83476798_Support to SADC Secretariat in developing the SADC Regional Data Strategy, Action Plan and Capacity Building on Data Governance

The programme is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-financed by the European Union (EU). It is part of the GIZ portfolio with the AU and is implemented through a team of diverse backgrounds in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Berlin. The political partner for the regional programme is the Bureau of the Chairperson at the African Union Commission, demonstrating the high-level political commitment of the AU to the project. Further implementation partners in the AU include, among others, the Department of Infrastructure and Energy (DIE), the Directorate of Information and Communications (DIC), the Directorate for Women, Gender and Youth, the AUDA-NEPAD Coordination Unit, as well as the AU Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).

At regional level, DataCipation program has been establishing collaboration and tailored technical support to regional economic communities (RECs) and this includes Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). SADC is a Regional Economic Community comprising 16 Member States, namely: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. SADC is committed to Regional Integration and poverty eradication within Southern Africa through economic development and ensuring peace and security.

The overarching objective of the SADC ICT Sector is to establish communications systems that are universally accessible through, affordable, efficient, resilient, high quality, modern, ubiquitous and fully integrated to meet the diverse requirements of SADC Citizens and to ensure digital inclusion and attainment of the SADC goal of regional economic integration, poverty alleviation and industrialisation. The sector also seeks to ensure that no one is left behind in terms of ICT services.

All Member States have either transposed the SADC Model e-Commerce/ e-Transaction and Cybercrime Model Laws or have an existing legal framework in place. Thirteen (13) Member States (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have put into place laws on data protection. DRC and Mozambique are without explicit Data Protection legislation nor constitutional protection. Comoros has a draft legislation soon to be enacted. The SADC Data Protection and Cybercrime Model Law have been revised and modernised in line with current international, continent and regional Data Protection best practices and guidelines. A detailed set of best practice Guidelines and an Implementation Schedule have also been prepared to assist and guide Member States with domestication of these model laws

Support to SADC is towards development of regional data strategy and action plan in efforts to domesticate the AU Data Policy Framework in the SADC region and member states.

1. Tasks to be performed by the contractor

The contractor is responsible for providing the following services:

• Conduct interviews, desk research and analysis from existing reports and studies on data governance with focus on the SADC region and SADC member states.
  • Review existing legal frameworks, strategies, and policy documents related to data governance in the SADC region and Member States, to identify gaps that require clarification, enhancement or addressing to improve data governance in the region.
  • Study various frameworks on data governance, data economy, open data, and data-based innovation from Africa and beyond to identify best practices, principles, and guidelines. This should include topics such as data sovereignty, trust frameworks, public-private partnerships for data governance, cross-border data flows, personal data protection, industrial data use for innovation, and emerging technologies such as AI, VR and cloud computing amongst others.
  • Facilitate a hybrid workshop to disseminate key findings to member states, private sector stakeholders, civil society groups, academia, and other stakeholder groups, and shape the regional data strategy and action plan. The contractor should ensure that engagement is inclusive, paying special attention to the participation of youth, women, and marginalized communities.
  • Develop the SADC Regional Data Strategy and Action Plan in alignment with the AU DPF and best international practices, standards and frameworks, including timelines for domestication.
  • Adapt Data Governance training based on AU DPF for training SADC and Member States delegates, with emphasis on regional policy and regulatory harmonization and cross – border data flows for innovation and development, as well as address key issues from the key findings of the desk research.
  • Ensure the strategy document and action plan documents address emerging technologies and their implications on data governance.
  • Prepare an Action Plan for SADC with detailed best practice guidelines for data governance harmonization at regional, national, and organizational levels including proposed projects, timelines, budget and proposed implementing entities.
  • Propose potential implementation/funding partners for the proposed projects identified in the Strategy and Action Plan.
  • Facilitate a validation workshop for the strategy development, incorporating stakeholder inputs.
  • Recommend capacity-building initiatives to support the enforcement of unified data governance at the national level.
  • Prepare a report summarizing research findings on international best practices in regional data governance and submit the final SADC Regional Data Strategy and Action Plan.
  • Manages costs and expenditures, accounting processes and invoicing in line with the requirements of GIZ.
  • Reports regularly to GIZ and SADC in accordance with the current AVB of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.