.g. broadband plans, digitalisation strategies, e-commerce policies) or broader development plans, which include certain digital components (Figure 3).

*Figure 3. Digital strategies of African countries.*¹

Digital development across Africa is gradually picking up, but the region is significantly behind compared to developed countries. For instance, the eight focus countries have relatively low scores in various indices tracking issues such as network readiness, connectivity, and overall digital development (Table 3). Against this backdrop, when countries outline strategies and policies related to digital issues, these generally focus on setting priorities, goals, and measures to advance overall digital transformation at the national level and help speed up the uptake of digital technologies as drivers of growth and development.

In Kenya, for example, the National Digital Master Plan (2022–2032) has as an overall objective the development of a ‘robust, secure, affordable, accessible and reliable digital ecosystem that benefits the public and private sector, and improved quality of life’.² Nigeria’s Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020–2030) outlines objectives related to accelerating digitalisation processes, expanding broadband penetration, enhancing digital skills, and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, among others.³

Table 3. Digital development level⁴and network readiness score⁵for the eight focus countries.

Country	Digital development level	Network readiness score
Côte d’Ivoire	33.54	35.69
Ghana	40.68	40.86
Kenya	37.14	45.18
Namibia	37.28	35.66
Nigeria	31.76	37.51
Rwanda	30.23	38.65
Senegal	33.04	39.48
South Africa	49.24	48.88
For comparison
Switzerland	83.80	80.20
Highest score	84.17 (Denmark)	82.06 (Netherlands)

Elements of foreign policy

In addition to outlining goals and objectives to be achieved at the national level, some national policies and strategies also include outward-looking elements. Zooming in on the eight focus countries, we look at the extent to which elements of foreign policy (cooperation with international entities, engagement in international processes, positioning of the country on the international scene, etc.) are referenced in general strategies and other policy documents related to digitalisation, ICT, or broad development plans.

When countries develop general plans and policies focused on digitalisation and digital transformation, they almost always outline economic goals related to enhancing their competitiveness in regional and international markets. Kenya’s National Digital Master Plan highlights among its overarching objectives that of positioning the country as a ‘globally competitive digital economy’ and creating a ‘globally attractive legal, regulatory, and policy ecosystem that provides adequate support to start-ups’.

The plan also envisions Kenya ‘as a leader in emerging technology adoption, localisation, and utilisation for development’, as well as in global discourses and discussions on issues related to emerging technologies. Similar goals appear in the country’s Digital Economy Blueprint, which notes that the digital economy offers Kenya a leapfrogging opportunity for economic development, and outlines objectives and actions to help the country ‘become a regional and global innovation leader driving a strong sustainable economy and a better society’.⁶ Likewise, the National ICT Policy wants Kenya to ‘gain global recognition for innovation’, develop an innovation and start-up ecosystem that can lead globally, and ‘become a more prosperous participant in the global economy’.⁷

Nigeria too wants not only to actively participate in the global digital economy but also to leverage digital technologies in order to become ‘a leading player’, as noted in its National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy.

Supporting domestic businesses to increase their competitiveness on regional and global markets – in particular in emerging tech domains – is among the goals included in South Africa’s ICT and Digital Economy Masterplan.⁸

For Ghana, key goals behind its National ICT for Accelerated Development Policy include the development of a ‘dynamic export-led and globally competitive ICT industry’ and ‘securing a place for Ghana in the international economic system’.⁹ These goals are reinforced in the Ghana Beyond Aid policy, which foresees that by 2028, the country ‘would have leveraged its abundant human talent to become a leader (at least in Africa) in the digital economy’.¹⁰

Cote d’Ivoire has a somewhat similar goal outlined in its National Digital Development Strategy 2021–2025: accelerate digital transformation at the national level in order to become one of Africa’s top five innovation leaders by 2025.¹¹

Ensuring that the country is part of the ‘global information society’ and increasing the competitiveness of ICT businesses on international markets are envisioned in Namibia’s Overarching ICT Policy.¹²

Rwanda wants to position itself as a globally competitive knowledge-based economy and this goal appears across several documents such as the ICT Sector Strategic Plan¹³and the Smart Rwanda Master Plan.¹⁴ The country also sees itself as a future regional ICT hub and has a specific strategy in place dedicated to this goal – the ICT Hub Strategy 2024.¹⁵

Developing a digital economy which is competitive at the regional and international levels is one of the goals outlined in Senegal’s Digital Senegal Strategy 2016–2025.¹⁶

It is worth highlighting that some of these countries share leadership-related goals. Kenya and Nigeria, for instance, aim to position themselves as global leaders in innovation and/or the digital economy, while Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire aspire to a similar status at least within Africa. Translated into concrete actions, these goals can help advance healthy competition on the digital economy scene within and beyond the region.

