Preparing Africa for the Age of the Digital State
CADER is an independent, public-interest institution focused on ensuring that the rise of artificial intelligence and digital state systems reduces inequality rather than deepening it.
As governments, markets, and public services become increasingly digital, new forms of power are emerging faster than governance frameworks can adapt. CADER exists to help societies navigate this transition with fairness, accountability, and inclusion at the center.
Independent. Non-partisan. Public-interest.
The Challenge
- AI increasingly shapes access to services, information, and opportunity.
- Core state functions are moving into opaque digital infrastructures.
- Media credibility has weakened while misinformation spreads faster and cheaper.
- Inequality risks being encoded and amplified by poorly governed technology.
When digital systems are designed without safeguards, they concentrate power and exclude the most vulnerable. When governed well, they can contract inequality at scale.
Our Focus Areas
AI Governance
Advancing frameworks that ensure AI systems used in public life are transparent, accountable, and aligned with democratic values.
Digital Justice
Protecting citizens as states digitize services, decision-making, and control.
Economic Rights
Safeguarding livelihoods and inclusion as taxation, welfare, labor, and markets become digitally mediated.
Leadership & Stewardship
CADER is stewarded by practitioners with experience working across African contexts and leading institutions in the Global North, bridging policy, technology, research, and grassroots civic practice in both environments.
Director General
Emmanuel Orjih