  This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities of implementing the
African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (AUDPC)
across Africa. Focusing on legal, regulatory, technical, infrastructural,
capacity building, awareness, Harmonization, and cross-border cooperation
challenges, the paper identifies key findings that highlight the diverse legal
systems and traditions, the lack of comprehensive data protection laws, the
need to balance national security and data privacy, the digital divide,
cybersecurity threats, implications of emerging technologies on data privacy,
limited resources for data protection authorities, and the need for capacity
building in data privacy and protection. The paper also emphasizes the
importance of Harmonization and cross-border cooperation in aligning data
protection frameworks and collaborating with international partners and global
organizations. To address these challenges and facilitate the successful
implementation of the AUDPC, the paper proposes a set of recommendations,
including strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks, enhancing technical
and infrastructural capacities, fostering capacity-building and awareness
initiatives, promoting Harmonization and cross-border cooperation, and engaging
with global data protection trends and developments.
