Digitalization in Africa: Pace, Challenges, Possibilities and Accomplishments

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Information and communication technologies (ICTs) impact has increased dramatically since the second half of the 20th century with accelerated pace since the beginning of the 21st century. The functioning of many social institutions and sectors such as education, the economy, health care, political process and various other areas were impacted by the increasing use of the technology with the expectation of efficacy. However, when the authorities of World Health Organization (WHO) declared on March 11, 2020, COVID-19 a pandemic, there was no common anticipation of the duration of the pandemic, its effects on of the functioning of all the sectors of society and the extraordinary acceleration of the digitalization albeit in a damage control and survival mode. One of the most striking upsurges of technology was in the education sector as school children and older learners were confined to their homes because of school closures due to lockdowns and curfews. Hence education had to be taught utilizing digital technologies. Efforts toward digitalization were already underway even before COVID-19, like the notable innovations of a cashless economy with the digitization of a well-known money transfer application known as M-Pesa, prevalent in East Africa and other similar smart phone transfer systems were being utilized throughout the entire African continent. In this advanced COVID-19 era, it has become now evident that careful and deliberate adoption of digitization is no longer a distant future: It is now. Throughout the semester, scholars from multiple disciplines will share their respective insights on the state and prognosis of the future in the digitalization era, in relation to: dimensions of the education systems, political processes, functioning of the domestic and global economy and specific business activities, healthcare provision and management, and forth.