Lesotho makes history

Lesotho makes history
…as first country to validate Data Value Creation Blueprint
Seithati Motšoeneng
LESOTHO has become the first country in Africa to validate the Data Value Creation Blueprint, marking a significant milestone in the Kingdom’s digital transformation agenda.
The milestone was recorded at a National Validation Workshop on the Data Value Creation Blueprint held in Maseru this past week and convened by the Ministry of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation (MICSTI) in collaboration with Smart Africa and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The workshop followed a brainstorming session held in July and focused on critically reviewing and validating the proposed national vision, theory of change, strategic pillars, ecosystem diagnostic findings, as well as proposed use cases and their prioritisation.
Officially opening the workshop on behalf of the Principal Secretary, ICT Director, Khiba Masiu, said the exercise was more than a formality.
“This workshop provides us with an opportunity to critically validate the draft blueprint and ensure that it reflects Lesotho’s national priorities, opportunities and realities,” Mr Masiu said.
He said data had become a strategic national asset capable of supporting economic and social development.
“Data is increasingly a critical resource for economic and social development. Its effective use can improve decision-making and public service delivery, stimulate innovation, create business opportunities and support inclusive economic growth,” he said.
Mr Masiu warned that the blueprint should not become another policy document that gathers dust on a shelf.
“The blueprint must be practical and implementable. It must be supported by appropriate infrastructure, skills, governance arrangements and partnerships. This validation process must result in clear decisions on what we validate, what we amend, and what we defer,” he said.
A key component of the workshop was the presentation of a new ecosystem diagnostic assessing Lesotho’s readiness for a data-driven economy.
The diagnostic found that the country has a meaningful foundation for data-driven transformation, although its building blocks remain unevenly developed and poorly connected.
The report describes Lesotho’s data ecosystem as “emerging but fragmented” and “asset-rich but connection-poor”.
It found that valuable datasets exist across government ministries, parastatals and private-sector institutions, but the ability to discover, combine and reuse those datasets across institutional boundaries remains severely limited.
The assessment examined five key dimensions of the country’s data ecosystem.
Four — governance and trust, infrastructure and technology, skills and innovation, and inclusion and territorial equity — were classified as emerging.
The fifth, data quality, access and interoperability, was rated between early stage and emerging, making it the weakest of the five dimensions.
The study also identified 11 priority gaps after benchmarking Lesotho against peer countries including Botswana, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa and Estonia.
The gaps were grouped into three categories: foundational, enabling, and scaling and value realisation.
According to the diagnostic, foundational gaps involving leadership, stewardship and interoperability frameworks are the most critical because weaknesses in these areas affect almost every potential data use case.
Consultant for the Lesotho Blueprint, Mabakoena Kolobe, commended the country for taking the lead in the validation process.
“Lesotho has shown true leadership by becoming the first country to validate the Data Value Creation Blueprint. You have set an example for other nations pursuing similar initiatives,” Ms Kolobe said.
She said the achievement demonstrated progress in Lesotho’s digital governance journey.
“This achievement reflects significant progress in compiling a comprehensive framework that will strengthen responsible data management, promote transparency and foster innovation across key sectors,” she said.
However, Ms Kolobe cautioned that developing the blueprint was only the beginning.
“While Lesotho has demonstrated capacity in developing robust policy documents, we still struggle with effective implementation. We must move beyond formulation to ensure the blueprint translates into practical outcomes and sustained improvements in service delivery and digital governance,” she said.
Smart Africa representative, Thelma Efua Quaye, also commended Lesotho’s progress, saying the country had joined the programme after several other countries but had made rapid progress.
“We want to commend Lesotho for the progress made on the blueprint. This is a country that joined the programme way after other countries had started, yet its progress has surpassed many of the other countries,” Ms Quaye said.
She added: “Lesotho is now the first country to validate the blueprint, and that is a remarkable achievement worth celebrating.”
The blueprint is expected to provide Lesotho with a coordinated national approach to data governance, with the aim of ensuring that data is managed responsibly, shared securely and used to drive innovation.
Potential applications include agriculture, healthcare, education, financial services and public administration.