by Piyush Mathur
Intended ‘to advance citizen-centred data governance’, the East Africa Data Governance Conference 2027 (EADGC 2027) will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in March next year. The event is co-organised by Amnesty International Kenya and the Nairobi-based Open Institute.
The event call appears to want a broad spectrum of individuals and groups to submit their proposals; however, the fine print indicates that the call is open only to organisations registered with the Eastern African Community (EAC). In other words, one can make a proposal to this event only if one belongs to an organisation registered in any of the following countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Somalia; Burundi; Kenya; Rwanda; South Sudan; Uganda; and Tanzania.
The deadline to submit your proposal is December 11, 2026, 5:00 PM Eastern African Time (EAT). The event will take place over three days, March 16-18, 2027.
The official theme title for the event is ‘Designed for whom? Trust, accountability, and the citizen at the centre of data governance’, and the call stresses proposals capable of generating ‘actionable recommendations’ toward citizen-centred data governance.
A proposal may be for a ‘Presentation’ (60 or 90 minutes) or a ‘Discussion’ (60 minutes). There are 6 sub-theme tracks overall: Trust in the Digital Age; Regional and Cross-Border Data Governance; Voice, Accountability, and Redress; From Policy to Practice; Sovereignty and Resource Justice; and Innovation, AI & Emerging Technologies.
A formal call can be accessed via the following link, where one can also submit a proposal:
https://www.amnestykenya.org/east-africa-data-governance-conference-2027/
The Open Institute has an overview of previous events (2025, 2026) within the same rubric at the following link: https://openinstitute.africa/programmes/data-governance/east-africa-data-governance-conference/
Circulated by Amnesty International Kenya, this is a digital poster for EADGC 2027.
(Image credit: Amnesty International Kenya)