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National AI Strategies Playbook for African Countries

A comprehensive framework for developing national AI strategies in African countries, addressing unique challenges and opportunities.

National AI Strategies Playbook for African Countries
Published Apr 9, 2025

Investigation by

Equiano

National AI Strategies Playbook for African Countries

Equiano Institute

This playbook provides a comprehensive framework for developing national AI strategies in African countries. It is designed to address the unique challenges and opportunities faced by undercapacitated countries in the Horn of Africa, Anglophone, and Francophone regions. The playbook aims to guide policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders in creating effective AI strategies that promote sustainable development, innovation, and economic growth.

Overview

This playbook provides a comprehensive framework for developing national AI strategies in African countries. It is designed to address the unique challenges and opportunities faced by undercapacitated countries in the Horn of Africa, Anglophone, and Francophone regions. The playbook aims to guide policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders in creating effective AI strategies that promote sustainable development, innovation, and economic growth.

The Challenge

Africa faces unique challenges in AI adoption and development, including:

These challenges require coordinated, strategic approaches that are tailored to the specific contexts of different African regions and countries.

Playbook Structure

The playbook is structured into seven key sections that guide the development of comprehensive national AI strategies:

  1. Introduction and Context: Establishes the current state of AI in the country and the rationale for developing a national strategy.
  2. Vision and Strategic Objectives: Defines the long-term vision for AI adoption and key strategic objectives aligned with national development goals.
  3. Foundational Components: Addresses critical elements such as datasets, talent development, and infrastructure requirements.
  4. Compute Access and Resources: Outlines approaches to ensure access to computing resources, including special compute zones and partnerships.
  5. Sector-Specific Applications: Identifies priority sectors for AI implementation and provides use cases and implementation roadmaps.
  6. Partnerships and Collaboration: Explores frameworks for international cooperation, regional integration, and industry-academia collaboration.
  7. Monitoring and Evaluation: Establishes mechanisms for tracking progress, governance, and periodic review.

Instrumental Capacity

Building instrumental capacity is essential for successful AI adoption in Africa. The playbook focuses on five key capacity areas:

Key Recommendations

Based on comprehensive analysis, the playbook offers the following key recommendations:

Resources

The following resources are available to support the implementation of this playbook:


This playbook is a project of the Equiano Institute, an AI research lab focused on ethical AI adoption in Africa. For more information or to contribute to this initiative, please contact us at info@equiano.institute.