This plan outlines the strategy to assess how data governance policies influence gender equality across African Union member states. The engagement seeks to understand the current state of gender-disaggregated data collection, identify barriers and enablers for gender-equal data governance, and generate evidence-based recommendations for AU policy. The assessment uses the AU Citizen Engagement Platform as the primary consultation tool, complemented by a panel session at an AU event. It targets the policymakers, governance practitioners, and civil society representatives who design, implement, and advocate for data systems, the people best positioned to reveal how gender considerations are or are not embedded in governance processes.

Data shapes policy decisions that affect everyone’s lives. Biased or non-disaggregated data reinforces gender inequalities and renders women and other marginalized groups invisible in decision-making. In this engagement, marginalized groups refer to people whose experiences are often underrepresented in official data systems in the African context. These include women and girls, persons with disabilities, youth, informal sector workers, refugees and migrants, rural communities, and ethnic or religious minority groups, where relevant to national contexts. This framing is consistent with the AU Data Policy Framework, which calls for inclusive data governance that considers citizens, consumers, marginalized, and underrepresented people.

When data systems fail to capture how different groups live, work, and access services, the consequences are not merely technical. They are political, economic, and deeply personal. Resources are misallocated, interventions miss their mark, and structural inequalities are preserved rather than addressed. Current data policies across AU member states fall short in ensuring inclusive data collection, privacy protections for vulnerable groups, equitable data access, and ethical data use. This engagement gathers evidence from those who govern and shape data systems on how those systems enable or hinder gender equality across member states.

1.3 Key Objectives

The engagement pursues four core objectives:

1. Assess how existing data governance policies address gender equality across AU member states.

2. Identify barriers preventing and enablers supporting gender-equal data governance.

3. Center the perspectives of women in the assessment.

4. Generate evidence-based policy recommendations for AU to strengthen data governance frameworks for gender equality.