Academic literature on the topic 'Community policing – Ethiopia'

In Ethiopia, community policing has been announced ofcially as a national program in 2005 E.C with the impetus to nullify crimes at lower tiers. There have been growing reports of prevailing crimes in Jenila district of Harar city. Accordingly, this study endeavors to scrutinize the practices of community policing and associated challenges in the study site. A mixed research deign was used to fetch out primary and secondary data sets. Hence, the participants’ views were captured through questionnaires, key informant interviews and focused group discussions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, bar graph and percentages. The fnding of the study revealed that a greater proportions of the respondents recognized that community policing practices had contributed in preventing crimes; burglary 94 (27%) and robbery 77 (22%) as most frequently recurring and reported types of crimes in the city. While community policing structures and concerned actors operate to smoothly run the programs, there were cropping up predicaments at the grass root levels. Limited awareness among the residents, inadequate fnancial resources and professionally ill-qualifed human power were reported as major obstructions. In the face of increasing crimes, both in terms of intensity and types on the one hand, and intricate challenges to penetrate through on the other hand, the communities of residents aspire to dive deep with a sense of ownership and exploit the opportunities for intensifying the programs stated in community policing programs. Eventually, there was need to move in concerted manner to lessen the impacts of crimes in Jenila district of Harar city.

The youths have consistently been hypothesized to be disproportionately responsible for crime and are more vulnerable to violence than any other age group which is costing the community billions of dollars per year, creates a sense of fear and lowers the quality of life for many people. In the first section of this paper, risk factors of youth offending were studied. This research deals on protective factors of youth offending in East Gojjam Zone which is located in Amhara Regional state of Ethiopia. Led by constructionist approach, this research used qualitative exploratory case study strategy. In-depth interview with youth offenders and non-offenders, key informant interview with officials mainly from police and correctional center were the central data collection technique. In addition, document review was also used to get any supportive data from various offices and researches. Generally sixteen youth offenders and thirteen key informants, a total of twenty eight participants were participated. None probability sampling method of purposive sampling technique was employed to select the research participants. Age, gender, and social setting of rural vs. urban were considered to select research participants and get comprehensive information. The finding of the study shows that economic improvement including employment opportunities, increased level of awareness, affiliation to law-abiding youths, consistent parental supervision, family stability and free familial relationship, proper family socialization, adequate income of the family, youth’s steady enrollment to school, and provision of extra circular activities are protective factors of youth offending. In addition, separated rehabilitation center for adolescent and adult, , economic development of the community, limiting the accessibility of alcohol and guns, strong culture against crime, strengthening traditional conflict resolution mechanism, expansion of youth centers with possible services, well equipped lawyers and police officials, strong organized community policing strategy, and improved rehabilitation service are also another opportunities found that reduce the risk factor of youth offending behavior. The finding shows that those multi-level personal, peer, familial, school, cultural, and community level opportunistic factors are not exclusive rather interdependent. Therefore, in order to reduce youths’ involvement in offending behavior, stockholders could work collaboratively.

Studies on antibiotic utilization trends are invaluable because they offer data for evaluation of impacts of antimicrobial stewardship policies. Such studies help determine correlations between the use of specific antibiotic classes and trends in emergence of resistance (resistance-epidemiology). This study aims to quantify the consumption systemic antibiotics (J01)—in defined daily doses (DDD) per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID)—in Ethiopia’s public healthcare sector (2016–2020). By so doing, it attempts to capture the extent of population exposure to antibiotics in the country. Data were also compared with those from Norway to establish rough estimate of the country’s status vis-à-vis some globally acknowledged better practices with regard to optimal use of antibiotics. Raw data obtained from registers of Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency were converted into DDD, per the standard methodology recommended by WHO. To control for population size, antibiotics consumption data were presented as DID. Since official population census data for Ethiopia were not available for the study period, population projection data from the World Bank were used. Community-based consumption of systemic antibiotics increased from 11.02 DID in 2016 to 12.83 DID in 2020 in Ethiopia—an increase by 16.4%. Moreover, analysis of a log-linear regression model showed that the average growth rate in the community-based systemic antibiotics consumption per year between 2016 and 2020 was about 3.3% (R2 = 0.89). The highest percentage change in community-based systemic antibiotics consumption happened for glycopeptides (J01XA) and the fourth generation cephalosporins (J01DE)—1300% and 600% compared to the baseline year (2016), respectively. At product level, 9 antibiotics constituted the common domain in the list of medication cocktails in the drug utilization 90% (DU90%) for the study period. Community-based consumption of systemic antibiotics for Ethiopia and Norway showed opposite trends, calling for public health policy actions in Ethiopia.

