Digital Skills Overview

Continental Insights

• Southern Africa presents the strongest overall performance in Digital Skills, anchored by South Africa's continent-leading score (25.85 points, rank 1)
• North Africa demonstrates considerable strength, with three countries (Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia) ranking in the top five continent-wide
• East Africa's performance varies widely, with Kenya (21.65 points, rank 5) leading through innovation in developer communities
• West Africa shows mixed performance, with Ghana (16 points, rank 15) leading the region despite lagging top continental performers
• Central Africa generally demonstrates the weakest regional performance, though with Cameroon (20.9 points, rank 7) as a notable exception
• Gender disparities in STEM fields remain a challenge continent-wide despite targeted initiatives in countries like Algeria
• Secondary school completion rates—weighted at 15% within this pillar—show significant variance across regions
• Developer density remains concentrated in major urban centers across all regions, creating skills access disparities
• Countries experiencing conflict show the most severe deterioration in educational infrastructure, with Libya, Somalia, and South Sudan ranking among the lowest

• Establish a continent-wide AI education initiative, inclusive of curriculum development and targeting youth at all levels of education
• Implement collaborative training targets whereby each Signatory State commits to train over 15% of its population on AI awareness by 2028
• Transform higher education capacity by ensuring that over 30 higher learning institutions adapt curricula to provide state-of-the-art AI skills
• Develop specialized training pathways to produce 1 million AI practitioners (agent developers, data analysts, and data scientists)