About ACTPOL
A legal think tank for African technology policy.
ACTPOL exists to make sure that the laws governing technology in Africa are authored on the continent, with African priorities in mind.
Why we exist
Technology is not neutral.
ACTPOL was founded in response to the way technology now reaches into almost every aspect of African life. Our starting point is that technology is never neutral: every system, platform, and tool reflects choices about who it serves and how. Each technology that arrives on the continent must be adapted to the society that receives it, with attention to that society’s cultural norms, development patterns, and belief systems.
Yet the laws and policies that govern technology in Africa are frequently transplanted, with limited adaptation, from jurisdictions whose economies, institutions, and constitutional traditions differ sharply from ours. The result is a body of rules that often fits the technology but not the society in which it operates.
From our offices in Accra, we produce legal research, policy analysis, and convenings that help governments, regulators, and courts across the African continent design rules that genuinely fit African conditions. We speak first to policymakers and government, and second to funders, researchers, journalists, and civic actors who depend on rigorous legal analysis.
Vision and mission
What we are working towards.
Vision
An Africa where technology, and the laws that govern it, are shaped by African realities, priorities, and values.
Mission
ACTPOL is an independent legal think tank. We research and shape the rules that govern technology in the African context, working to bring emerging technology, from digital governance to national security, in line with the needs, culture, and priorities of the continent.
Our values
Four commitments that govern our work.
Independent
Our analysis follows the evidence, not any government or donor.
Rigorous
Every position is researched, sourced, and tested before we publish.
African-rooted
We begin from African realities, culture, and priorities.
Forward-looking
We engage emerging technology early, before the policy gap widens.
How we work
Four principles that guide our research.
Independence
We accept funding only on terms that protect the editorial independence of our research and publications.
Legal rigour
Our work is grounded in primary sources: constitutions, statutes, regulations, jurisprudence, and treaty texts. Argument is footnoted and traceable.
African context
We treat African legal systems as primary, not derivative. We compare, but we do not assume that solutions from elsewhere translate without adaptation.
Useful to government
We write for policymakers and counsel who must act, not only for fellow academics. Our research carries clear, implementable recommendations.
Founder
Major Selasie Atuwo (Rtd)
ACTPOL was founded by Major Selasie Atuwo (Rtd). A full biography will be published shortly. To enquire about speaking engagements, interviews, or commissioned work, write to info@actpol.legal.
See the full team on the Team page.
Registration
ACTPOL on the public record.
- Registered name
- Africa Centre for Technology Policy and Law
- Registered with
- Office of the Registrar of Companies, Ghana
- Headquartered
- Accra, Ghana
- Primary remit
- The African continent
Who we work with
Partners and audiences
Our work is read and used by ministries responsible for communications, digitalisation, and security, by data protection and cyber security authorities, by members of Parliament and their staff, by judges and counsel, and by equivalent bodies across the continent.
We collaborate with universities, the bar, civil society organisations, multilateral institutions, and philanthropic funders. We undertake commissioned research where the terms of engagement protect our independence and the publishing of our findings.