Decentralised forest management approaches are ostensibly designed to increase community involvement in forest management, yet have had mixed success in practice. We present a comparative study across multiple countries in Eastern Africa of how far decentralised forest policies are designed to achieve devolution. We adopt the decentralisation framework developed by Agrawal and Ribot to explore whether, and how, devolution is specified in Tanzanian, Kenyan, Ugandan, Malawian and Ethiopian forest policies. We also compare them to the commitments of the Rio Declaration. In all five countries, the policies lack at least some of the critical elements required to achieve meaningful devolution, such as democratically elected, downwardly accountable local actors and equitable benefit sharing. Calling an approach 'community' or 'participatory', does not mean that it involves all residents: in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, policies allow a small group of people in the community to manage the forest reserve, potentially excluding marginalised groups, and hence limiting devolution. This may lead to elite capture, and effective privatisation of forests, enclosing previously de facto common pool resources. Therefore, even without flaws in implementation, these decentralisation policies are unlikely to achieve true devolution in the study countries.

This paper aims at identifying strategies to improve the performance of Ethiopian local governments in supplying drinking water. Therefore, a case study of Ambo (Ethiopia) is performed, on basis of document analysis, interview and focus group discussion. This allows operationalizing Pollitt and Bouckaert’s (2011) production process model, by defining input, activity, output and outcome indicators relevant for drinking water supply in the context of developing countries. The indicators and their interrelations subsequently allow coining efficiency-improvement and effectiveness-improvement strategies. The paper finds that most performance improvement strategies do not involve a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness: investing in the maintenance of the water distribution network, involving the community in the production process, ensuring a minimum quality threshold, improving procurement policies, and relying on ground water contribute to both and deserve being implemented. On other aspects, related to commercial policies and the quality of water, local policymakers need to make a choice between pursing efficiency and effectiveness. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on the added-value of governance for the 2030 Agenda, and paves the way for benchmarking Ethiopian local governments, and warrants further research onto the added value of participation for development.

ABSTRACTThe implementation of community policing schemes and development programmes targeting street youth in inner city Addis Ababa, intended to prevent crime and unrest, has resulted in an expansion of structures of political mobilization and surveillance of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the party that has ruled the country since 1991. Yet the fact that the government managed to implement its programmes does not imply that the ruling party was entirely successful in tackling ordinary crime as well as political dissent. As neighbourhoods continued to be insecure, especially at night, the efficacy of the ruling party's politicized narratives on community policing and crime prevention was questioned. An appreciation of the shortcomings of government action on the streets of the inner city raises questions about the extent of the reach of the EPRDF's state into the grass roots of urban society as well as about the ways in which dissent is voiced in a context where forms of political surveillance and control are expanding. This paper investigates these issues in order to contribute to the study of the Ethiopian state and to the broader debate on community policing and crime prevention on the African continent.

Background Timely initiating antenatal care (ANC) is crucial in the countries that have high maternal morbidity and mortality. However, in developing countries including Ethiopia, pregnant mother’s time to initiate antenatal care was not well-studied. Therefore, this study aimed to assess time to first ANC and its predictors among pregnant women in Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 7,543 pregnant women in Ethiopia using the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS), 2016 data. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed. The Kaplan-Meier (KM) method was used to estimate time to first antenatal care visit. Cox-gamma shared frailty model was applied to determine predictors. Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) with 95% confidence interval was reported as the effect size. Model adequacy was assessed by using the Cox-Snell residual plot. Statistical significance was considered at p value <0.05. For data management and analysis Stata 14 was used. Results The median time to first ANC was 5 months with IQR (3,-). The independent predictors of time to first ANC visit were primary education [AHR: 1.24 (95%CI, 1.13–1.35)], secondary education [AHR: 1.28(95% CI, 1.11–1.47)], higher education [AHR: 1.43 (1.19–1.72)] as compared to women with no formal education. Having media exposure [AHR: 1.13 (95% CI, 1.03–1.24)], early initiation of ANC increases by 25% [AHR: 1.25 (95% CI, 1.12–1.40)] in poorer, 32% [AHR: 1.32 (95% CI, 1.17–1.49)] in middle, 37% [AHR: 1.37 (95% CI, 1.20–1.56)] in richer and 41% [AHR: 1.41 (95%CI, 1.1.19–1.67)] in richest households as compared to poorest household wealth index. Living in city administration, media exposure and community women literacy were also enabler factors, while, long distance from health facility and nomadic region residency were hindering factors of early ANC visit. Conclusions The current study revealed that women’s time to first antenatal care visit was by far late in Ethiopia as compared to the world health organization recommendation (WHO). The predictors of time to first ANC visit were education status of women, having media exposure, level of household wealth index, community women literacy ad distance to health facility. It is vital that maternal and child health policies and strategies better to be directed at women development and also designing and applying interventions that intended to increase timely initiation ANC among pregnant-women. Researchers also recommended conducting studies using a stronger design like a cohort to establish temporality and reduce biases.

