Ayang Macdonald
Representatives from governments, leading international institutions and civil society organizations working on digital ID development are convergent on their views that strong governance frameworks are a prerequisite for successfully implementing digital ID schemes.
Experts and researchers from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as officials from the governments of Kenya and Malawi, shared their views on this topic during a recent ID4Africa Livecast.
The virtual event, the 45th in the series, was premised on the theme “UNDP and NIST guidelines for digital identity and its governance.”
During the discussion, which focussed on addressing some of the challenges inherent in the implementation of digital identity projects, participants agreed that for digital ID systems to be successfully deployed, efforts have to transcend technological and infrastructural considerations.
Panelists observed that despite the rapidity in the development and deployment of digital identity systems, the design of robust and appropriate governance frameworks to guide those systems is not happening with the corresponding pace.
In their view, governance frameworks seeking to oversee digital ID systems must be inclusive, trustworthy, reliable, and accountable.
In the first segment of the discussion, panelists looked at the lessons which can be drawn from the UNDP framework for digital identity which was recently released, as well as the one designed by the OECD, a 38-member organization that has been working to strengthen government policy for better service delivery since the year 2000.
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#Digital ID