A Proposal by the Spix Foundation
In February 2026, AUDA-NEPAD launched the final African EdTech 2030: Vision & Plan (V&P) and the Policy Framework for Standards-based, Vendor-Neutral EdTech at the AU's Science, Technology and Innovation Week in Addis Ababa — completing a process that began with the V&P's draft launch at the Mobile Education Alliance's inaugural African conference in Nairobi in July 2025.
Both instruments call for Africa's Digital Public Infrastructure for Education (DPI-Ed). Implementing the V&P at continental scale — coordinating across countries, donors, platforms, and professional ecosystems — requires an institutional mechanism. This proposal recommends that mechanism: the establishment, as part of Africa's EdTech Breakthrough Project, of a time-bound AUDA-NEPAD-hosted EdTech Task Force, mandated to coordinate, de-risk, and enable delivery of Africa's EdTech Breakthrough System during the period 2026–2032, as aligned with AUDA-NEPAD's African EdTech 2030: Vision & Plan.
The Task Force is conceived as a delivery-oriented, non-permanent instrument focused on continental coordination, policy domestication support, trust preservation, and institutional transition—functions that are essential to success at scale but are not naturally owned by platforms, donors, or individual countries.
In addition to enabling Africa's EdTech Breakthrough System, the Task Force is proposed as a mechanism for positioning Africa as a global reference continent for DPI conception, governance, and delivery. This effort would use Africa's DPI-Ed as an existence proof that Africa can originate and execute world-class, multi-country Digital Public Infrastructure, and thereby potentially inform future African DPIs beyond education.
The Task Force is proposed to operate for seven years (2026–2032), with a Project-funded cash budget of approximately USD 33.2 million from three sources (V&P_Core bootstrap, a dedicated Planet-Project, and a coordination levy on the nine original Planet-Projects). AUDA-NEPAD provides the institutional home — mandate, convening authority, and staff time — per AU co-funding precedent (SIFA, COYWA); no cash match is assumed. The timeline deliberately extends beyond 2030 to allow full focus on delivery through the Vision period, followed by an orderly transition and sunset. This focused coordination investment enables alignment and acceleration of the multi-hundred-million-dollar-scale national and donor commitments required for continent-wide adoption of Africa's EdTech Breakthrough System.
Africa's EdTech Breakthrough System brings together continental policy frameworks, open standards, shared platforms, national implementation, new professional certifications, and large-scale funding. While each of these elements has a clear institutional home, their coordination at continental scale presents a distinct challenge.
This proposal explores whether a time-bound AUDA-NEPAD EdTech Task Force could provide a focused institutional solution—supporting execution, accelerating uptake, managing risk, and preserving trust during the decisive years leading up to 2030, and then ensuring a responsible transition thereafter—building directly on the African EdTech 2030: Vision & Plan and RESPECT's DPI-Ed framework.
Africa's EdTech Breakthrough Project is inherently:
cross-sectoral,
multi-country,
multi-donor,
technically complex,
and politically consequential.
These characteristics argue for an institutional form that is:
delivery-focused, rather than policy-setting;
time-limited, aligned to a defined continental horizon;
neutral across implementers and Development Partners; and
anchored in continental legitimacy.
A Task Force model meets these requirements. It enables focused execution without creating a new permanent bureaucracy, while allowing AUDA-NEPAD to exercise its comparative advantage in coordination, legitimacy, and continuity.
Under this proposal, the EdTech Task Force would pursue six interrelated goals:
Enable continent-scale DPI-Ed deliverySupport the transition from pilots to national scale-outs by reducing coordination friction across countries, donors, and partners.
Enable federation of Ministers' country level education data into a continental-scale database (as health data is federated today)
Support policy domestication at speedAssist Ministries of Education in the domestication of the AU EdTech Policy Framework through shared guidance, peer learning, and regional coordination—while fully respecting national policy authority and legislative processes.
Preserve trust and system integrityUphold principles of non-capture, data responsibility, vendor neutrality, and public interest throughout DPI-Ed implementation.
De-risk donor and country participationProvide credible coordination, assurance, and problem-solving capacity that lowers transaction costs for Development Partners and governments.
Position Africa as a global DPI leaderUse Africa's DPI-Ed as an existence proof that Africa can originate, govern, and deliver world-class Digital Public Infrastructure—potentially informing future African DPIs, without expanding the Task Force's mandate beyond education.
The proposed EdTech Task Force would concentrate its work within three high-level core functions. Together, these functions capture all essential responsibilities required to enable continent-scale DPI-Ed delivery, while keeping the Task Force focused, time-bound, and non-bureaucratic.
The Task Force would enable coordinated, continent-scale delivery of DPI-Ed by reducing fragmentation, accelerating uptake, and aligning execution across countries, implementing partners, and Development Partners.
Key responsibilities would include:
Continental coordination and convening among Ministries of Education, AU entities, Development Partners, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and ecosystem actors to maintain alignment around a shared DPI-Ed execution pathway.
Country readiness diagnostics and sequencing, supporting evidence-based decisions on piloting, scaling, and timing.
Policy domestication support via the RECs, including the orchestration and funding of time-bound (three-year) REC-level Policy Domestication Task Forces, composed of representatives from REC member states, to collaboratively domesticate the AU EdTech Policy Framework regionally and then support national domestication efforts.
Donor alignment and de-fragmentation, helping bilateral, multilateral, philanthropic, and private funding converge around a coherent DPI-Ed roadmap.
This function is focused on making progress move faster, without assuming policy authority or implementation responsibility.
