A report on the Second H3Africa Ethics Consultation Meeting, which was held in Livingstone, Zambia on 11 May 2015. The meeting demonstrated considerable evolution by African Research Ethics Committees on thinking about broad consent as a consent option for genomics research and biobanking. The meeting concluded with a call for broader engagement with policy makers across the continent in order to help these recognise the need for guidance and regulation where these do not exist and to explore harmonisation where appropriate and possible.