CONTRIBUTORS
Bernard Sabiti
Project Coordinator
Assane Diouf
Senior Communications Officer
From 2 to 4 December 2025, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) convened more than 50 policymakers, statisticians, researchers, and development partners in Dakar, Senegal, for a Multi-Country Workshop on Strengthening Sub-national Data Systems in Africa. The meeting took place against a backdrop of profound change in Africa’s data landscape, marked by declining donor support for large household surveys, including the suspension of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programme.
Held under the theme “From Local Evidence to National Impact: Advancing Africa-led Data Systems in an Era of Shrinking Household-Survey Data,” the workshop explored how African countries can safeguard their statistical future by building resilient, locally owned, and sustainable data systems, starting at the sub-national level.
Why Sub-national Data Systems Matter More Than Ever
For decades, African countries have relied heavily on externally financed, centralized surveys to monitor population and health trends. While invaluable, this model has also created structural vulnerabilities. As donor funding contracts and governance become increasingly decentralized, countries risk losing timely, granular evidence precisely where decisions on service delivery and budgeting are made.
Opening the workshop, Dr Cheikh Faye, Head of APHRC’s West Africa Regional Office, warned that continued dependence on intermittent external surveys has created a “donor-dependency trap”. He called for a shift toward integrated, geo-referenced, and locally anchored data systems that can ensure continuity, relevance, and national ownership of evidence.
From Pilots to Proof: What Works on the Ground
The workshop built upon lessons from APHRC’s Strengthening Sub-national Data Value Chains in Africa project, implemented since 2021 in 17 districts, municipalities, and communes across Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, and Uganda, with support from the Gates Foundation.
Across these settings, co-created dashboards, developed jointly with National Statistics Offices (NSOs), local governments, universities, and communities, are already transforming decision-making:
- In Kayunga District, Uganda, locally managed dashboards now inform budget planning, and the district council has introduced, for the first time, a dedicated budget line for data and statistics.
- In Poa Commune, Burkina Faso, improved education and civil registration data have contributed to reduced school dropout rates and stronger community engagement.
- In Maradi Region, Niger, participatory data systems have strengthened local planning and produced highly disaggregated statistics, including on migration and socioeconomic dynamics.
A powerful cross-cutting lesson was the role of youth and local talent. Rather than relying on external consultants, districts and communes engaged young local professionals through internships and entry-level roles, many of whom were later retained, linking data system strengthening to skills development and employment.
Financing, Integration, and Data Sovereignty
Discussions throughout the workshop converged on a central message: data sovereignty requires financial sovereignty. Participants from governments, the African Development Bank (AfDB), UNFPA, and WAHO emphasized that sustainable data systems cannot rely solely on short-term projects.
Key priorities included:
- Comprehensive national investment in data systems as public goods;
- Innovative domestic financing, including private sector engagement and earmarked taxes;
- Stronger coordination and standardization to integrate local data into National Statistical Systems.
NSOs highlighted the need to evolve from sole data producers into orchestrators of data flows, setting standards, ensuring quality, and integrating data from decentralized sources.
The Dakar Roadmap: A Collective Way Forward
The workshop culminated in the unanimous adoption of the Dakar Roadmap to Sustainable Sub-national Data Systems in Africa (2026-2030). Structured around four pillars, Governance and Financing; Interoperability and Quality Assurance; Capacity and Data-Use Culture; and Institutionalization and Sustainability, the Roadmap provides a clear, Africa-led framework for moving from successful local innovations to system-wide reform.
Its message is unequivocal: Africa can, and must, move beyond data dependency by institutionalizing resilient sub-national data ecosystems that are nationally owned, interoperable, and sustainably financed.
Sustaining the Momentum
The Dakar workshop marked a turning point. It confirmed that sub-national data systems are not a stop-gap solution, but a strategic foundation for Africa’s statistical future in a post-DHS era. Implementing the Dakar Roadmap will require political leadership, institutional discipline, and sustained investment in local human capital.
APHRC and its partners stand ready to support governments and regional institutions in translating this shared vision into action, ensuring that Africa retains control over its own evidence base for development.
About the authors
Bernard Sabiti is the Project Manager for APHRC’s Sub-national Data Systems initiative.
Assane Diouf is a Senior Communications Officer at APHRC’s West Africa Regional Office in Dakar.