Ethiopia Advances Data Sovereignty Drive to Strengthen Policy Independence: Officials

Addis Ababa, May 18, 2026 —Senior Ethiopian government officials say the country is making significant strides toward gaining full control of its national data ecosystem, as part of broader efforts to strengthen policy independence, enhance governance efficiency, and accelerate economic transformation.

The announcement was made during a national conference held in Addis Ababa under the theme “Data Sovereignty for Policy Autonomy,” attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and senior government officials.

Officials said Ethiopia is rapidly expanding control over how national data is collected, stored, managed, and used in policymaking—marking a major shift away from fragmented systems that previously relied heavily on external support.

 

The conference underscored the government’s efforts to build a self-reliant statistical and digital governance framework capable of producing credible, locally generated data to guide national development priorities.

Officials noted that Ethiopia has made substantial progress in documenting its development achievements through stronger statistical systems, helping shift policymaking toward evidence-based decision-making.

Minister of Planning and Development Fitsum Assefa said Ethiopia is transitioning from foreign-dependent data systems to a self-reliant model rooted in Prime Minister Abiy’s Medemer philosophy.

She noted that newly introduced household, tourism, and business surveys are helping shape reforms under Ethiopia’s Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda and the country’s Ten-Year Development Plan.

 

State Minister of Planning and Development Abas Mohammed said official statistics become effective governance tools when they are legally protected, technically sound, and publicly accessible.

He highlighted progress in household surveys, full dissemination of the Demographic and Health Survey, and advances in agricultural and economic censuses led by Ethiopian professionals.

Deputy Director of the Ethiopian Statistical Service Dr. Meron Kifelew said the country has transitioned from paper-based systems to fully digitized real-time data operations using technologies such as Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, cloud infrastructure, and an enumerator tracking platform developed with Information Network Security Administration.

She said Ethiopia has connected 26 statistical branches nationwide and introduced an AI-powered survey dashboard as part of efforts to build sovereign digital intelligence capabilities.

 

Another ESS official, Abdulaziz Shefa said national statistics are increasingly being placed at the center of development planning, citing improvements in agricultural census systems and demographic surveys aligned with Agenda 2063 and the United Nations.

State Minister Bereket Feshatsion said development management reforms are modernizing planning, monitoring, and service delivery by addressing fragmented systems and weak accountability structures.

He noted that a unified digital platform currently used by more than 113 public institutions is enabling real-time performance monitoring under the government’s “One Plan, One Report” framework.

Meanwhile, State Minister Zerihun Kebede said Ethiopia’s digital sovereignty agenda has moved from ambition to implementation through a national monitoring and evaluation platform that integrates key indicators, programs, and performance targets into one system.

He said the platform is designed to eliminate fragmented reporting systems and support institutions with real-time, AI-powered insights for better policymaking.

Director General of the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute Worku Gachena said Ethiopia is also building sovereign digital infrastructure to ensure national data is stored, governed, and processed domestically.

 

He highlighted plans under Digital Ethiopia 2030 to establish sovereign cloud infrastructure, a national data lakehouse, and indigenous multilingual AI models designed to support local languages and generate economic value.

Officials said the initiative reflects Ethiopia’s broader push to strengthen national sovereignty through technology while positioning the country as an emerging regional leader in data-driven governance and digital transformation.