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GOVERNING DATA FOR INCLUSION: APPLYING THE UNESCO 4PS FRAMEWORK TO MICRO-PENSIONS

  INTRODUCTION Ghana’s efforts to expand pension coverage have increasingly turned toward the informal sector , where the majority of the workforce remains outside formal retirement protection systems . Despite ongoing digital transformation across the financial sector , participation continues to lag behind expectations . The challenge is not simply one of access. It is also about designing systems that reflect the economic realities of informal sector workers , characterised by irregular incomes , limited financial buffers , and minimal engagement with structured savings mechanisms . At the same time, the rapid growth of digital financial services has introduced new possibilities . Mobile money platforms, digital identity systems, and platform-based economic activity are generating expanding streams of data . These can be harnessed to better understand user behaviour , tailor pension products, and improve system responsiveness . This data-driven environment offers a pathway ...
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AI AND THE QUESTION OF POWER: GHANA’S SEARCH FOR A GOVERNANCE POSITION

  INTRODUCTION In a previous article on the global race for AI governance, I argued that artificial intelligence is not merely a technological contest, but a struggle over power — over whose values, interests, and philosophies shape the systems that increasingly govern economies and societies. Africa has yet to clearly articulate its own governance philosophy , and that absence is not neutrality. It is vulnerability . In a subsequent analysis of continental efforts, particularly the Smart Africa AI Blueprint and the African Union's AI Strategy, I suggested that Africa is not without direction. An approach is emerging: development-driven, adoption-led, and capacity-focused . But it remains incomplete . It is clear on the uses of artificial intelligence , but less explicit on how it is to be governed as an instrument of power , and on whose terms that governance will rest. The question, then, is how this emerging approach translates at the national level. Ghana provides a parti...
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TOWARDS AFRICA’S AI GOVERNANCE PHILOSOPHY: FROM DEVELOPMENT AMBITION TO STRATEGIC INTENT

  INTRODUCTION In a previous article on the global race for AI governance, titled "What Is Africa's Philosophy for AI Governance?", I argued that artificial intelligence is not merely a technological contest, but a struggle over power — over whose values, interests, and philosophies will shape the systems that increasingly govern economies and societies. I further noted that Africa has not yet clearly articulated its own governance philosophy, and that this absence is not neutrality, but vulnerability . Recent continental efforts, particularly the Smart Africa AI Blueprint and the African Union's Continental AI Strategy, underscore both the urgency of this challenge and the progress being made. Together, they reflect a growing recognition across the continent of the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, as well as a structured effort to build capacity, data infrastructure (including data governance systems and cloud capabilities), and the policy e...
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WHAT IS AFRICA'S PHILOSOPHY FOR AI GOVERNANCE?

  INTRODUCTION There is a race underway — and Africa was not told it was running . It is not a race to build the fastest AI system or the most capable model. It is a race to determine whose values, whose philosophy, and whose interests will govern artificial intelligence as it reshapes economies, institutions, and societies across the world. The finish line is not a technological milestone. It is a regulatory framework — and whoever writes the rules first writes them in their own image. At its core, this race is not about technology. It is about power, values, and the interests that will shape the digital future . The European Union has written its rules. The United States has written its rules. China has written its rules. The ASEAN community is developing its rules. The Andean Community is finding its own path. These frameworks differ — sometimes significantly — because each reflects a distinct political philosophy , a particular relationship between the state and technolog...
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