These slides were presented at the IASSIST Africa Region Webinar on March 26, 2026, and provide an introduction to the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI), an open international standard for describing research data. The presentation is designed for librarians, data professionals, and researchers who are new to DDI, and covers: What DDI is and why metadata standards matter The DDI standards family (DDI Codebook, DDI Lifecycle, and DDI Cross-Domain Integration) Practical examples of how DDI supports data documentation, discovery, and reuse Approaches for adopting DDI in different organisational contexts Opportunities for engaging with the global DDI community This resource serves as a starting point for organisations interested in improving metadata practices and enabling more effective data sharing and reuse.