WATRA attended ITU’s Regional Development Forum for Africa. (RDF-AFR) 2026, which held from the 25th to the 26th of May 2026 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The two-day forum, themed “Universal, meaningful, and affordable connectivity for an inclusive and sustainable digital future”, served as a platform for ITU and its stakeholders, including Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academia, regional organizations, development partners and financial institutions, to discuss the newly adopted regional initiatives for Africa and exchange views on achieving meaningful connectivity and sustainable digital transformation in the region.
Attendees of the forum participated in session centered around the challenges surrounding Africa’s digital transformation and digital development, strategies for accelerating investment in and development of Africa’s digital infrastructure, advancing universal connectivity for the continent, and strategies for implementing the regional initiatives for Africa that were adopted the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2025 (WTDC-25).
Aliyu Aboki, WATRA’s Executive Secretary, was an active participant and contributor to the forum. On the first day, he was a panelist on a session titled “Building upon the outcomes of the WTDC and UN processes towards the results and impact-oriented regional actions in Africa (Financing Regional Initiatives)”. The discussions of the session focused on addressing actions carried out in Africa as a result of the WTDC-25 initiatives, by different stakeholders and how these relate to the outcomes of the conference. The session offered an opportunity to discuss ITU’s role in the UN system and its contribution at the regional and country levels to foster digital development, focusing on the joint programming collaboration as a framework for local resource mobilization to facilitate financing of Regional Initiatives.
During the session, he advocated for the role of regional cooperation and harmonization in making the regional initiatives more ready for investment, and clarified the need for concrete regulatory enablers, like predictability and the smart use of public funds, in order to unlock these private sector investments. “In WATRA, our key message is that regional initiatives should not remain policy aspirations,” he emphasized during his intervention. “They must be translated into regulatory roadmaps with clear actions, timelines, institutional responsibilities, and identifiable investment opportunities.”