Digital services, mobile money, cloud platforms and analytics have made personal information a core business asset and a significant liability. Regulators are strengthening enforcement, customers are more aware of their rights and partners increasingly ask for evidence of privacy controls before they sign contracts. Organisations need a designated person who understands the law, the technology and the business well enough to guide decisions.

This programme prepares participants to carry out the data protection officer role strategically. It opens with privacy principles, the DPO's independence, tasks and reporting lines, and the legal concepts of controller, processor and lawful basis. Participants then build the working tools of the role: data inventories, records of processing, privacy notices, consent management and procedures for handling access and deletion requests. The middle sessions examine risk-based techniques including DPIAs, vendor due diligence, international transfers and privacy by design in projects. The programme closes with incident and breach management, monitoring and audit, awareness-building and the board-level reporting that makes privacy a managed risk.

Exercises use realistic scenarios from banking, health, education and public service. Participants finish with a working draft of their own privacy programme plan.

After the programme, participants will be able to:

• Describe the independence, responsibilities and reporting lines of the data protection officer.
• Map personal data flows and maintain a record of processing activities.
• Determine lawful bases for processing and manage consent appropriately.
• Handle data subject requests within required timelines.
• Conduct data protection impact assessments for new projects and systems.
• Evaluate processors, vendors and cross-border data transfers.
• Lead incident and breach response, including notification decisions.
• Report privacy performance and risk to senior management and regulators.

The programme is suitable for professionals who hold or support privacy responsibilities, including:

• Newly appointed and aspiring data protection officers
• Compliance, risk and legal officers
• Information security and ICT managers
• Internal auditors reviewing privacy controls
• HR managers who hold employee records
• Marketing and customer experience leaders using customer data
• Healthcare, education and microfinance administrators
• Government officers managing citizen databases

Participants complete the programme with:

• A starter data inventory and record of processing template.
• A data protection impact assessment form and worked example.
• A breach response playbook with decision tree and notification checklist.
• A vendor privacy due diligence questionnaire.
• A one-year privacy programme roadmap with priorities and metrics.
• A board reporting outline for privacy risk.

The programme is practice-oriented and built around the tasks a DPO performs. It features:

• Legal and operational concepts explained through short scenarios
• Template workshops where participants fill in registers, notices and assessments
• Breach simulation with decisions on containment and notification
• Group discussion of sector-specific dilemmas in health, finance and government
• Individual roadmap drafting with facilitator review

Participants who complete the five days and submit their practical exercises receive a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion from Vision Reach Global Consultancy. The certificate evidences training received and does not replace any registration or licensing required by a national regulator.