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Abstract: The participation of African countries and associations in the Global Biodiversity information Facility (GBIF) now stands at 18 members. The growth in membership has resulted in greater awareness for the need to proactively manage biodiversity data in support of the research-planning-decision-making-monitoring cycle. The increase in membership has had many positive developments for participating countries or organizations and these include: improved coordination in the mobilization of data, the development of web data portals, easier access to biodiversity data and capacity building initiatives at a country level. To date the combined data made available through the African nodes exceeds 12 million records with five data participants actively sharing data. Training initiatives are taking place in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa and the SEP-CEPDEC programme is assisting Franco-phone countries through training and mentorship opportunities. The growth in African participation in GBIF has created the need for African participants to improve continental collaboration with the aim of capitalising on available resources. It is agreed that a collaborative approach amongst African participant nodes will contribute towards unison in the interaction with the GBIF structures. Furthermore, this collaborative approach will strengthen the mobilization of resources from donors, regional and national government agencies. This collaborative approach is supported by the GBIF secretariat which is seeking new ways of working with all participant nodes as a means of streamlining the interaction between the secretariat and between country nodes. At the GBIF 16 Governing Board meeting in 2009 it was agreed that a series of regional meetings will be held as a means to interrogate the regional differences to better inform the GBIF work 2012 -2016 programme in relation to country requirements.