Practical Data Protection & Privacy (DPO) Training Course

Data protection law has spread rapidly across Africa and beyond, and with it the requirement for organisations to appoint someone who can operate a privacy programme day to day. That role is practical: answering a customer who wants a copy of their data, deciding whether a lost laptop must be reported, checking a new vendor's contract, or reviewing a mobile app before launch. Knowing the principles is the starting point; applying them quickly and consistently is the job.

The Practical Data Protection & Privacy (DPO) Training Course is built as a sequence of workshops. Participants begin by mapping personal data flows and creating a record of processing activities, then choose and document lawful bases, write layered privacy notices and set retention periods. Mid-week they complete an impact assessment for a high-risk service, handle access, rectification and erasure requests, and assess processors and international transfers. The final days focus on security of processing, breach detection and notification, design reviews of new systems, staff awareness and the DPO's reporting line to senior management.

Every exercise produces a usable document. Participants work from a fictional case organisation and, where they wish, their own data, so that by the final session they hold a compliance toolkit and a 90-day plan for their privacy programme.

By the final day, delegates will be able to:

• Map personal data flows and maintain a record of processing activities.
• Select and document a lawful basis for each processing purpose.
• Draft clear, layered privacy notices and consent wording for different channels.
• Conduct a data protection impact assessment and recommend proportionate safeguards.
• Process subject access, rectification, objection and erasure requests within set timelines.
• Assess processors and cross-border transfers and negotiate data processing agreements.
• Manage a personal data breach from detection to notification and lessons learned.
• Report privacy risk and programme progress to senior management.

Designed for those who run privacy compliance in practice, including:

• Newly appointed and serving data protection officers
• Privacy, compliance and risk analysts
• In-house legal counsel and company secretaries
• Information security and IT managers
• Records and information managers
• HR managers handling employee data
• Marketing and CRM managers using customer data
• Health information officers in hospitals and clinics
• Programme and data managers in NGOs collecting beneficiary data

Each participant leaves with a working toolkit:

• A populated record of processing activities template.
• A completed DPIA for a realistic high-risk processing activity.
• A subject request procedure with response letters and a request log.
• A processor due diligence questionnaire and data processing agreement checklist.
• A breach response playbook with a decision tree for notification.
• A retention schedule outline and a privacy notice drafted for one service.
• A 90-day action plan for their organisation's privacy programme.

The course is run as a practical clinic rather than a lecture series:

• A single fictional case organisation carried through every lab
• Template-based drafting with facilitator feedback on each document
• Live review of websites and app permissions using browser and device tools
• A timed breach tabletop with roles for DPO, IT, legal and communications
• Optional work on participants' own processing activities and documents
• Short clinics for questions participants bring from their workplace

Delegates who attend throughout and complete each lab, from the processing record to the breach tabletop, are awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.

Please note that the certificate confirms practical training and is separate from any statutory registration a data protection officer may need with a national regulator.