In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the public health challenges and economic woes are pressuring governments to deploy social safety nets, health and labour programs to contain the pandemic, and help restart their economies — all requiring inclusive identification of the population.

The objective of this LiveCast was to provide concrete guidance to governments about policies, approaches and technologies that have been proven successful in boosting enrollments or are promising game-changers in that regard.

Inclusion, the biggest obstacle to the Identity Movement

What makes this subject complex is the fact that there is not one single reason why people continue to be excluded. In fact, even when people are not excluded from ID systems, they could be excluded from services because of a variety of ID-related issues like authentication failures, difficult KYC or unrealistic eligibility standards, etc.

In addition, the impact of ID exclusion can manifest itself differently in varied sectors of society, and could possibly be entangled with deeper cultural and societal challenges. For example, those affecting women, marginalised groups, minorities, the poor, the nomads, the remotely inaccessible, and those that lack documentation from birth.

This article was originally published by ID4Africa.