Data Notebook

The African Union endorsed a continental AI strategy in 2024. The useful implementation questions are national capacity, governance, data, and institutional execution.

GSMA tracks the global and regional mobile-money ecosystem. Use its regional cuts for a source-backed starting point, then validate country-specific rails and regulation separately.

WHO extended its Global Strategy on Digital Health through 2027. A strategy is an operating context, not proof that a product is clinically validated or procured.

The AU Digital Agriculture Strategy and implementation plan frame data, access, infrastructure, and farmer-centred service design through 2030.

The Bank of Zambia reports 14,650,368 registered mobile-money wallets in 2024 (17,290,646 in 2023), of which 12,328,755 were active, or 84.2 percent. Mobile payments rose 7.6 percent in value to K486.3 billion and 33.4 percent in volume to about 3.0 billion transactions. Wallets are not the same as unique users, and the counts say nothing about how much value a typical wallet holds.

A post on the Ministry of Energy’s website, republished from Phoenix News, reports a government target to reduce reliance on hydropower generation from approximately 85 percent to about 42 percent by 2031. It puts 2031 capacity at 4,279 MW hydro, 2,733 MW solar and 2,555 MW thermal; together with what it calls minimal contributions from other sources such as wind and geothermal, that brings the total to about 10,182 MW. The Permanent Secretary for Electricity says the targets count only projects already being implemented, not pledges. A target is a planning assumption; it is not installed capacity or evidence of reliable supply.

Reuters, citing the mines ministry, reports Zambia’s copper output at 890,346 tonnes in 2025, up 8 percent from 825,513 tonnes in 2024 and short of a 1 million tonne target. The government plans 3 million tonnes by 2031. Reuters attributes the rise to higher output at major mines. It is a ministry figure relayed by a wire service, not an audited production statement.

The Central Bank of Kenya’s Bank Supervision Annual Report 2025 restates a survey of licensed institutions: 50 percent had adopted AI (66 percent of commercial banks, 57 percent of microfinance banks, 43 percent of digital credit providers), 30 percent had a formal AI strategy, and 93 percent of respondents recommended that CBK issue AI guidance. The survey was issued in March 2025 on data as of 31 December 2024, so it is self-reported and not a 2026 measurement. The standalone survey lists 125 respondents, more than half of them digital credit providers, so the headline share is not a share of banks.

The Communications Authority of Kenya counts 2,838,656 fixed data and internet subscriptions at June 2026, up 32.4 percent year on year. Satellite accounts for 27,695 subscriptions (up 54.4 percent), of which Starlink has 27,616. These are subscription counts by technology; they do not show how many people or households are served, or where connections are concentrated.

The Communications Authority of Kenya reports 54,005,800 mobile-money subscriptions at the end of the April to June 2026 quarter, a penetration rate of 101.3 percent. Penetration above 100 percent reflects subscriptions divided by population, so it counts accounts, not unique people. The report does not say how activity is defined.