Page 48 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

Abstract

The status and characteristics of 48 national identity programs and initiatives in 43 developing countries
were reviewed, including an evaluation of how these programs are being connected to—or used for—service
provision . The identity programs reviewed are mainly government-issued national IDs. However, other types
of national identity programs with links to various services including voter cards, passports, and two programs
targeting the poor and the banking population were also reviewed. Following a brief review of the roles of
identity systems in development and recent identity system trends, an overview of the 48 national identity
programs, including technical features (such as whether physical identities incorporate an electronic component
or are embedded with biometric features), implementation status, population enrollment strategies, and
coverage is presented in the report. The implementation challenges around accountability, privacy, data
management, enrollment, coverage, cost, and harmonization of identity programs were also reviewed. Finally,
the functional applications of national identity programs, reporting how these programs are linked with services
in finance, health, agriculture, elections, and other areas, and analyzing whether particular identity program
characteristics are associated with functional applications are discussed in the report.

“An illiterate person is one who cannot write his name, and an illiterate state is one that cannot write the
names of its citizens” – Plan Nacional Perú Contra la Indocumentación

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