Feasibility Study for Digital Investment Facility (DIF) 2.0

The Digital Investment Facility (DIF) was launched in 2023 by the European Union, Finland, and Germany as part of the Team Europe Data Governance in Africa initiative. Implemented by HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management and GIZ as the German Development Cooperation Agency, DIF was designed as an upstream project preparation and de-risking mechanism to support investments in trusted, climate-resilient digital infrastructure—initially focusing on data centres and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite substantial capital availability under EFSD+ and European Development Finance Institutions (EDFIs), investments in digital connectivity remain constrained, mostly due to a lack of bankable projects, limited upstream project development capacity, and high perceived risks. DIF was created to address these upstream bottlenecks by providing tailored technical and financial advisory, early alignment with EDFI requirements, and integration of ESG standards. Between February 2024 and December 2025, DIF received more than 52 Expressions of Interest, representing an estimated EUR 4 billion in potential investments, and developed a pipeline of 15 eligible projects, with 8 projects currently receiving active advisory support. However, significant number of project requests fell outside DIF’s current scope, indicating strong demand for broader coverage across the digital connectivity value chain, including broadband, subsea cables, and digital public infrastructure (DPI). At the same time, demand for DIF-type support is growing beyond Africa, notably in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Western Balkans, in line with regional digital strategies and EU Global Gateway (GG) priorities. Against this backdrop, the current DIF partners are exploring the feasibility of a DIF Phase II (DIF 2.0) with: • an expanded geographical mandate from Africa to global and • a broadened thematic scope covering not only demands for data centres and IXPs but also first-, middle-, and last-mile connectivity as well as selected DPI components (financial structuring only). This feasibility study will provide the analytical basis for decision-making by the interested donors on the future design and commissioning of DIF 2.0.