Ms Nodumo Dhlamini Director – ICT Services & Knowledge Management Association of African Universities

1. Data Infrastructure & Research
Strategy Priorities in Africa
Ms Nodumo Dhlamini
Director – ICT Services &
Knowledge Management
Association of African Universities

2. Presentation Outline
 About AAU
 The Data Infrastructure Picture from the AAU
Angle
 Data Infrastructure Initiatives that AAU is involved
in
 How AAU support research capacity development
 Data Infrastructure & Research Strategy Priorities
in Africa

3. About the Association of
African Universities
 Established as an International NGO on 12th November
1967 in Rabat, Morocco
 Created by representatives of 34 African Universities
 Apex H.E. organization in Africa and principal forum for
consultation, exchange of information and cooperation
among universities in Africa
 Headquarters permanently located in Accra under a
Headquarters Agreement between Govt of Ghana & AAU
 Supports improvement of the quality of higher education in
Africa
 Currently 380 member universities

4. AAU Programs align to
Continental & Global Agenda
 Agenda 2063: http://tinyurl.com/jhf59fn
 Continental Education Strategy (16-25):
http://tinyurl.com/j3q7dr8
 Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for
Africa 2024: http://tinyurl.com/ho89xyc
 Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa:
http://tinyurl.com/js29rrn
 Strategy for the Harmonisation of Statistics in
Africa: http://tinyurl.com/j56hklf
 Sustainable Agenda 2030:
http://tinyurl.com/od9mens

5. Data Infrastructure Building
Blocks
 Policies – institutional, national, regional, continental
 Digital (e-infrastructure) – software, hardware,
protocols – for data collection, analysis, sharing, use
and visualization
 Empowers researchers with online access facilities,
resources and tools for collaboration
 Powerful ICT tools and platforms for computing,
connectivity, data storage and access to virtual
research environments

6. The state of data infrastructure &
research quality in Africa
 Inadequate data infrastructure
 Inadequate research quality (not enough research being
done, irrelevant research, limited research dissemination)
 Challenges mentioned by Professor Devika
 Iceberg mentioned by Professor Boulton
 Traditional big players in data in Africa – World Bank,
UNESCO. National Statistics offices struggling to catch up
 High demand for data from African universities and from
the Association of African Universities (capacities, research
funding, indicators tracked by continental agendas, etc)

7. Data Infrastructure Initiatives AAU
involved in
 National Research & Education Networks (NRENs) – goal to improve
internet access for teaching, learning, research and collaboration
 UbuntuNet Alliance
 West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN)
 Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN)
 Database of African Theses and Dissertations – currently being
revamped in collaboration with the Academy of Science of South Africa
 AfricaConnect2 – EU Africa Partnership – supports the development of
high capacity NRENs and RRENs (Regional Research & Education
Networks) in Africa. Also sets up connections to the pan European GEANT
Network. Provides African research communities with opportunities for
global collaborations through e-infrastructure
 Worked with the International Association of Universities to collect
data on African Universities (Lessons: incentives for universities to provide
data; flexible systems to allow evolving data needs, IPR)

8. Other Data Infrastructure
Initiatives in Africa
 African Development Bank (AFDB) Open Data Initiative –
boosting access to quality data necessary for monitoring
development results in African Countries:
http://www.afdb.org/en/knowledge/statistics/data-portal/
 Educational Management Information Systems (EMIS)
Project – led by the African Union Commission and the
Association for the Development of Education in Africa
(ADEA):
http://www.adeanet.org/adea/downloadcenter/sta_06_surve
yrep.pdf.pdf
 Ghana Open Data Initiative (GODI): http://data.gov.gh/

9. AAU Supports Research Capacity
Development in Africa
 World Bank Supported African Higher Education Centers of
Excellence
 Africa Center of Excellence for Data Science at the
College of Business and Economics, University of Rwanda
 Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and
Technology (PASET) – African Governments have
established the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund to
train 10,000 PhDs
 Pan African University
 Commissioned Research – relevant to Africa’s development

10. Data Infrastructure & Research
Priorities in Africa - I
Must be aligned to support
 The Agenda 2063 of the African Union
 Feed Africa
 Light up and power Africa
 Industrialize Africa
 Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa
 Integrate Africa
 Provision of data to monitor the development results in African
countries (SDGs and other global agendas)
 Fostering of evidence-based decision making
 Public Accountability
 Good Governance
 Showing the impact of African higher education and research

11. Data Infrastructure & Research
Priorities in Africa - II
Must
 Build and integrate institutional, national, regional and
continental Management Information Systems for data
collection, analysis, sharing, use and visualization – through
agreed norms and standards
 Strengthen institutional and national research repositories
 Support capacity building – for data skills and data policy
formulation & implementation
 Support implementation of protocols and procedures that
facilitate coherence, collaboration and usability
 Support collaboration so we don’t re-invent the wheel – but
benefit from data re-use
 Support National Research and Education Networks

12. CONCLUSION
 The Association of African Universities is
eager to continue collaborating to
support the development of open data
infrastructure for increased research
quality, learning and evidence-based
decision making