What: Regional Seminar on the African Development Bank's Africa Information Highway (AIH) Initiative

Who: The African Development Bank

When: 6-10 February 2023

Where: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The African Development Bank in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the International Monetary Fund, is organizing a seminar for regional member countries on its Africa Information Highway initiative.

Established in 2012, this initiative assists African countries to improve their data management and dissemination through the provision of Open Data Platforms. The use of these platforms facilitates the flow of national data from countries to the public, thus promoting greater and more efficient use of data in government and institutional decision-making.

This seminar will allow the Bank to update member countries and partners on the achievements and latest developments of the initiative. Participants will discuss how to improve its operational work and make the information highway more inclusive. It will also be the opportunity for the Bank's partners to share their work with the participants.

The overall objectives of this seminar are to:

Familiarize participants with the best approaches for managing their country platforms and ensuring they are up to date with the latest available data.

Highlight the role that the highway can play in improving the dissemination and visibility of data on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Update member countries on the opportunities the portal offers to quickly disseminate first census results from future census rounds.

Inform African member countries about the upcoming system upgrade aiming at improving the platform's capabilities

Support African member countries to improve data reporting and timeliness in updating the National Summary Data Page under the IMF's Enhanced General Data Dissemination System.

Present the Bank's newly launched Data Innovation Lab, its work, and how countries can participate in the initiative.