Africa’s Digital Revolution: Opportunities & Challenges

May 6, 2021

The Policy Center for the New South recently partnered with the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center on a pair of reports exploring the theme of technology and its impact on Africa’s political and economic future. In its report, The Impact of New Technologies on Employment and the Workforce: What Are the Implications for Developing Countries, Especially in Africa?, the PCNS analyzes the relationship between technology and employment in African labor markets, responding to the question of whether technology will help or hurt the twelve million Africans per year entering the job market. Taking a geopolitical angle in its report, Partnering for Africa’s Digital Future: Opportunities for the United States, South Korea, and India, the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center covers opportunities for cooperation between African nations, South Korea, India, and the United States to advance digital infrastructure and technology in Africa as an alternative to China.

Speakers
Jalal Abdel-Latif
Ethiopia
Senior Fellow
Jalal Abdel-Latif is Senior Fellow at Policy Center for the New South and Senior Social Policy Advisor, Gender and Poverty, Social Policy Division, UNECA. Jalal has over 25 years of professional experience in the areas of corporate social responsibility, civic engagement, grant making, project design and enhancing the capacities of non-profit organizations. He began his career as researcher and capacity analyst at UCLA African studies center, before working as Grants manager for USA for Africa (the We Are the World project) in California. He was also a co-founder and CEO of Inter-Africa Group, a regional think thank.  He was previously appointed by the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia to serve on the Ethiopian Telecommunications Board of Directors to assist in its modernization ...
Stephanie Wander
Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, GeoTech Center, Atlantic Council
...
Ali Wyne
Senior Analyst for Global Macro, Eurasia Group
...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    Francisco Cordoba Otalora
    April 21, 2020
    We are entering an economic cycle with a changing nature of consumption focusing on necessities. It seems like the times of luxury, entertainment and vacations are over, at least until the discovery of a vaccine for COVID-19. The unfolding of the health crisis that we have been witnessing in Italy, Spain and other advanced economies will not be as severe as the economic crisis that the Coronavirus will unleash. The International Monetary Fund has been warning us that the financial ...
  • Authors
    Yonas Adeto
    Thomas Gomart
    Paolo Magri
    Greg Mills
    Karin Von Hippel
    Guntram Wolff
    April 9, 2020
    Alors que le coronavirus se propage à travers le monde, la capacité d’atténuer son impact est liée aux ressources disponibles et à l’efficacité des autorités publiques. Voilà pourquoi il nous paraît primordial que les dirigeants internationaux se concentrent sur les conséquences de la pandémie sur les plus vulnérables, en particulier en Afrique. Il y a trois mois, le 31 décembre, les autorités chinoises informaient le bureau de Pékin de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) d’u ...
  • Authors
    Amanda O. Mathe
    April 3, 2020
    The Mara Group, producer of the Mara smartphone, has set up manufacturing facilities in two key strategic countries, Rwanda and South Africa, with a total estimated investment of $100 million. On the back of political shifts in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa embarked on an investment drive, announced in his state of the nation address in 2018. This was followed up with an investment conference, at which Ashish Thakkar, CEO of Mara Group, announced a $100 million investment ...
  • Authors
    Moubarack Lo
    Amaye Sy
    March 27, 2020
    L’objet de ce Papier est de proposer un indice qui synthétise et suit le niveau de compétitivité structurelle et d’attractivité des pays en développement pour l’atteinte de l’émergence économique. Il s’inscrit dans le cadre conceptuel de l’émergence pris au sens large retenu dans l’ouvrage « l’émergence économique des nations: définition et mesure » de Moubarack LO (2017). L’Indice de Compétitivité Structurelle (ICS) vise à proposer une mesure synthétique unique de tous les leviers ...
  • Authors
    March 19, 2020
    L’usage des technologies d’information et de communication et l’intégration des pays africains dans le cyberespace figurent parmi les Objectifs de Développement Durable (ODD) de l’Union Africaine. Cette intégration est de plus en plus observable dans divers secteurs d’activité : (infrastructures numériques, banques, assurances, éducation, commerce, etc.). En Afrique, la course aux technologies et aux services numériques suscite des questions majeures, non seulement sur la place du c ...
  • February 14, 2020
    L’écosystème aéronautique marocain représente l’un des plus beaux cas de réussite industrielle dans un pays en développement. Bien sûr, le Maroc ne produit pas d’avions. Le marché mondial de l’aviation est dominé par un duopole constitué de l’Américain Boeing et de l’Européen Airbus. Une suprématie écrasante, renforcée encore récemment par l’acquisition des divisions commerciales des deux derniers concurrents significatifs dans le domaine des monocouloirs courts courriers : le Canad ...
  • Authors
    Fernando S. PEROBELLI
    Inácio F. ARAÚJO
    Tomás P. DENTINHO
    February 13, 2020
    Angola’s prospects for reconstruction and development of its poor connectivity infrastructure are heavily dependent upon the export performance of its oil sector. Using an interregional input-output table for Angola, we estimate comprehensive measures of trade in value added revealing different hierarchies of interregional and international trade integration, with implications for regional inequality in the country. By encompassing the subnational perspective in the case study of an ...
  • Authors
    Seleman Yusuph Kitenge
    February 12, 2020
    The internet of Things as a disruptive technology of the day and trend brings in a huge sense of connectivity and interaction not only between objects or devices, but also the workforce within institutions to amplify efficiency and productivity. This paper provides insights and perspectives of how institutions can bridge the digital divide with upskilling strategies which unlock an expert IoT workforce. Particularly, it focuses on AUDA – NEPAD scope of work areas such as Economic In ...
  • February 10, 2020
    This book studies Morocco’s growth and employment prospects in the context of a new growth model aimed at avoiding a middle-income trap, in a rapidly changing international environment marked by increased competition from low-wage economies and growing automation of low-skilled jobs. Chapter 1 discusses the changing nature of the international environment facing Morocco and provides the rationale for changing the country’s growth model. Chapter 2 reviews the growth model that Morocc ...
  • Authors
    Pierre Jacquemot
    December 26, 2019
    Depuis 2000, selon une approche et un calendrier qui ont été maintes fois modifiés, les 15 membres de la Communauté Économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) ont exprimé leur volonté d’accélérer le processus d’intégration monétaire dans la région. Le récent débat autour de la Zone franc et sa réforme, désormais décidée avec la France, mais également l’enthousiasme manifesté autour de la création de la Zone de libre-échange continentale (ZLEAf) formellement créée le 30 ma ...