Background Maternal undernutrition persists as a serious problem in Ethiopia. Although there are maternal nutrition interventions that are efficacious and effective in improving maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) outcomes, implementation has been limited. Objective This study explored needs, perceptions, priorities, facilitating factors and barriers to implementation of relevant policies and programs to find opportunities to improve maternal nutrition in Ethiopia Methods Background information was compiled and synthesized for a situation analysis. This informed focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with mothers, community leaders, health workers, and district health officials in four woredas (districts) in Tigray and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. Results Findings focused on three priority issues: maternal anemia, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), and maternal thinness and stunting. Community-level investigations found that women's low status, food insecurity and poverty, and workload were key factors perceived to contribute to women's undernutrition. Awareness of and demand for services to improve women's nutrition were low, except for high demand for supplementary food. On the supply side, barriers included low prioritization of maternal nutrition in health and nutrition service delivery and weak technical capacity to deliver context-sensitive maternal nutrition interventions at all levels. Conclusions Community-based health and nutrition services were promising platforms for expanding access to interventions such as micronutrient supplements and social and behavior change communication. Investments are needed to support these community-based programs, including training, supplies, supervision and monitoring. To address IUGR at scale, increased access to cash or food transfers could be explored.

AbstractREDD + is one of the tools under development to mitigate climate change, but it is not yet clear how to appropriately bring in the approximately 25 per cent of developing country forests that are managed by communities. Drawing on the economics of collective action literature, the authors attempt to shed light on whether forest collective action itself sequesters carbon. Using satellite imagery combined with household and community data from Ethiopia, they examine whether community forests (CFs) with high levels of collective action attributes known to be associated with better management have more carbon than other systems. Although these results should be considered indicative due to the nature of the data, the analysis suggests that in the absence of dedicated sequestration policies the quality of local-level collective action offers at best marginal carbon benefits. Specific incentives like REDD + may therefore play important roles in delivering climate change benefits from CFs in low-income countries.

With a tremendous demographic boom and the high importance of the youth population, Ethiopia is currently dealing with critical challenges to ensure sustainable development within the country. The recent appointment of Abiy Ahmed as prime minister has brought new hope for Ethiopian liberalisation and the improvement of former political systems. Positively impacting the non-governmental sector, concrete measures taken by the federal government are still lacking whereas time is running on the youth generation. Quality education and enrolment rates in schools remain low which has high consequences on the participation of youths in the labour market. Lacking basic skills, youth are not provided with opportunities and trust that are essential for favouring their self-development. Conducted in parts of Ethiopia’s rural areas, this research aims to understand, discuss and elaborate on different youth empowerment methods for educational incentives to contribute to the overall improvement of youth conditions. In collaboration with local and international stakeholders working on policy and field level in the country, this research provides the reader with a clear understanding of the Ethiopian youth sector situation and the need for improvement in order to ensure meaningful youth participation and empowerment towards inclusive sustainable change. The role of the government has been discussed in extent in order to provide the reader with concrete recommendations for policy-making and other issues related to skills-mismatching, access to resources, training, and data, as well as cross-collaboration between youth and other stakeholders to increase awareness about challenges faced. The study concludes with giving clear guidance on youth empowerment in Ethiopia and future research on the overall topic.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether indigenous and modern policing can coexist in Ethiopia. The two case studies dealt with in this research indicate that customary administration which is based on indigenous customary law governs the lives of most communities in Ethiopia. Most of the civil and criminal cases are resolved through these mechanisms, although there are always operational tensions due to some contradictions between the modern and indigenous policing systems when crime is committed in indigenous areas. This is mainly because the modern police system wants to impose its way of resolving crime while the indigenous police system want crime to be solved in the traditional/indigenous manner that have been practiced for centuries. These fundamental differences have created two parallel institutions which are both rooted in providing safety and security to the community. The research also reveals that modern policing in Ethiopia can benefit tremendously from well researched experiences and practices of indigenous policing. This does not imply that indigenous policing system is democratic and all the experiences could be relevant to modern policing, but it simply means that the identification and the sharing of best practices from both sides could lead to mutual benefits of these systems. In its conclusion the research shows that Ethiopia has the potential to develop a unique policing system that reflects its distinctive cultural heritage and that meets the needs of its people. This potential is more likely to be actualized if the country preserves and incorporate the best practices of both these systems and use them as integral part of the Ethiopian modern policing.
Police Practice
D .Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)

