Systemic Barriers, Gendered Consequences: An Afro-feminist Analysis of Digital Public Infrastructure in Uganda, South Africa and Kenya.
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), defined as the foundational digital systems essential for societal participation (including digital identification, payments, and data exchange systems), is increasingly positioned as a transformative tool for Africa’s development goals. However, current implementation efforts are widely criticized for focusing primarily on state-centric objectives, such as revenue mobilization and technical efficiency, while systematically excluding to prioritize citizen-centric outcomes like rights, inclusion, and welfare. The core findings of this study reveal that persistent blindness to citizen realities, digital authoritarian practices, entrenched patriarchal norms, and structural inequities erode the trust, accessibility, and benefits of DPI, particularly for women, ethnic minorities and other underrepresented groups. This risk manifests as digital marginalization by design and governance. To rectify this, policy must urgently transition from a technology-first approach to one that utilizes rights-respecting and “gender by design” frameworks that ensure digital systems work equitably for all users.