The AfCFTA digital trade protocol is a genuine continental achievement, and the enthusiasm around it is well earned. This session takes that achievement seriously enough to examine how it works. Its architecture draws on established templates such as USMCA and understanding that lineage is precisely how civil society moves from applauding the protocol to shaping its implementation. The purpose of the session is constructive: to ask what the protocol enables, how its provisions can be made to work for African markets, and where civil society can strengthen the space for African agency as the protocol is put into practice.