Africa Sandboxes Forum

Building a Pan-African Sandbox Ecosystem for Agile Data Governance

Africa Sandboxes Forum in context

The Datasphere Initiative’s Africa Sandboxes Forum is fostering a pan-African community dedicated to enabling innovative, cross-border data governance solutions. Through a multistakeholder process, the Forum invites local, regional, and global experts to explore how regulatory and operational sandboxes can support responsible data flows, collaboration, and experimentation.

Next events

The Africa Sandboxes for AI Co-Creation Lab, held alongside the 8th Network of African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA) Conference in Abuja (May 6–8, 2025), will explore how regulatory sandboxes can foster responsible AI adoption and data-driven innovation across borders.

Aligned with NADPA’s theme, “Balancing Innovation in Africa,” the Lab will bring together policymakers, regulators, businesses, and civil society to co-design inclusive, privacy-conscious sandbox frameworks. It will highlight the role of cross-border sandboxes in enabling trusted data flows and scaling innovation, drawing on newest publications from the Datasphere Initiative.

Africa Sandboxes activities

Co-creation Labs

The Africa Sandboxes Forum’s first Co-Creation Lab was launched in Kigali during the Global AI Summit for Africa. This interactive session brought together stakeholders from government, academia, civil society, and the private sector to collaboratively explore what responsible AI sandboxes could look like in Africa. The Lab series will continue across the region, advancing inclusive co-design, ethical principles, and Africa-led sandbox models in priority sectors like health, finance, and AI.

Sandbox Coaching Program

The Datasphere Initiative offers organizations in Africa personalized coaching sessions to support their sandbox design and implementation. For organizations unsure about whether a sandbox is the solution they need, the Datasphere Initiative also offers personalized exploration sessions.

Resources

Publications

Latest blogs

Milestones

2023

Phase 1

Launch

The Datasphere Initiative launched the Africa Sandboxes Forum in July 2023 to support the growing use of regulatory sandboxes across the continent and foster cross-border collaboration. By providing safe, testable spaces for innovation, sandboxes help bridge gaps between sectors and regions. To further this mission, the Initiative developed “A Guide to Cross-Border Sandboxes for Data”, a self-paced online course with a dedicated Africa module, drawing from its flagship publications to equip stakeholders with practical skills to design and implement context-driven sandbox initiatives.

Phase 2

Dialogue & working groups

Following its launch, the Africa Sandboxes Forum hosted Regulatory Roundtables that brought together African regulators, policymakers, and innovators to explore how sandboxes can address challenges in rapidly evolving digital sectors. This effort led to the creation of working groups in health, finance, and AI, where participants identified common regulatory hurdles, discussed necessary updates to existing frameworks, and examined how sandboxes can enhance responsiveness and informed decision-making in data-driven governance.

2025

Phase 3

Co-creation, coaching & scaling impact

As the Africa Sandboxes Forum enters its third phase, the focus shifts from exploration to action—empowering institutions across the continent to turn ideas into inclusive, practical solutions. Key initiatives include the launch of the Africa Sandboxes Outlook Report, offering a comprehensive analysis of sandbox activity in Africa; the rollout of a Sandbox Coaching Program to build capacity among civil servants and regulators; and the kick-off of Co-Creation Labs, beginning in Kigali, to collaboratively design responsible, Africa-led sandbox models in key sectors such as health, finance, and AI.

Our community

If you are interested in joining the Africa Forum as a participant or partner please contact us.