A blog by Dr Benjamin Kwasi Addom, Adviser, Agriculture and Fisheries Trade Policy, Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda and Dr Ruth Kattumuri, Senior Director, Economic Development, Trade and Investment, Commonwealth Secretariat.
A team from the Commonwealth Secretariat visited Botswana and Namibia recently as part of a country engagement exercise to create awareness and build capacity around a national data coordination framework. The visit to the two countries has reinforced our resolve as a family to hold each other’s hand in this journey of strengthening national data systems.
This mission highlighted that we cannot go it alone. We are a global village, and our data systems need to talk to each other for trade and investment to make the most of our Commonwealth Advantage. Such a framework ensures that our house is in order before welcoming our neighbours. Secure, decentralised, federated and interoperable national data systems do not provide a basis for a “closed” national data system. It creates the enabling environment for consent-driven access ensuring businesses thrive while retaining national sovereignty of this unique asset.
Apart from getting country understanding and buy-in on the framework, engagement with these countries is very relevant to enable resource mobilisation, capacity building and expanding partnerships to support implementation of the national data exchange infrastructure (NDEI) framework.
Building a national data exchange infrastructure
While data is increasingly being recognised as a strategic asset and an engine for economic growth for many economies, the picture is still bleak. The digital infrastructure for data in most Commonwealth countries cannot be described as systems because they are running in parallel, fragmented, siloed and duplicated without interoperability.
A national data exchange infrastructure in the sense that the coordination approach should go beyond government ministries and agencies to include the private sector players and other data holders is what we need: a shared national data exchange infrastructure together with national digital public infrastructure (DPI) as backbone that allows existing data systems to talk to each other.
But it should go beyond investment in DPIs, digital public goods, and other open-source platforms. It requires investment in DPIs together with national and global data principles and policies for data holders to follow; an independent governance mechanism that enforces the policies to create trust for consent-driven data access by businesses and government agencies; and a collaborative approach to its design and development with incentives for data holders and sustainability of the infrastructure.
Five key lessons from the two countries:
- The framework is standardised such that the model of deployment can be tailored to each country, and in-country engagement with multi-stakeholders is key to identifying the appropriate models relevant for a country.
- While the agricultural sector has been used to develop the framework and can be used to operationalise it in some countries, the focus should be on multiple data systems, not agriculture alone.
- Countries must strive to be efficient in their investments into this national infrastructure. A single investment should serve multiple sectors, where data captured once can be reused across sectors.
- As countries transition into the knowledge economy, diversification is critical, including commoditisation of data, which becomes the currency of the knowledge economy.
- The success of such national infrastructure will largely depend on the political will rather than financial resources. Once the will is there, budget will follow.
What comes next?
The new Commonwealth Strategic Plan 2025-2030 is anchored in three pillars aimed at building democratic, economic, and environmental resilience. One of the strategic accelerators is harnessing AI, emerging technologies, and digital transformation. This is expected to be achieved by building national capacity, particularly in small countries, through technical partnerships, shared resources, stronger digital infrastructure, interoperable data systems, sound governance frameworks, and workforce readiness to improve policy effectiveness.
In October 2025, the Secretariat released the National agricultural data infrastructure (NAgDI) policy guide on the national data coordination framework for governments. The guide contributes to the strategic accelerator by providing the foundation for national governments to utilise clearly spelt out guidelines for stakeholders like international development partners, private sector players, non-governmental organisations, donors, and government agencies to comply.
Visits to member countries, like our visit to Botswana and Namibia, and continuing this conversation with them on building and strengthening national data infrastructures will continue at pace. There is no time to waste.