The Task Force would preserve DPI-Ed as a trusted, public-interest system by maintaining legitimacy, integrity, and confidence among governments, donors, and the public.
Key responsibilities would include:
Trust, ethics, and non-capture oversight, supporting grievance pathways, independent review mechanisms, and adherence to agreed governance principles.
Narrative and communications stewardship, maintaining a consistent and credible public narrative around DPI-Ed, and responding constructively to emerging risks or misconceptions.
Legal coordination and contingency management, addressing cross-jurisdictional issues and managing unforeseen program-level challenges.
This function protects DPI-Ed not by controlling outcomes, but by sustaining confidence under pressure.
The Task Force would manage time-bound responsibilities and ensure that DPI-Ed capabilities are transitioned cleanly to permanent, appropriate institutions at the end of its mandate.
Key responsibilities would include:
Data custody transition management, overseeing staged transitions of education data governance from interim arrangements to permanent, fit-for-purpose AU entities.
Institutional memory and knowledge management, preserving documentation, lessons learned, and continuity through personnel and political changes.
Sunset and hand-off planning, ensuring an orderly, transparent transition of responsibilities following completion of the Task Force's delivery mandate.
This function ensures that DPI-Ed endures beyond the Task Force, without orphaned systems, rushed handovers, or institutional ambiguity.
To maintain clarity and avoid overlap, the Task Force would not:
set education policy,
host or operate data systems,
build or operate technical platforms,
implement programs at country level,
or hold donor funds.
This separation preserves institutional roles and accountability.
Under this proposal, the Task Force would be:
Hosted by AUDA-NEPAD, consistent with its mandate to translate continental visions into delivery.
Time-limited to seven years (2026–2032).
Guided by appropriate steering arrangements involving relevant AUC departments, Africa CDC, RECs, and partners.
The Task Force complements existing pillars (political via AUDA-NEPAD, fiduciary via partners, technical via Spix/RESPECT) by providing dedicated delivery coordination, without assuming their roles.
While Africa's EdTech 2030 Vision & Plan defines the delivery horizon, the proposed Task Force includes a deliberately reserved post-2030 transition period.
This design allows the Task Force to focus fully on achieving its substantive objectives through 2030, and only thereafter to concentrate on:
orderly hand-off of responsibilities,
institutionalization within permanent AU structures,
data custody transitions,
documentation and knowledge preservation,
donor close-out and accountability.
This separation protects delivery focus while ensuring a responsible and credible sunset.
The Task Force's Project-funded cash budget is approximately USD 33.2 million over seven years, corresponding to an average annual operating level of roughly USD 4.7 million. This is funded entirely by the Breakthrough Project through three complementary mechanisms:
V&P_Core bootstrap ($15M): V&P_Core's Task Force line item funds the Task Force from Year 1, ensuring coordination capacity exists before any Planet-Projects are operational.
Dedicated Planet-Project ($10M, Years 3–7): A tenth Planet-Project — the EdTech Task Force coordination programme — provides dedicated funding as Planet-Projects multiply and country-level scale-up intensifies coordination demands. The programme operates at a flat $2M/year across Years 3–7.
In addition, a 7% coordination levy on the nine original Planet-Projects contributes approximately $8.2M over seven years, reflecting the Task Force's role as shared infrastructure for the entire system.
AUDA-NEPAD provides the institutional home. Per AU co-funding precedent (SIFA, COYWA), AUDA-NEPAD provides the mandate, convening authority, and institutional platform; external partners provide programme cash. No AUDA-NEPAD cash match is assumed.
The Task Force budget covers:
senior coordination and program staff,
convenings and travel,
translation and legal support,
communications and reputation management,
assurance and ethics mechanisms,
contingency and risk reserves,
and transition and sunset activities.
These costs represent program-level infrastructure, not platform development or country implementation.
| Year | V&P_Core Share | PP Funding | Levy (est.) | Project Total | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.1 | — | 1.2 | 3.3 | Stand-up, senior staff, REC domestication launch |
| 2027 | 2.1 | — | 1.2 | 3.3 | Peak coordination, donor & country onboarding |
| 2028 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 5.3 | Multi-country scale acceleration; PP funding begins |
| 2029 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 5.3 | Peak policy + delivery coordination |
| 2030 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 5.3 | Final delivery push under Vision |
| 2031 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 5.2 | Transition, hand-off, data custody work |
| 2032 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 5.2 | Sunset, audits, institutionalization |
| Total | $15M | $10M | ~$8.2M | ~$33.2M |
The Task Force's cash budget (~$33.2M) is fully funded by the Breakthrough Project. AUDA-NEPAD provides the institutional home — mandate, convening authority, staff time, and facilities — per AU co-funding precedent (SIFA, COYWA). This in-kind contribution is not monetized in the budget above.
This proposal suggests that a time-bound AUDA-NEPAD EdTech Task Force would provide the necessary institutional vehicle to translate Africa's EdTech Breakthrough System into durable, trusted delivery—while positioning Africa as a global leader in Digital Public Infrastructure.
The Spix Foundation recognizes that any such Task Force would proceed only with AUDA-NEPAD's leadership and consent, and would be co-designed to align with AU priorities, practices, and institutional realities. Feedback is invited on the proposed mandate, scope, and resourcing assumptions, as a basis for further joint refinement.
Note: This essay is a proposal authored by the Spix Foundation. It does not represent an endorsed position of AUDA-NEPAD, the African Union Commission, or any African Union body. It is intended to support discussion and co-design with AUDA-NEPAD and its partners.
The next essay in this series is 19. Human Capital in Africa's EdTech Breakthrough.