Trusted identities key to sustainable growth in Africa

African countries are looking to provide legal identity to all of their citizens so they can step up their continuous development.

Setting up an integrated national identity management ecosystem is the most sustainable way to provide a reliable and trusted legal identity to all.

The benefits of an integrated national identity management ecosystem in Africa go beyond national borders.

Kenya maintained its continental lead as a trailblazer on the adoption of technological systems for social-economic development, with the recent Huduma Namba mass registration exercise.

The successful registration of close to 40 million Kenyans and foreigners resident in Kenya is a major milestone on the ongoing global efforts to adopt trusted identities as a key ingredient for growth. By good measure, one of the fundamental rights of any individual is to have a trusted identity, regardless of origin or social status.

Today, 1.1 billion people in the world are without any form of state-recognsed legal identification, either paper-based or digital. Through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — goal 16.9 — the UN has made it its priority to give everyone a legal ID by 2030. This issue disproportionately affects women and children from poor, rural areas in Africa, but the continent is changing at a fast pace as attested by the Huduma Namba success in Kenya.

Registering a country’s population in a national population register is important for many reasons — fair and equal elections, making sure that social aid goes to the right people, limiting fraud, sustaining development and economic growth, making macroeconomic decisions, and so much more.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Currently, there is a limited number of countries with a national population registry and a significant part of the population is without legal ID. The World Bank-fronted Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative advocates giving legal IDs as part of efforts towards sustainable economic development, especially in Africa.

To achieve this, we need to create a national ID management system that gives a legal identity to each citizen from birth and throughout life. In other words, we need to build a bridge between the civil registry, which records vital events (birth/death, marriage/divorce), the national population registry, which provides individuals with their unique legal identity and functional registries, which make use of an identity for issuing passports, producing electoral lists, etc.

This infrastructure must be sustainable, remain up-to-date and ensure that any individual is well identified as the same person in every registry.

Since everyone’s biological identity is unique and specific, biometrics is an effective tool for building such a system. It provides the means to set up a trusted ID management ecosystem for securing reliable information management and prevent fraud. As demographic aspects also need to be taken into consideration, mobile devices have to be used so we can enrol people in even the remotest areas.

Wherever you live or whatever your social status, everyone should have the right to a legal identity so that he or she can vote, have access to education, social care, financial services and welfare benefits.

ELECTORAL PROCESS

Creating an integrated identity management ecosystem is also important for reinforcing a fair and just democratic electoral process, supporting an efficient administration by granting its citizens the rights and benefits they are entitled to and providing ID documents such as national ID cards, driving licences, passports, resident cards, and vehicle registration cards. These enable governments and policymakers to confirm identity and collect reliable data, in order to improve citizens’ quality of life.

Additionally, legal ID makes it easier to open bank accounts, get mobile subscriptions, apply for insurance, and many other benefits that are good for economic and infrastructure growth.

A border control management system connected to an integrated national ID ecosystem can provide more robust, reliable and trusted identities of the entire population present on the territory: citizens, residents and visitors.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

In terms of international development, a country which can demonstrate its ability to efficiently control and manage the identity of who is getting in and who is getting out, is sending a message of assurance and confidence to the world, translating into more international travel, trade and economic growth.

In addition, governments benefit from facilitated administrative processes by avoiding to duplicate efforts in managing identities. It also increases the reliability and accuracy of data, which in turn dramatically enhance territorial security operations and border protection.

For travellers, visa purchases, land/sea/air border entry/exit systems, potential e-gates for easy passenger travel, can all be much easier to manage and more efficiently accessible. A very user-friendly travel experience is the best publicity a country can give to any new or regular visitors, or citizens going abroad.

Mr Grenier is the Senior Vice-President, IDEMIA Public Security & Identity – Africa.