Digital Public Infrastructure in 2025: Lessons from Infrastructure as Code for African Innovation - Scott Timcke

As we enter 2025, the African conversation around Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is at an inflection point. A growing number of African countries are actively developing and implementing DPI projects, such as digital identity systems, e-government platforms, and national broadband networks.

The challenges faced by Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practitioners offer valuable lessons for those working to build and maintain digital public goods. Just as IaC aims to automate and standardize technical infrastructure, DPI seeks to create foundational digital systems that serve the public good. However, the path forward requires considering several factors.

The Fragmentation Challenge

Recent developments in the IaC space, particularly the increased focus on security, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud support efforts, enhanced collaboration and workflow highlight a concern for DPI initiatives. If infrastructure tools become fragmented or restricted, it creates barriers to adoption and implementation. 

This mirrors a fundamental challenge in DPI. How do we ensure that public digital infrastructure remains truly public, accessible, and interoperable?

The experience of the OpenTofu project, forked from Terraform following licensing changes, serves as a cautionary tale. DPI initiatives must prioritize open governance models, open licenses and sustainable funding mechanisms that don't compromise public access. As Kelsey Hightower suggested regarding OpenTofu becoming the ‘HTTP of the cloud,’ DPI systems should aspire to become universal protocols that ‘belong to everyone’, rather than being controlled by single entities.

To be successful, DPI must be a product of the commons.

Beyond Technical Solutions

The IaC industry's shift toward "Infrastructure from Code" (IfC) reflects a broader truth applicable to DPI. Technical solutions alone are not enough. Just as IfC aims to generate infrastructure based on application needs automatically, DPI must evolve to respond organically to social needs. This means moving beyond purely technical implementations.

Here are some things to consider for DPI:

1. User-Centered Design. DPI should adapt to how people and organizations actually work, not force them into rigid technical frameworks.

2. Inclusive Governance. From a commons perspective, DPI must ensure diverse stakeholder representation in decision-making processes.

3. Sustainable Evolution. To be a successful commons, DPI practitioners must build systems that can grow and change with social needs.

African policymakers acknowledge that implementing DPI isn't just about deploying technology for its own sake. It is about building capacity, understanding, and adoption across many different types of organizations.

Integration and Interoperability

One of the most significant challenges in IaC has been integration between different tools and systems. This directly parallels the challenges facing DPI initiatives. As we build digital public infrastructure, we must ensure that:

- Systems can communicate effectively across jurisdictions and organizations.

- Standards are open and well-documented.

- Integration points are clearly defined and maintained.

- Security and privacy considerations are built in from the start.

African Innovation and Digital Sovereignty

The continent’s experience with mobile money, particularly M-PESA in East Africa, demonstrates how DPI can evolve differently when unconstrained by legacy systems. Just as IaC emerged to meet the needs of cloud computing, African nations are developing unique approaches to DPI that address local needs while maintaining global interoperability.

The AU’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) highlights a lesson. Digital infrastructure must be built with local context in mind. For instance, Nigeria's eNaira and Ghana's e-Cedi projects show how digital payment infrastructure can be adapted to local needs while maintaining international compatibility. This parallels the way OpenTofu emerged as a community-driven alternative to proprietary IaC solutions, emphasizing the importance of local control and adaptation.

Infrastructure Resilience in Challenging Environments

Africa’s experience with intermittent connectivity and power supplies has fostered innovative approaches to infrastructure resilience. Countries like Rwanda and Kenya have developed robust offline-first systems that can function in challenging conditions, a stark contrast to the always-connected assumptions of many IaC tools. This teaches us that DPI must be designed for resilience from the ground up, not as an afterthought. DPI systems must be able to work in environments with limited internet connectivity and varying levels of technical literacy, pushing innovation in ways that more developed regions have not had to consider.

Cross-Border Collaboration and Pan-African Standards

Perhaps the most significant lesson from Africa's DPI journey is the importance of cross-border collaboration. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) shows how digital infrastructure can be built to serve multiple countries while respecting sovereignty. This collaborative approach mirrors the best practices emerging from the IaC community, where open standards and shared tooling enable better outcomes than isolated, proprietary solutions.

Smart Africa, comprising 40 African countries, is working to create harmonized digital markets across the continent. Their experience highlights how DPI can attain flexibility through standardization – a challenge that IaC practitioners know well. The Alliance's focus on creating shared standards while allowing for local implementation offers valuable lessons for DPI development globally.

All of these common experiences, combined with insights from the IaC community, illuminate the path toward a truly inclusive DPI that serves all users regardless of their circumstances or location.