Blockchain in Africa

Welcome to your course on Blockchain in Africa!

The first ever real-world transaction using Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency built on blockchain, was for a pizza. From that small beginning, blockchain has grown into a revolutionary decentralised system whose uses reach far beyond digital currency. This course looks at the different uses of blockchain within the global system and gives you the knowledge to investigate how it can be applied, in line with recommendations and policies, to the different spheres of the African context.

You will define what blockchain is and follow how a transaction becomes a permanent record, weigh its characteristics against its limitations, survey its applications from payments to agriculture to public spending, work through the seven key policy recommendations, and reason about the challenges and the road ahead for adoption in Africa. The course closes with a readiness self-check and an ungraded project that applies what you have learned to a real challenge in your own region.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain what blockchain is, how a transaction becomes an immutable block, and what makes it different from an ordinary database.
• Weigh the defining characteristics of blockchain against its real limitations.
• Investigate the application of blockchain across different spheres of the African system, from finance to agriculture to the public sector.
• Evaluate the appropriate policies and recommendations for blockchain application in your own area.

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for policymakers, public officials, ICT regulators and programme managers across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:

• Shaping digital, financial or innovation policy that touches blockchain or distributed ledgers.
• Assessing where blockchain could support financial inclusion, supply-chain transparency or accountable public spending.
• Responsible for balancing the opportunities of blockchain against its limitations, regulation and infrastructure needs.