Can multilateral actors co-develop and fund modular AI governance toolkits for African governments to adapt, pilot and localize?
Research Commentary
The question of whether multilateral actors can effectively co-develop modular AI governance toolkits for African governments has emerged as a key issue in 2025, coinciding with the African Union's adoption of its Continental AI Strategy and unprecedented momentum in AI governance initiatives across the continent. This research examines the complex landscape of opportunities and challenges revealing that while significant potential exists, success depends fundamentally on African agency, genuine partnership and rejection of digital colonialism.
The emerging consensus and opportunity
The convergence of multilateral support with African leadership has created an unprecedented opportunity for comprehensive AI governance development. The African Union's Continental AI Strategy, adopted in July 2024 provides a unified framework emphasizing Africa-centric, development-focused approaches that align with ethical, responsible and equitable AI practices. This strategic foundation, combined with substantial international funding including Germany's €230 million Digital Transformation program, the EU's multi-billion Global Gateway investment and the Gates Foundation's $1.6 billion Grand Challenges network creates favorable conditions for co-development.
Several African countries are demonstrating readiness for sophisticated AI governance frameworks. Kenya launched its first National AI Strategy in January 2025, positioning itself as Africa's leading AI hub while Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Rwanda have developed comprehensive strategies emphasizing ethical oversight, innovation promotion and capacity building. These initiatives suggest that African governments are not merely passive recipients of external frameworks but active architects of their digital futures.
The modular toolkit approach has proven successful in other governance domains. Climate adaptation frameworks have been successfully implemented in 86+ countries through the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) framework while Basel II/III financial regulations have been selectively adapted across African countries like Kenya and Ghana. The WHO's Health Systems Building Blocks framework achieved 60% performance in Ethiopia, demonstrating that flexible, modular approaches can accommodate diverse contexts while maintaining core standards.
Critical implementation challenges demand nuanced solutions
Despite these opportunities, substantial barriers threaten effective implementation. Africa's digital infrastructure constraints are severe: nearly half of sub-Saharan Africa lacks electricity access, only 1% of global computing capacity exists on the continent and just 5% of African AI talent has access to computational power for research. These structural limitations create dependency risks where African governments may adopt externally developed frameworks without the infrastructure to meaningfully adapt or implement them.
The regulatory capacity crisis compounds these challenges. Only 7 African nations have drafted national AI strategies as of 2024 with none implementing formal AI regulation. African data regulators face severe shortages of AI experts while competing with private sector salary packages that are often 3-4 times higher than government positions. This capacity gap creates vulnerabilities where sophisticated governance frameworks may exist on paper but lack the institutional expertise for effective implementation.
Cultural and linguistic barriers further complicate toolkit deployment. Only 0.02% of total internet content exists in African languages and AI systems trained primarily on Western data exhibit significant biases against African contexts. Facial recognition systems show 29-40% accuracy drops on darker skin tones while language models fail to capture the nuances of over 1,000-2,000 African languages. These technical limitations suggest that even well-intentioned modular toolkits may perpetuate exclusion if not fundamentally redesigned for African contexts.
The digital colonialism critique gains validity
Power dynamics surrounding externally funded governance frameworks present the most serious concern. The research reveals patterns of digital colonialism where African data is extracted without corresponding benefits, local value addition remains minimal and dependency on foreign cloud infrastructure creates strategic vulnerabilities. Over 1,000 African startups currently rely on foreign AI models while most data generated in Africa is owned by multinationals with infrastructure developed outside the continent.
Historical parallels with failed development interventions are particularly instructive. The Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) of the 1980s-2000s, implemented across 40+ Sub-Saharan African countries demonstrate how externally-imposed frameworks can undermine sovereignty and create dependency. SAPs were essentially not adapted to the African situation leading to social sector cuts, agricultural disruption and limited economic growth while creating unsustainable debt burdens. The African Union's African Alternative Framework to SAPs (AAF-SAP) in 1989 explicitly rejected these approaches, emphasizing the need for indigenous development solutions.
Contemporary aid effectiveness research supports these concerns. Studies of Swedish regional development cooperation with African organizations show that despite official commitments to local ownership, African governments felt less responsible for their own regional organizations due to over-reliance on foreign funding. This pattern suggests that even well-intentioned multilateral initiatives risk creating governance dependency rather than building autonomous capacity.
