CTRL + ALT + DEL: Rebooting Our ICT Spirit (NetHope Africa Chapter Summit Reflections)

 

When was the last time you hit CTRL + ALT + DEL on your work, not your computer?

From 15-17 July at the NetHope Africa Chapter Summit, we paused the panel-to-panel flow and asked the chapter members what really needs to change in ICT for development across Africa.

The sessions were framed playfully—CTRL + ALT + DEL—but the responses were anything but surface. When you ask practitioners, implementers, technologists, and nonprofit ICT leads what they’d take control of, change, or delete, you get a raw readout of where the work is stuck and where the appetite for change is.

 

Why the conversation matters now

Africa is rising digitally. More smartphones, undersea cables, and AI pilots. And yes, digital adoption is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world. But behind the numbers lies a quieter, more uncomfortable truth that we must admit. Africa’s digital ecosystem is still built, governed, and monetized elsewhere.

Today, more than 70% of Africa’s internet traffic is routed through servers located outside the continent. Data, which is arguably our generation’s most valuable resource, is collected in and from African communities, stored in foreign infrastructure, and analyzed through models trained on non-African realities. Meanwhile, only 36% of people on the continent have reliable internet access, and in many countries, the cost of 1GB of data still exceeds what’s globally recognized as affordable.

So we asked: What would it mean for Africa to take control of its digital destiny? To not just localize technology, but to reshape its foundations—its infrastructure, governance, incentives, and cultural logic?

The stories and insights that follow offer a blueprint for how we can build ICT not as a borrowed layer of our systems, but as an African engine for accountability, access, imagination, and change. It starts with CTRL. It gets bolder with ALT. And sometimes, real transformation begins when we dare to hit DEL. Let’s dive in.

 

CTRL: What should Africa take CONTROL of in the ICT space?

Participants called loudly for digital ownership and sovereignty. Not in abstract policy language, but in very practical terms:

Infrastructure & Data Ownership

• Locally owned data centres.
• Africa’s own digital infrastructure (too much data is stored and monetized elsewhere).
• Building resilient, locally owned networks to reduce dependency and protect data sovereignty.

Governance & Policy

• Data protection governance + right to data protection.
• Connectivity regulation that serves people, not just markets.
• Stronger infrastructure development and regulatory frameworks.

Build, Don’t Just Buy

• Invest in developing our own systems; we can’t forever be consumers of tech built elsewhere.
• ICT solutions tailored to the African/local context—not translated after the fact.

Values & Inclusion

• AI ethics and bias (designed with African data realities in mind).
• More African women in ICT.
• Insert our cultural design that reflects how people actually communicate, work, and live.

Takeaway: Control isn’t just about regulation. It’s about agency across the stack: data, infrastructure, policy, innovation, and culture.

 

ALT: Which area needs an ALTERNATIVE approach the most?

This was a centimetre poll, and unsurprisingly, Internet access and affordability came up top. It’s foundational because without reliable, affordable connectivity, nothing else scales equitably. You can’t build inclusive platforms, deliver e-learning, or expand digital services when half the population is offline or rationing data.

Closely following were ICT Education and Training and Government Regulations. Access without digital literacy only widens gaps. It creates more room for exclusion, misinformation, or missed opportunities. While education equips people, policy enables (or hinders) the entire system. Participants pointed to regulatory bottlenecks such as licensing costs, import barriers and spectrum politics as silent chokepoints that smother innovation before it starts.

Startup funding and Cybersecurity polled lower, but their links to the top concerns are structural. Patchy access and thin budgets make security an afterthought. And when infrastructure costs are high and policy unfriendly, startup ecosystems shrink before they grow.

Takeaway: Access isn’t the only issue, but it’s the keystone. And it doesn’t stand alone. Skills, policies, and local realities shape what digital inclusion truly means.

 

DEL: If you could DELETE one outdated mindset or practice in ICT development, what would it be?

Participants did not hold back. Themes clustered around relevance, inclusion, and the role of ICT inside organizations.

1. ICT = Helpdesk?

Yes, support matters—but that’s just one piece of the puzzle.

“ICT is just an IT department issue; not a cross-cutting enabler.”
“ICT is not just keeping the lights on—we are change agents.”
“ICT is only about the technical stuff.”

2. Top-Down by Default

Designing for people isn’t the same as designing with them.

“Designing ICT as a top-down intervention rather than an interactive process.”
“Build it for them and they will use it.” → should be designed with, built for scale, and sustained through local ownership.
"Developing things for one organization when we could create sector-wide tools.”

3. Funder's Vision ≠ Local Fit

When donor logic overshadows lived reality, even well-built tools gather dust.

“Thinking donor-driven tech solutions always fit local realities.”
“Conservative processes ingrained in departments that can’t adapt.”

4. ICT Strategy: Often an Afterthought

ICT deserves more than budget crumbs and late-stage invites.

“Not being strategic enough—we need to sit at the table where decisions are made.”
“Not putting significant budget into ICT.”

5. Undervaluing African Capacity

Assuming innovation flows one way is both inaccurate and unhelpful.

“Colonial mentality that the Global North is more knowledgeable than the South.”
“That connectivity is a luxury, not basic infrastructure.”

Takeaway: The thing we most need to delete? The habit of treating ICT as a service lane instead of a strategic lever for scale, inclusion, and systems change.

 

Cross-Cutting Signals From the Summit

Across all three prompts, a few threads kept surfacing:

• Ownership > Dependency: From data centres to networks, the members want Africa to design, host, and govern more of its own digital assets.
• ICT Is Strategy: Participants rejected the “IT support” framing. ICT sits under everything: service delivery, accountability, finance flows, storytelling, and risk reduction.
• Design With**, Not** For: Interactive processes, co-creation with users, sector-wide rather than silo-specific tools, and local adaptation came up repeatedly.
• Equity Is Technical: Affordability, local language UX, policy barriers, and infrastructure finance are all equity issues disguised as technical ones.
• Narrative Still Matters: Colonial residue in decision authority and perceived expertise continues to skew who gets funded, who gets invited “to the table,” and whose solutions scale.

 

So What? (For Leaders, Funders, and Project Managers)

Here are a few practical moves we can all make coming out of conversations like this:

• Map Control: Where is your program’s data hosted? Who owns the data? Who can export it? Who sets retention rules? Start there.
• Co-Design Early: If you’re building ICT tools, design with implementing partners before the scope is locked. Co-design beats adaptation.
• Budget for ICT as Core, Not Add-On: Line items for infrastructure, security, maintenance, and user training aren’t “nice to have”, they’re what make tools survive the pilot phase.
• Treat Connectivity as Infrastructure: If your program depends on data flow but doesn’t contribute to access solutions, it’s a hidden fragility.
• Bring ICT to Strategy Tables: If ICT leads are only invited once the work is already scoped, you’re not doing digital transformation—you’re doing digital patching.

 

One Question for You

If you had to CTRL (take control), ALT (change direction), or DEL (retire a mindset) in your organization’s approach to ICT today, what would you choose?

#ICTforDevelopment #NetHopeAfricaChapter #CtrlAltDel #DigitalSovereignty #AfricaTech #DigitalInclusion #LocalOwnership