• IGAD, with World Bank support through EARDIP, held a three-day workshop to validate a PPP framework for expanding digital infrastructure and services.
• Launched in June 2023, EARDIP aims to build a unified digital market by boosting cross-border broadband, data flows, and trade.
• The World Bank notes Sub-Saharan African countries must invest 2–8% of GDP annually through 2030 to close infrastructure gaps.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc of eight East African countries—Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda—convened a three-day regional validation workshop (January 19–21) with support from the World Bank through the Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project (EARDIP). The workshop focused on advancing a Regional Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Framework to guide cooperation between governments and the private sector in expanding digital infrastructure and services across the region.

The meeting sought to secure member-state ownership of the framework and ensure that proposed approaches reflect regional priorities. Outcomes are expected to shape PPP initiatives that foster inclusive growth, enable cross-border trade, and strengthen resilient digital systems. Speaking at the event, Dr. Fatuma Adan, Head of the IGAD Mission to Kenya, described PPPs as “essential to unlocking the expertise, innovation, and investment required to deliver the digital future the region aspires to.”

Signed in June 2023 with World Bank funding, EARDIP aims to build a unified digital market by improving cross-border broadband, data flows, and digital trade. Developed jointly by the World Bank, the East African Community (EAC), IGAD, and participating countries, the initiative builds on the EAC’s integration agenda, which has advanced through the establishment of a Customs Union in 2005, a Common Market in 2010, and plans for a Monetary Union by 2031.

Within this framework, digital cooperation has become a priority, with notable progress through the One Network Area initiative—eliminating roaming charges and capping cross-border tariffs—and the adoption of a Regional e-Commerce Strategy in 2022.

The importance of private capital in driving this transformation is underscored by World Bank findings. In its 2024 report Leveraging Private Sector Investment in Digital Communications Infrastructure in Eastern Africa, the Bank, citing research by Lee and Gonzalez (2022), said that from 2007 to 2020, private sector investment accounted for about 85 percent of all telecoms spending in Sub-Saharan Africa—US$25.3 billion compared with US$4.6 billion from the public sector.

The report further observes that while private sector investment has significantly improved telecommunications and digital communications infrastructure (DCI) coverage and usage in Eastern Africa, substantial gaps remain. To close these, the World Bank estimates that Sub-Saharan African countries will need to allocate between 2 and 8 percent of GDP annually through 2030.

Hikmatu Bilali