Worldbank’s Secure eID Toolkit for Africa

Abstract

This article provides a high-level functional and technical overview of the Worldbank’s Toolkit project ’Secure Electronic Identity for Africa’. The Toolkit project was initiated by the Worldbank in 2012, with sponsorship of the French government. Its aim is to provide African nations with a guidebook addressing all required elements to establish a secure electronic identity system in their country. The Toolkit is expected to be publicly announced in 2013. Implementation funding is to be provided through a PPP (Public Private Partnership) including participation from the Worldbank.

The Tookit proposes a mixed ecosystem of government and private sector operators such as MNOs (Mobile Network Operators). It combines elements such as the collaboration of government entities such as a National Identity Register, other registers such as an Election Committee Register and Registers of Births and Deaths, various private Trust Service Providers, and a combination of mobile (e.g. SIM/USIM) and non-mobile (e.g. PKI) technologies as well as biometrics.