Editorial

World Bank unveils ambitious plan to aid Digital Identity acceptance

Say hello to ‘Mission Billion’ – a collaborative effort between the World Bank’s ID4D group, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Australian Government, Omidyar Network, and the World Economic Forum

Posted 8 October 2018 by Gary Flood


A special new Digital Identity annual prize to spur innovation and end digital exclusion has been announced by a group including the World Bank’s ID4D (‘Identification For Development’) group, with a first stated challenge to thinkers: the development of “privacy by design and greater control of personal data.”

Also backing the scheme, ‘Mission Billion‘, which formally launches next month (November), are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Australian Government, Omidyar Network, and the World Economic Forum, say reports, who all want to see new privacy schemes that can be embedded into Digital Identification system in different countries.

Mission Billion’s mission statement is to see how Digital Identification systems in developing countries can be designed to protect people’s privacy and provide them with greater control over their personal data?

The challenges is open to:

  • individuals, including academics, entrepreneurs, scientists, technologists and other engaged citizens
  • organisations involved in research, advocacy, design and implementation of digital identification systems, including startups, foundations, non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organisations.

Submissions will be evaluated by committees formed of staff members of the World Bank and partner organisations, while the utlimate decision on awarding the prize will be made by “globally recognised experts in the field of digital identification systems”, says the site.

“No ID means no access to health, education, social protection and other vital services,” points out Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO and Co-Chair of the ID4D High Level Advisory Council. “We must work together to create inclusive and trusted digital ID systems that can unlock economic opportunities for the world’s most vulnerable people.”

Half of the billion ‘invisible’ people without a formal identity are in Africa, stated Georgieva, but The World Bank Group estimates that it will take $6bn in investment at least to meet Africa’s Digital Identity needs.

To join the Mission Billion mailing list and be the first to know about Challenge developments, register your interest at id4d@worldbank.org.