Data Tamasha Africa is a continental data festival born from the union of DataFest Africa and Data Tamasha, co-convened by Pollicy and Tanzania Data Lab (dLab). Data Tamasha Africa brings together Africa’s data practitioners and enthusiasts, including citizens, governments, innovators, civil society, creatives, academia, and the private sector, to strengthen collaboration, mobilize investment, and support the adoption of responsible, inclusive, and sustainable data solutions across the African continent.
Under the theme Kujenga na Data/ Building with Data, the festival shifts from deliberation to demonstration, spotlighting African-owned data and AI tools, governance frameworks, and digital solutions that serve communities, advance sustainable development, and interrogate how data systems shape power, access, and justice. Data Tamasha Africa belongs to the people building Africa’s data future and to the communities whose lives depend on getting it right.
The event seeks to:
Pollicy and dLab, through its curators, will curate sessions and showcases focusing on these core themes;
Track 1: Data, AI Governance, and Innovation for Public Value.
Track 2: Safe and Joyful Digital Futures.
Track 3: Feminist Innovation and the Digital Economy.
Track 4: Women, Youth and the Digital Economy
Track 5: The Afrofeminist Data Museum
Our theme this year is built around the idea of building with data. Learn what that means to us, and what our plan for this year is.
As we look forward to Data Tamasha Africa 2026, taking place from 19 to 21 August in Zanzibar, Tanzania, we are excited to announce the theme of this year’s festival: Kujenga na Data / Building with Data. The festival will bring together builders, thinkers, creatives, policymakers, and communities from across the continent in a hybrid format. At its heart, Data Tamasha Africa 2026 is about shifting from deliberation to demonstration, spotlighting African-owned tools, advancing community-centred data governance, and ensuring the communities most affected by data systems are the ones shaping them.
At Data Tamasha Africa 2026, we are giving African-built solutions a stage. Through live demonstrations, product showcases, participants will see, test, and engage directly with African-built tools that are already making a difference.
Across the continent, governments are putting data protection laws and AI governance frameworks in place faster than ever. But laws on paper only matter if the people building and deploying technology understand them and if those frameworks reflect what is actually happening on the ground. At Data Tamasha Africa 2026, we bring regulators, developers, civil society, and communities into the same room to close that gap, through dialogues and hands-on sessions that turn complex frameworks into practical, people-centred action.
See how communities and creatives are using data to improve livelihoods
Explore bold, African built technologies that challenge extractive systems