Building partnerships with international entities (in particular, but not limited to, donors and development agencies/banks) to help achieve domestic digital transformation goals is another objective shared by several countries. Kenya intends to foster links with, and seek support (technical, material, financial, capacity development-related) from international development partners to implement elements of its National Digital Master Plan and other ICT and digitalisation policies. It also wants to cooperate with ‘international systems and platforms for global reach’, attract foreign direct investments, and encourage international businesses to open offices in the country (National ICT Policy).

Facilitating partnerships with multinational tech companies ‘to create platforms for indigenous vendors to serve global markets’ is envisioned by Nigeria (National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy), while South Africa’s similar goal is to ‘facilitate investment and partnerships with global buyers of digitally traded services’ (ICT and Digital Economy Masterplan). Attracting international corporations through investment-friendly policies and garnering their support in establishing ICT research and development (R&D) centres are among Rwanda’s objectives (Smart Rwanda Master Plan). Ghana too intends to promote partnerships between local R&D institutions and foreign and international centres of excellence (National ICT for Accelerated Development Policy).

More general goals related to fostering international cooperation are outlined by several countries. Kenya, for instance, wants to ‘leverage regional and international cooperation and engagement to ensure that [it] is able to harness global opportunities’ (National ICT Policy). For Rwanda, one of the goals behind its ICT Hub Strategy is to partner with global organisations/institutions to develop tech-based solutions needed to address socio-economic challenges in areas such as education, health, and agriculture.

The harmonisation of ICT/digital-related domestic policies and legal and regulatory frameworks with relevant international frameworks features as a common goal across national documents in Kenya and Ghana. This implies some level of engagement with the organisations and processes behind those frameworks. Other policy documents are more detailed in this regard, indicating specific instruments and frameworks to ensure harmonisation in areas such as spectrum policies, cybersecurity, and data protection. (We cover these elsewhere.)

South Africa’s policy positions on internet governance

Standing out among the documents we have reviewed is South Africa’s Integrated ICT Policy White Paper, which outlines the country’s position on matters of international internet governance.

With the overarching goal of ‘ensuring that the internet is governed in the public interest, taking into account the diverse needs of all countries across the world and in line with the principles of the open internet’, South Africa outlines the following as specific objectives of its policy on international governance of the internet:

‘Ensure that international governance and administration mechanisms, processes and institutions reinforce the overarching principles of the Open Internet.
Reinforce a multilateral approach to Internet governance in line with the principles set by the United Nations.
Recognise the responsibilities of all governments across the globe to determine public policy on a local, national and international level and ensure equal participation by all governments in Internet governance.
Strengthen Internet governance mechanisms and processes to ensure they are inclusive and open to all interested stakeholders, in line with the South African constitution.
Reinforce the importance of meaningful participation and involvement by all stakeholders across the world in international governance processes and decision-making related to this platform. This includes all governments, technical experts, individual users, community and civil society organisations, academics and the private sector in their respective roles.
Clarify the roles of the different stakeholders in shaping the evolution and development of the principles, norms, rules, standards and programmes that shape the Internet. Ensure that stakeholders involved are globally distributed and that no one country or group of countries has any undue influence on global Internet policies.
Reinforce accountability mechanisms for Internet governance institutions.’

In line with these objectives, South Africa’s position to take in internet governance forums, mechanisms, and processes is to:

‘Endorse positions that recognise the central role that governments, as elected bodies representing and accountable to the public, must play in determining Internet governance policy.
Recognise the right of all countries to develop and implement policies in accordance with the principles of self-determination and subject to the UN principles.
Recognise the responsibility of governments to develop public policy on all aspects of the Internet including infrastructure and services deployment and regulation, cybersecurity, cross-border taxation etc. These should be subject to both national laws and international treaties.’