Africa PID Alliance

10/08/2026

🌍 Building Africa’s Trusted Research Infrastructure: From Fragmented Repositories to Connected Research with DOCiD™
Africa’s research output is growing, but much of this knowledge remains distributed across institutional repositories, disconnected systems, and platforms that do not always communicate with one another.
How can we move from fragmented repositories to a connected, trusted, and interoperable African research ecosystem?
Join us for an upcoming session in the Open Pan-African Repository (OPAR) Open Webinar Series, hosted by the Ubuntu Alliance, as we explore how DOCiD™ (Digital Object Container Identifier) can help strengthen Africa’s research infrastructure.
The webinar https://ubuntunet.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3aBcTlo0QE2_Td7q8zuKqA #/registration will explore how DOCiD™ can support:
🔹 Connecting institutional repositories, researchers, institutions, and research outputs
🔹 Improving the discoverability and visibility of African research
🔹 Strengthening persistent identification and interoperability across research systems
🔹 Connecting research outputs with researchers, institutions, projects, grants, datasets, and other scholarly assets
🔹 Bringing greater visibility to outputs that are often underrepresented in traditional scholarly infrastructure
🔹 Supporting trusted, machine-actionable research infrastructure aligned with Open Science principles
🔹 Building an increasingly connected African research ecosystem while strengthening interoperability with global research infrastructure
This conversation is particularly relevant for librarians, repository managers, researchers, research managers, NRENs, ICT professionals, university leaders, Open Science practitioners, and research infrastructure partners.
Africa does not simply need more repositories. We need infrastructure that enables our repositories and research systems to connect, communicate, and make African knowledge more visible, discoverable, and reusable.

28/07/2026

𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐢𝐃™️ 📚

Yesterday, the Africa PID Alliance conducted a DOCiD™️ usage training for United States International University - Africa (USIU-Africa), equipping participants with practical skills to document, manage and enhance the discoverability of Indigenous Knowledge and other research outputs using African-owned persistent digital infrastructure.

The session, facilitated by Nicholas Omino, Program Officer, and Morris Mutinda, Data Officer at TCC Africa, featured a hands-on demonstration of creating and managing DOCiD™️ records, showcasing how the platform supports effective research data management and long-term digital stewardship.

Interested in implementing DOCiD™️ at your institution? Watch our institutional walkthrough to learn how to get started: https://youtu.be/B-kmieiy-gY?si=T4pUdjTTVQu9-Jsk

24/07/2026

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐢𝐃™ 𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 𝐋𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐬, 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚.
The Africa PID Alliance was pleased to facilitate a DOCiD™ usage training for the National Museum Lagos, demonstrating how African-owned persistent digital infrastructure can strengthen the documentation and visibility of Indigenous Knowledge and cultural heritage collections.

The session, led by Nicholas Omino, the Program Officer and Morris Mutinda, the Data Officer, highlighted how DOCiD™ (https://docid.africapidalliance.org/ ) enhances the discoverability, interoperability, and long-term preservation of valuable knowledge assets.

Learn how your institution can get started: https://youtu.be/B-kmieiy-gY?si=p3SnPaSA_z2GPotb

24/07/2026

📢 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅!

𝑾𝒆𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 | 𝑹𝒆𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒁𝒊𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒘𝒆'𝒔 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝑶𝑪𝒊𝑫™: A Trusted Persistent Identifier Framework for Open Science and Indigenous Knowledge Preservation.

Hosted by ZULC, ZimREN, DOCiD™, and The Africa PID Alliance, this session will explore how trusted persistent identifiers can strengthen institutional repositories, improve research discoverability, advance open science, and preserve indigenous knowledge for future generations.

📅 Friday, 31 July 2026
🕙 10:00 AM Zimbabwe (CAT)
💻 Virtual via Zoom

Whether you're a librarian, researcher, repository manager, ICT professional, policymaker, or student, this webinar offers practical insights into building trusted, interoperable, and sustainable digital research infrastructure.

🎟️ Click the link to register and be part of the conversation: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7jjayxGPQFmeuoi0N-aq-A

17/07/2026

Happening Today! 📢

The Africa PID Alliance trained Tangaza University participants on DOCiD™, teaching them how to document, manage, and improve the discoverability of Indigenous Knowledge and research outputs using African-owned persistent digital infrastructure.

The session was facilitated by Nicholas Omino, our Program Officer, and Morris Mutinda, our Data Officer, who guided participants through the creation and management of DOCiD™ records and demonstrated how the platform supports effective research data management and long-term digital stewardship.

Interested in implementing DOCiD™ at your institution? Watch our institutional walkthrough to learn how to get started: https://youtu.be/B-kmieiy-gY?si=p3SnPaSA_z2GPotb

15/07/2026

Updates from our partners

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!
AfLIA invites the submission of abstracts for the 7th AfLIA Conference & 9th African Library Summit, scheduled for 24–28 May 2027 in Livingstone, Zambia, under the theme “Intelligent and Resilient Libraries for Inclusive Knowledge and Sustainable Development in Africa.” Get full details and submission guidelines here: https://web.aflia.net/call-for-abstracts-7th-aflia-conference-9th-africa-library-summit-aflia-conference/

08/07/2026

Happy World Kiswahili Day!
Kiswahili connects millions of people across Africa, not only through conversation, but through trade, education, research, and shared knowledge. As conversations about AI and digital infrastructure grow, the language also reminds us that the future of African research must be multilingual by design.

For the Africa PID Alliance, this means building infrastructure that recognizes Indigenous Knowledge Systems, makes African scholarship discoverable across languages, and ensures researchers receive lasting attribution through Persistent Identifiers (PIDs). It also means advancing data sovereignty so African knowledge remains governed and visible on African terms.

03/07/2026

Why is African archival evidence too often disconnected? 📉
​During our session at the Cory ILAM Conference 2026, we addressed the four recurring gaps facing our heritage:

1️⃣​Fragmentation – Objects and data living in separate silos.
2️⃣​Missing provenance – Records losing their story of origin and custody.
3️⃣​Affordability barriers – DOIs lacking for the full research lifecycle.
4️⃣​Extractive visibility – Knowledge exposed without proper community authority.

​Bridging these gaps can be daunting, but we help institutions implement reliable open infrastructure to secure data provenance and connect African archives ethically to the world.
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03/07/2026

Speaking Engagement! 📢
Our Program Officer, Nicholas Omino, and Data Officer, Morris Mutinda will be speaking at the 14th Society for Ethnobotany – Kenya (SEB–K) Conference and the 7th Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa – Kenya (NAPRECA–K) Conference, taking place virtually on 2–3 July 2026.

As part of the conference theme, "Indigenous Knowledge and Innovations in Natural Products Research," Nicholas will discuss how DOCiD™️ and African-owned persistent digital infrastructure can strengthen the documentation, preservation, discoverability, and long-term accessibility of Indigenous Knowledge and natural products research.

30/06/2026

𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐢𝐃™
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞? 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚, 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫.
The ELTV collection of the Liberian Broadcasting System, covering 1980 to 1991, is live on DOCiD™. Drawn from over 1,200 U-Matic tapes and digitised in collaboration with the University of Bayreuth and Filmstube Berlin, the collection offers scholars rare, unmediated access to Liberian-produced television: news, religion, education, sport, talk shows, and fiction, including the celebrated comedy Malawala Balawala.

For historians, ethnographers, and media scholars working on West Africa, the archive fills a documentary void left by two civil wars. It is a record of a society that almost lost its own image of itself. Now it doesn't have to.

Explore the collection at: