Datum Africa
Research Library
Rigorous, practice-grounded research on open data quality, governance, language access, and community infrastructure across the continent.
African Open Data Ecosystem Priorities 2026: A Practitioner Brief
Based on interviews with 80 African data practitioners and a review of 500+ datasets, this brief outlines the most critical gaps in data quality, interoperability, and governance for 2026.
Metadata Quality Patterns Across Community-Contributed Datasets in Sub-Saharan Africa
A systematic analysis of 500 community-contributed datasets identifying the most common metadata gaps and the practical interventions most effective at addressing them.
Language Accessibility in African Open Data: Barriers, Costs, and Interventions
A comparative study of metadata accessibility across 12 African languages, quantifying the discoverability gap and identifying the highest-impact interventions.
Open Data Contributor Retention: A Survey of 300 African Practitioners
Survey findings on what drives sustained open data contribution in African contexts, with implications for program design and community investment strategies.
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We partner with researchers, universities, and institutions to produce evidence on African open data. Reach out to discuss co-authorship or partnership.
Research Partnership →Access the Data Platform
Our research is grounded in real datasets. Explore the underlying data, contribute your own, and build on the work published here.
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