The AU-NEPAD and GIZ in collaboration with CIPESA and KICTANet are pleased to convene this four- day capacity building and engagement workshop to support the Government of Lesotho in its data governance journey. The workshop will start with a 2-day capacity building session led by KICTANet that will focus on providing insights on data governance and its transformative potential of data to drive equitable socio-economic development, empower citizens, safeguard collective interests, and protect digital rights in Lesotho.

This will include aspects on foundational infrastructure, data value creation and markets, legitimate and trustworthy data systems, data standards and categorization, and data governance mechanisms. This will be followed by a 12-day stakeholder engagement session led by CIPESA as part of building up on the development of Lesotho’s policy frameworks on data governance. Participants are expected to critically evaluate regulatory approaches, institutional frameworks, and capacity-building strategies. Key focus will be on the Data Protection Act (2011) and the Data Management Policy (2025) and how they would be aligned with the AU Data Protection Framework.