Empowering Growth: Building Harmonised Digital Public Infrastructure in the Global South

Cape Town Conversations serves as an annual South Africa-based platform that brings together key stakeholders and new voices. It is designed as a common platform where established and emerging actors convene for a global conversation on contemporary issues of global governance —identifying new challenges, ideating possible solutions, and shaping the world order of the future.

In the context of Global South nations, especially the ones in Africa, the imperative for a robust Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is underscored by the need for seamless data flows and interoperable frameworks. 

These regions face unique challenges in economic and technological development, necessitating efficient and scalable DPIs to foster growth. The efficiency of DPIs in these areas can be optimized by enabling both domestic and cross-border data flows while simultaneously addressing the risks posed by unharmonized data governance frameworks. Achieving a harmonized approach to data governance is crucial for mitigating privacy concerns and building trust in digital infrastructure, ultimately facilitating the sustainable evolution and widespread adoption of DPIs for economic development and global collaboration that the G20 forum can enable.

Carolina Rossini, Director for Policy and Research at the Datasphere Initiative participated in this session as speaker.