Boards have long overseen financial and operational risk, but data now sits underneath almost every strategic decision, product and regulatory obligation. Data protection laws across Africa and beyond place clear duties on the organisations that collect personal information, regulators expect evidence of control, and generative AI tools have added new questions about how information is used, shared and protected. Directors who treat data as a technical matter for the IT department leave a significant gap in their oversight.

The Data Trust: Data Governance & Board Accountability Training Course explains what boards should ask for, approve and monitor. It opens with the business value and risk of data, then sets out the elements of a governance framework: policies, decision rights, data owners and stewards, classification and lifecycle controls. Participants go on to examine privacy and consent, information security and breach response, data quality and the ethical use of algorithms. The closing days focus on accountability mechanisms, including committee mandates, metrics, independent assurance and transparent disclosure to stakeholders.

The programme is discussion-led and grounded in board practice. Participants work through realistic board papers, breach scenarios and governance charters, test their questioning skills in a simulated board meeting, and leave with a data oversight agenda for their own organisation.

Participants will finish the week able to:

• Explain why data governance is a board responsibility and how it links to strategy, risk and reputation.
• Evaluate whether an organisation's data governance framework, policies and decision rights are fit for purpose.
• Define the roles of data owners, data stewards, data protection officers and management committees.
• Assess privacy, information security and data quality risks using board-level indicators.
• Challenge management proposals involving analytics, data sharing and artificial intelligence.
• Set data risk appetite and escalation thresholds the board can monitor.
• Design reporting and assurance arrangements that give directors confidence in how data is managed.

It is aimed at those who oversee, advise or report to boards on information matters:

• Board chairs and non-executive directors
• Members of audit, risk and technology committees
• Company secretaries and governance officers
• Chief data officers and heads of data management
• Data protection officers and privacy leads
• Chief information and chief information security officers
• Chief risk officers and compliance managers
• Internal auditors responsible for IT and data assurance
• Trustees and senior leaders of NGOs and state corporations

Directors and executives take away:

• A draft data governance charter setting out board and committee responsibilities.
• A bank of probing questions to put to management on data, privacy and AI.
• A sample board data risk dashboard with indicators and tolerance levels.
• A breach escalation and board notification protocol.
• An annual calendar of data governance agenda items and assurance reviews.
• A clearer sense of where personal accountability for data decisions rests.

Sessions are conducted at board level, with emphasis on judgement rather than technology. Participants engage through:

• Facilitated discussions drawing on directors' own governance experience
• Analysis of sample board papers and data risk reports
• A simulated board meeting responding to a data breach
• Peer critique of draft charters and oversight questions
• Short briefings on frameworks, translated into board language

On attending every session and completing the board simulation and charter exercise, each participant is awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.