Alliance brainstorms a workplan: from regional instruments to national action

Members of the African Alliance for Access to Data (AAAD) joined information commissioners, governments, UNESCO and civil society in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 28 to 30 September 2026 for the ICIC–IDUAI 2026 Global Conference.

The event brought together the 17th International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC) and UNESCO’s global commemoration of the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI). Sierra Leone’s Right to Access Information Commission hosted it with the African Network of Information Commissioners and UNESCO.

This year’s theme was Upholding Information Integrity in the Digital Age: The role of access to information in addressing information disorder. The Alliance came to Freetown keen to make the case that information integrity depends on the data behind public decisions being available, reliable and open to scrutiny and use.

Turning regional standards into national practice

On 29 September, Alliance members met on the sidelines of the conference to plan next steps on two continental processes. Participants came from organisations including the Africa Freedom of Information Centre, Research ICT Africa, the International Press Institute and ARTICLE 19 West Africa.

The first process is the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ forthcoming guidelines on access to data. They stem from ” Resolution ACHPR/Res.620 (LXXXI) 2024, on promoting and harnessing data access as a tool for advancing human rights and sustainable development in the digital age. The resolution urges States to make data held by public bodies, and by private actors with an overriding public interest, publicly available by default. It mandated the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa to develop normative standards on data access, a process the Alliance has supported. The guidelines are due to come before the Commission at its next session.

The second process is the review of the Model Law on Access to Information for Africa. Resolution ACHPR/Res.639 (LXXXIV) 2025 called for a one-year continental study on freedom of expression and access to information in the digital era, to inform an update of the Model Law.
Members see the review as a chance to make sure the revised framework recognises access to data alongside traditional access to information.

The meeting agreed that a successful realisation of these two processes depends on national implementation, awareness, capacity building, advocacy and legal reform. Therefore, the following workplan was developed.

The Alliance workplan
Members agreed a workplan in four strands. Alliance-level coordination will sit alongside, and stay distinct from, the work each member does in its own country and institution.

Members are now indicating which actions, countries and themes they will take on, so the Alliance can turn this plan into a practical roadmap.

Why access to data matters now
Access to information has long underpinned accountable governance. As more public decisions rest on data and automated systems, citizens, journalists and oversight bodies need the data itself to follow how those decisions are made. The stakes reach information integrity too, where official data is hard to obtain, the gap fills quickly with rumour and manipulation. Open, verifiable public data gives media, fact-checkers and citizens a solid basis for testing claims.

AI development raises the bar further when systems built for African contexts need African data, yet much of it remains siloed across ministries, agencies and private platforms, out of reach for researchers and innovators. Access to information regulators across the continent are working to open up the infrastructural and bureaucratic processes that keep this data inaccessible and therefore, their role in AI development is growing as a result.

Join the Alliance
AAAD membership is open to like-minded organisations working on access to information, data governance, digital rights and related fields. We welcome partners and funders pursuing similar goals at national, regional or global level.