On January 26th it took place the Infopoint hybrid conference: Advancing Africa- Europe digital cooperation through knowledge sharing. Hans Stausboll, the Acting Director for Africa, DG INTPA, started by giving a welcoming speech and briefly introducing the D4D access project. He stated that throughout the Covid19 pandemic, we learned that digital transformation has accelerated in many spheres and therefore there is a need to start adapting to the new reality. He mentioned that human-centric digital transformation is one of the objectives of the Global Gateway strategy and it has become one of their key goals for the AU-EU partnership. He specified that the D4D Access platform focus on 4 interlink priorities areas of that collectivity, skills, governance, and entrepreneurship. He also added that the platform currently has 70 different knowledge from more than 20 different organizations. 

Following his speech, Maxime Heyndrickz, the Leader of Knowledge Sharing AU-EU D4D Hub project, did a presentation on the D4D Access platform. He stated that “D4D Access is a knowledge platform that centralizes, promotes, and disseminates good practices and lessons on Digital for Development (D4D).” He explained that the platform was launched in 2022 by the AU-EU D4D Hub project and that it is useful for both users and contributors. 

He pointed out its 5 main features: 

1. On stop shop: we have other platforms but not one focused on Africa
2. Easy to navigate and search for information
3. Low bandwidth and mobile-friendly
4. Available in English and French and currently developing other languages
5. Support all content formats

Later on, he exposed that its main knowledge products are connectivity, digital skills, digital entrepreneurs, e-governance, e-commerce, cybersecurity, digital finance service, privacy, and data protection and podcasts. 

He explained that the platform is open for digital stakeholders in Africa and in Europe and that there is a quality check for the verification of the information. He pointed out that the platform provides advantages to the different stakeholders, as it permits reaching of a new audience, it gives more visibility to the organization, it brings  together information that might be useful for the organization, it driving traffic to the company website, and gives the opportunity to showcasing expertise.  He ended by opening the D4D Access platform and showing how it worked. 

Subsequently, the moderator Helena Lepp started asking questions to the 3 different experts that were participating in the event: 

• Serign Modou Bah, Principal ICT Officer Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, The Gambia
• Agnieszka Skorupinska, Senior EU Advisor, Green Economy, AMAP Vodafone
• Cristina Donateo, Programme Officer DG INTPA

Helena asked about the importance of knowledge sharing in each of the working areas of each expert.  Mr. Modou pointed out the importance of digital cooperation and knowledge sharing between countries and continents. He talked from the African perspective and stated that this exchange of knowledge in the digital world was relevant because mainly EU countries have advanced technology and therefore there is a need of this digital diplomatic cooperation in order for Africa to avoid some issues and challenges. He also emphasizes the need to foster digital cooperation in both the business and the diplomatic sectors. Sergin also raised awareness of the risks of the digital world and mentioned the need to regulate it. 

Ms. Skorupinska answered by saying that “we all produce things and it is important to have platforms to have some sort of data bank”. She indicated that this kind of tool is very efficient when it comes to working and looking for content, and at the same time avoiding creating content that has already been made. She continued by stressing the benefits that companies can extract from it, such as more visibility and the opportunity to connect with other companies. In her particular area, she said that much knowledge could be shared, not only regarding phones but also in several projects that Vodafone has engaged in relation to health and agriculture. She ended by saying that “this could be to show the world what we do, and see what's good and what can be improved.”

Ms. Donateo started by saying that there is a lot to be shared internally and externally within the EU. She explained that particularly the International Partnerships department tries to create strategies with its members and share knowledge with their partners and seek to learn from them. She also mentioned the necessity to put the private sector and civil society in the digital market. 

Helena posed the second question which was: What we can learn from each other? And what are your expectations from the platform?

Modou was the first answering and he said that  “no one has it all” and therefore the learning could be reciprocal. In the case of Africa, it has great potential for the mobile communication sector, however, in terms of energy and sustainability solutions the EU could share some of its knowledge. Skorupinska, explained that in their company they combined local and global approaches and that they were taking several visions into account. As an example of this shared learning, she exposed that they are exporting some administrative solutions to the continent of Africa and that it is functioning well and that at the same time, they are taking knowledge from the continent to implement in Europe.  Donateo, gave feedback to the second question and she said that “the platform will serve as the main place to share information for all the stakeholders between the two continents but also globally” and that “it will take the first step and will serve as a bridge- making matches between EU commission a public sector”. More particularly, she replied that she hopes that their department will use this platform to simplify and we will use it to explain what the EU means and what EU-Africa relation is really about.

To end the session Helena asked the 3 experts for input so that they can improve their platform and relevant resources that they can include in the website. Sergin raised the issue of the lack of digital identity all over the world and the possibility to bring this matter into question at the platform level. He included that the other thing that needed to be done is give visibility to the platform so people start using it. Agnieszka proposed to build a map of stakeholders with the same interest so they can advance together and be able to succeed. And Cristina requested something that could give her an inside on how the different countries in Africa are working together as she works in a unit of regional programs and that could help her with her work.