After Access 2022 Survey

After Access website

The After Access 2022 survey is a multi-country research initiative in sub-Saharan Africa that aims to build an evidence base for context-specific policy and regulatory interventions on meaningful digital inclusion. The survey was conducted in seven African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, with a grant from the Gates Foundation. It builds on a series of ICT access and use surveys conducted by Research ICT Africa since 2004, with support from the Swedish International Development Agency and the International Development Research Centre.

With the evolving nature of digital inequality in Africa, the After Access surveys aim to understand both the barriers to digital adoption and the emerging access challenges that the continent faces. Besides providing the necessary data for standard digital indicators, the 2022 survey develops new measurements to better understand the fast-emerging digital and data economy in areas such as digital identification, platform labour, digital financial services, and social networking. It also specifically looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and reports on the extent to which people were able to digitally substitute for access to work, schooling, banking, retail, food, and government services during lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The results have provided governments with a better understanding of the enablers and constraints for digital substitution, granting insights into how they can better prepare for similar crises in the future.

Research questions

What are the factors that preclude people from meaningful digital inclusion?
What opportunities does connectivity offer to whom?
What harms are experienced by people online and how aware are they of their rights and risk mitigation measures?
Does the platform economy contribute to digital inequality, and can it be harnessed for economic inclusion and job creation?
How do intersectional aspects of inequality such as gender, location and socio-economic status impact access and use?
How are digitals tools, platforms and services used organically (i.e. other than how they may be intended for general use), particularly by the poor, people with disabilities, people in the informal sector, women, and people marginalised by virtue of their sexual orientation or identification?
What level of digital substitution is there for work, schooling, banking and retail services, state services and pandemic relief?

Methodology

This project delivers nationally representative and comparable ICT indicators for households, individuals, and informal businesses. Through the survey, we assess ICT policy outcomes in terms of digital access and use against national policy objectives for dynamic, increasingly globalised digital markets. The 2022 survey focuses particularly on levels of digital substitution during the pandemic and its associated lockdowns. Alongside the survey, gender-focused ethnographic research was conducted in four countries to deepen our understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and harms experienced in the region, which are often invisible in quantitative research that is not always sufficiently nuanced or contextualised. This component particularly examined trends in the organic use of digital tools, services, and platforms by members of women’s collectives in selected countries.

Country partners

Country	Partners
Ethiopia	Dr Lishan Adam; Esubalew Alemneh
Ghana	Dr Godfred Frempong
Kenya	Dr Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u
Nigeria	Fola Odufuwa
Senegal	Dr Boubakar Barry
South Africa	Jan Schenk
Tanzania	Dr Goodiel Moshi
Uganda	Dr Francis Tusibira; Ali Ndalwana