This research project was conducted under the title ―Assessing factors that affect the implementation of community policing in Awassa, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia‖. More than ten years ago there was an attempt to implement community policing in Awassa. However, its success was limited. What is the reason for this limited success regarding the implementation of community policing? The researcher formulated research questions of what community policing entails and what factors on the part of both the police and the community affect the implementation of community policing. To come up with the desired result, the researcher used different methodologies and identified the target groups and data collection techniques, for the research project. Then the collected data was analysed and interpreted. The researcher also tried to present the best discussions available on relevant issues, even if the discussions are sometimes technical and practical applications require one to think deeply about the issues at hand. Finally, factors in the police as well as in the community were identified. Here, according to the data gathered, conclusions were drawn and the researcher recommended how police organizations can facilitate the successful implementation of community policing.
Police Practice
M. Tech. (Policing)

Text in English
The study was designed to determine the influence of politics in policing in Ethiopia generally pre-1991 and post-1991 as this is the period that characterise the Ethiopian political system, which underwent tremendous changes taking along various initiatives in its move towards democratisation. It is important to note how policing was figured and reconfigured during this period in view of its critical role in the social and political system of the country. In fact, during turbulent and peaceful political changes in the country it was often used as an arm to safeguard or brutalise people. The study also indicates the extent to which the Ethiopian police as an institution has been mandated to maintain law and order while at the same time has undergone various structural and organisational changes in an attempt to move it away from undue political influence. Furthermore, the study indicates the extent to which policing is embedded into politics which by itself is a challenge because the police are expected to be professionally independent in order to uphold the rule of law while at the same time guaranteeing the safety and security of all the inhabitants of the country. This indicates the interconnectedness of policing and politics as the police are required to enforce the laws that are enacted by the government and influenced by the ruling party. Government policies are politically driven and formulated by the party in power, thus making politics to create and direct police institutions in the fulfilment of peace and security in the country. Despite the fact that the police should operate within certain degree of independence, they still have to take orders and direction from the politically established government. That is why the determination of the degree of influence is essential as it indicates whether there is undue influence or not. In view of the above inter-related issues, this thesis aims to analyse the influence of politics in policing in Ethiopia indicating how this has influenced policing in various eras.
Police Practice
D. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)

The international threat posed by fascism became the central concern of the student movement during the second half of the Depression decade. For this generation of college students not a year passed without some ominous reminder of the rising strength, belligerence, arid brutality of European fascism. There was Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, Hitler’s and Mussolini’s military support of the Spanish fascist revolt in 1936 and 1937, Germany’s anti-Jewish pogrom and conquest of Austria in 1938, and the Nazi invasion of Czechoslavakia and Poland in 1939. These events, along with Japan’s escalating war on China, prodded many student activists to rethink the isolationist assumptions their anti-war movement had popularized on campus in the early 1930s. The increasing aggression of the fascist powers led these activists to worry that the very neutrality that their movement had urged upon the United States to promote peace, instead, bred war by preventing America from orchestrating an international effort to thwart fascist expansionism. This mindset facilitated the rise of a major challenge to isolationism within the student movement, which by 1938 pushed the movement’s largest organizations to abandon their isolationist policies and embrace collective security. The first influential group within the student movement’s leadership which sought to shift the movement away from isolationism was the communists. These radicals had the earliest and clearest vision of the student movement’s need for a more explicitly anti-fascist foreign policy. Their thinking on this matter had been strongly influenced by deliberations of the Seventh World Congress of the Communist International (CI) in August 1935. The CI became concerned about the triumph of Nazism in Germany, its spreading influence in Europe, and the potential threat these developments posed to the U.S.S.R.’s security. The Seventh World Congress therefore urged the formation of broad national coalitions and international collective security arrangements on behalf of a Popular Front against fascism. For communists in the American student movement, this implied the need to turn the movement’s foreign policy away from American neutrality and toward the endorsement of collective efforts among the United States, the Soviet Union, and other anti-fascist states to prevent military aggression by Germany, Italy, and Japan.

This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.