Reimagining civic tech funding as public policy: Toward sustainable governance in Africa

By Melody Okereke

Across Africa, civic technology has become one of the most promising tools for improving transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement. From election monitoring platforms to budget tracking tools, digital civic innovations are reshaping how citizens interact with governments and demand accountability.

But despite its growing relevance, civic tech remains severely underfunded, under-recognized, and disconnected from formal public policy frameworks. It is still seen as the work of civil society and innovators, and not a core function of government strategy. That perception is outdated, and it is holding back progress.

If African countries are serious about building sustainable governance systems, they must stop treating civic tech as a side project and start embedding it within their public policy priorities.

Civic tech is a governance tool. It makes public information more accessible. It simplifies bureaucratic processes. It opens channels for feedback, reports, and real-time problem solving. In countries with weak institutions, civic tech fills gaps that governments are often too slow or too overstretched to respond to.

During the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, platforms like UReport, Feminist Coalition’s donation portal, and civic mapping tools kept the public informed, coordinated emergency services, and helped amplify citizen voices. During elections across Kenya and Ghana, tech-enabled monitoring platforms helped flag irregularities faster than traditional mechanisms. These cannot be regarded as small wins.

They are signs of a new governance reality where technology is central to how citizens participate and how institutions respond.

Despite these, the funding structure around civic tech in Africa remains fragile and inconsistent. Most civic tech projects are funded by short-term grants from international donors. These grants often last one or two years, with rigid reporting structures and little flexibility to adapt to changing user needs. Once the grant ends, many projects go silent. Platforms that were once vibrant communities become outdated, unused, or completely shut down.

Talented developers and project leads shift to other sectors because the work is not financially sustainable. What follows is a cycle of pilot projects with no long-term impact, and a public sector that never fully integrates the tools that worked.

This is where the policy gap becomes most visible. Civic tech should not be surviving on donor cycles alone. It should be part of national digital strategies, supported through public innovation funds, and backed by legislation that ensures data integrity, user privacy, and institutional adoption.

In countries like Estonia, civic tech is treated as a public infrastructure. Digital identity systems, open budget platforms, and e-governance tools are run and maintained by the government in collaboration with civil society and private sector partners.

This ensures continuity, accountability, and broad usage. African countries cannot keep ignoring this. We are not lacking in ideas. We are lacking in policy commitment.

There is also a growing risk of capture. When civic tech is primarily funded by external actors, there is always a danger that priorities are skewed toward donor interests rather than local governance challenges. Projects may focus on flashy outputs instead of long-term institutional change.

The voices of citizens are heard, but the structures of government remain unchanged. What Africa needs is not civic tech for the sake of tech. It needs civic tech that is grounded in the everyday realities of governance, co-created with public institutions, and funded through mechanisms that ensure scale and sustainability.

Some countries are beginning to experiment with this. In Rwanda, Irembo, a government-backed digital service platform, is delivering over 100 government services online. In Senegal, the national government has adopted platforms that allow citizens to track budget performance.

In South Africa, the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention incorporated digital systems to match young people with opportunities. These efforts show that civic tech can move from civil society innovation into formal state architecture. But they also reveal how difficult it is to institutionalize civic tools without political will and strategic policy frameworks.

Youth actors are particularly critical in this space. Many of the most impactful civic tech platforms in Africa were built or led by young people. They understand the technology. They know the gaps. They experience the dysfunctions of government firsthand.

But without sustainable funding models or pathways to work with public institutions, their innovations rarely move beyond the prototype stage. This is a failure of public policy. Governments should not only invite young innovators to policy dialogues. They should fund their work, integrate their solutions, and create regulatory environments where such innovations thrive.

To reimagine civic tech funding, African countries need to develop national innovation budgets that include specific provisions for civic tools. Ministries of finance, communication, and technology should work with local governments and civil society to identify gaps where digital tools can improve service delivery, then provide core funding to scale them.

Public procurement systems must be reformed to allow small civic tech companies to bid for contracts. Universities and public policy institutions must build research frameworks that evaluate the long-term impact of civic tech and inform future programming.

There must also be legal and policy reforms. Data protection laws must be enforced to ensure trust. Freedom of information must be guaranteed so that civic tools have access to the data they need to work. Policies must clarify the roles of different actors, so that governments do not view civic tech as a threat but as a partner.

The private sector also has a role to play. Telecom companies, financial service providers, and tech platforms must begin to see civic tech as an investment in long-term market stability. A well-governed country is good for business. Partnerships between government and private actors can offer technical support, infrastructure access, and long-term financing options that ensure civic platforms remain accessible to all.

The future of African governance depends not just on leaders and policies but on the tools we build to make institutions more transparent, responsive, and accountable. Civic tech is one of those tools. But for it to truly work, it must be treated as a public good, not a project. It must be funded, protected, and integrated into the daily machinery of governance.

Young Africans must lead this advocacy. They must push for civic innovation to be part of national development plans. They must demand that governments open their doors not only to feedback but also to collaboration. They must organize to ensure that civic tech is not just celebrated at innovation summits but enshrined in policy and practice.
The road to sustainable governance is not paved with slogans.

It is built through systems that work. Civic tech offers the chance to fix what is broken. But only if we fund it like we mean it.