Wednesday 22 July, 2026
By Caroline Mbugua, Senior Director, Public Policy and Communications, GSMA Africa, and Nankali Maksud, Senior Advisor, Child Protection and Migration, Centre of Excellence Nairobi
Africa is living through one of the fastest digital transformations the world has ever seen. Connectivity is expanding by the month. Artificial intelligence has moved, in the space of a couple of years, from a novelty to a daily habit for millions of young Africans. Governments, mobile operators and technology companies are investing in the digital systems that will shape how the next generation learns, works and participates in society.
This pace is exactly why we cannot afford to be reactive. Technology will not wait for our policies, our classrooms or our safeguards to catch up. If we want Africa’s digital future to serve its children rather than expose them, we have to move at the speed of the technology itself — not several steps behind it.
This year’s International Youth Day theme, “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond”, is a timely reminder of something our two organisations have long believed: young people are not simply beneficiaries of Africa’s digital transformation. They are already shaping it, whether or not we design our policies to include them.
That belief is why, in October 2025, GSMA and UNICEF came together with governments, mobile operators, regulators, law enforcement and young people themselves to launch the Africa Taskforce on Child Online Protection at MWC25 Kigali — the first platform of its kind on the continent. It builds on a whitepaper the two organisations developed together with regional partners, which made one thing clear: keeping children safe online in Africa cannot be left to any single government, company or organisation. It has to be a shared, coordinated effort that keeps pace with how quickly the risks and opportunities evolve.
A recent U-Report poll conducted by UNICEF and GSMA, capturing the views of more than 50,000 young people aged 24 years and under across 51 African countries, gives us the clearest picture yet of why that coordination matters.
The findings should reassure anyone tempted to see young people’s digital lives only through the lens of risk. When asked what matters most about being online, respondents did not point to entertainment. They pointed to communicating with family and friends, and to learning. Four in ten said they feel most confident being their real selves online — more than the number who said the same in person. For many young Africans, digital spaces are not a distraction from life. They are where a meaningful part of life now happens.
The same poll shows how far AI has already reached into that life. Three in four respondents said they use AI at least a few times a week; more than half use it daily or more. Most describe healthy scepticism and check a second source or ask a follow-up question rather than trusting AI outputs outright. However, one in three said they trust it outright, and 13 per cent said they are not sure how to judge it at all. That gap is exactly where our work needs to concentrate: not on discouraging young people from using these tools, but on making sure they can use them with confidence, judgement and protection.
Nearly a quarter of respondents said their needs are rarely or never considered when decisions are made about the apps, sites and platforms they use every day. That is not a reason to slow Africa’s digital transformation down. It is the strongest possible argument for building safety into that transformation from the outset, making it a design principle from day one rather than an afterthought once harm has already occurred.
We want to be unambiguous about this: the answer to the risks young people face online is not to keep them offline, or to treat AI as something to be feared rather than harnessed. Africa’s young people have told us, in their own words, what they want instead. “My online life is part of my real life,” wrote one respondent. “Algorithms shape real lives, not just screens,” wrote another. They are asking for transparency, for control over their data, for design choices that respect their attention and their mental health, and governments and companies that genuinely listen. That is an entirely reasonable, achievable set of demands, and one that industry and governments across Africa are already equipped to meet.
This is the moment for us all to act with the same urgency and agility that the technology itself demands. That means aligning national digital and AI strategies with the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy and its Child Online Safety and Empowerment Strategy. It means matching investment in connectivity and AI infrastructure with investment in digital and AI literacy among children, parents and teachers. And it means giving young people a permanent seat at the table where these decisions are made, not a one-off consultation.
Africa’s greatest digital asset was never the technology itself. It is the young people who will use it, shape it and live with its consequences for decades to come. Our task, as the institutions responsible for connectivity and for children’s rights, is not to choose between unlocking that potential and protecting it. We can, and must, do both. The Africa Taskforce on Child Online Protection exists precisely to make sure we do.
Africa’s digital transformation was never only about connecting young people to technology. It is, and must remain, about connecting technology safely and deliberately to the realities of young people’s lives.
About the authors
Caroline Mbugua is Senior Director, Public Policy and Communications at GSMA Africa, where she leads engagement with governments, regulators and industry on digital inclusion, child online protection and responsible AI across the continent.
Nankali Maksud is Senior Adviser for Child Protection and Migration at UNICEF’s Centre of Excellence in Nairobi, where she leads strategic engagement with governments, civil society and partners to strengthen child protection systems, advance child online protection, and prevent violence against children.
