ADiJUST joins the ‘From Data to Power’ panel at DataFest Africa 2025

At DataFest Africa 2025 in Kampala, ADiJUST’s Executive Director joined leading African voices to ask how data is shaping our societies, and who holds power over it.

DataFest Africa 2025 brought together researchers, regulators, technologists, and civil society from across the continent. ADiJUST took part in the panel “From Data to Power: How is data shaping and influencing our societies today,” moderated by Angela Minayo of ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa.

Alongside colleagues from Pollicy, the Centre for Human Rights, the African Population and Health Research Center, and the IDIA Fellowship, our Executive Director, Frank Ssekamwa, spoke to a central question of our work: as data becomes a source of power, how do we ensure that power remains accountable to the people it affects?

“Data is never neutral. The question for Africa is not only what technology can do, but who it serves, and who is answerable when it causes harm.”

Why this conversation matters

From health systems to financial services, decisions once made by people are increasingly shaped by data and automated systems. Without strong governance, these systems can entrench inequality, expose sensitive information, and exclude the communities least represented in the data. ADiJUST’s message was clear: African societies must be recognised as producers of knowledge and as rights-holders, not merely as sources of data.

The panel reinforced ADiJUST’s commitment to bringing African perspectives to the decisions shaping our digital future, through research, advocacy, and strategic litigation.