Ubuntu philosophy offers alternative framework
African ethical frameworks provide compelling alternatives to western-centric AI governance models. The Ubuntu philosophy emphasizing that I am because we are offers a community-oriented approach that prioritizes collective well-being over individual utility maximization. This contrasts sharply with liberal democratic frameworks that emphasize individual rights and market mechanisms.
Ubuntu-based AI governance would emphasize community-centered design, participatory governance involving all stakeholders and social harmony over efficiency maximization. Practical applications include community-led ethical review boards for AI projects, collective data ownership models and integration of traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. This approach aligns with broader African values of communalism, environmental stewardship and respect for traditional wisdom that could inform more culturally appropriate governance frameworks.
Successful co-development models exist but require transformation
The research identifies several successful co-development models that offer blueprints for effective partnership. The Kenya-Estonia digital transformation partnership demonstrates how genuine collaboration can work: a €2.4 million initiative that established local project management in Nairobi, hired local representatives and focused on capacity building through existing institutions like the Kenya School of Government. Crucially, Estonian partners adapted their virtual work culture to in-person relationship building, recognizing that trust built on familiarity was essential for success.
Ghana's achievement of one of Africa's first interoperable mobile money systems, supporting $57 million in payments by 2019 illustrates regulatory co-development success. The Bank of Ghana-led approach maintained comprehensive oversight while allowing innovation, demonstrating that African institutions can effectively adapt international best practices when they retain leadership and control.
However, successful models share characteristics often absent from current multilateral approaches such as genuine local ownership, iterative co-design processes, cultural adaptation strategies and sustainable capacity building rather than project-based interventions. The Africa GreenCo partnership's master vision document with regular updates and strong monitoring systems provides a template for long-term collaborative governance.
Recommendations for ethical co-development
For multilateral AI governance toolkits to succeed in African contexts, fundamental changes in approach are essential. African leadership must be non-negotiable from design through implementation, moving beyond consultation to genuine co-creation. This requires multilateral organizations to reform voting systems, develop flexible context-specific approaches and invest in long-term capacity building over short-term project delivery.
Technical adaptations must address African realities. Massive investment in renewable energy and digital infrastructure is prerequisite, alongside development of regional compute hubs and shared cloud infrastructure pools. Data sovereignty frameworks must prevent extraction while enabling innovation, potentially through African data pools and markets managed by continental institutions.
Legal and regulatory frameworks must harmonize across African countries while respecting diverse legal traditions. The AU Continental AI Strategy provides overarching coordination but implementation requires enhanced cooperation with Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and protection of indigenous knowledge systems through Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principles.
Most importantly, power dynamics must be explicitly addressed. This means rejecting top-down impositions, preventing dependency creation, respecting sovereignty and recognizing traditional governance systems. Success depends on African governments strengthening regional coordination to increase bargaining power while developing indigenous expertise and institutional capacity.
Conclusion
Multilateral actors can co-develop modular AI governance toolkits for African governments but only under conditions that fundamentally respect African agency, sovereignty and values. The technical and financial resources exist, successful models demonstrate feasibility and African leadership is increasingly sophisticated and coordinated.
However, the risks of digital colonialism, dependency creation and cultural impositions are substantial and historically precedented. Success requires unprecedented commitment to genuine partnership, massive investment in African capacity building and willingness by multilateral actors to accept African leadership even when it challenges conventional approaches.
The Ubuntu philosophy and other African ethical frameworks offer valuable alternatives to western-centric governance models but realizing their potential requires rejecting aid dependency in favor of collaborative partnerships based on mutual respect and reciprocity. African governments must assert technological sovereignty while remaining open to beneficial cooperation, building on the foundation provided by the AU Continental AI Strategy to create governance frameworks that serve African development priorities.
The path forward demands resistance to external domination and proactive construction of African-centered alternatives. The stakes could not be higher, AI governance decisions made in the next five years will shape Africa's digital future for decades to come. Success depends on ensuring that this future is authored by Africans, for Africans, reflecting African values, priorities and contexts while contributing to global AI governance as equal partners rather than subordinate recipients.