Guinea selects Idemia for OSIA digital identity system to drive inclusion

Guinea’s National Agency for Economic and Social Inclusion (ANIES) plans to use a digital identity and biometrics management system based upon OSIA’s open standards approach, to reach vulnerable communities in the country, announced Secure Identity Alliance (SIA).

Idemia will provide ANIES with the digital identity system that eliminates vendor lock-in and prioritizes reaching those most in need in the country.

Within Guinea’s population of 12 million people, around 40 percent are undocumented, meaning access to governmental support programs is limited. The biometric registration, run by ANIES will provide each citizen with a legal identity and a beneficiary card allowing access to a range of governmental services. Nearly 60 percent of the population lives in poverty, and Idemia says the government intends to promote financial inclusion through a cash transfer program enabling access to financial and payment services under the National Economic and Social Development Plan (PNDES).

OSIA (Open Standards Identity APIs) enables digital identity as a service, and works with an advisory committee including governments and major corporations, to develop appropriate contractual and technical frameworks which focus on assuring data portability and interoperability. Innovatrics, also a member of OSIA, provided technology to Guinea for civil registration projects in 2019.

“SIA via OSIA deployment is proud to contribute to ANIES’s programme and to support the inclusion project of the most vulnerable persons in Guinea. The OSIA initiative represents a new era of openness and collaboration between industry and governments across the world to resolve the interoperability and data sharing challenges,” says Philippe Barreau, Chairman of the Board at SIA and Idemia group executive vice president.

Idemia also deployed an OSIA digital identity system to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019 with the aim of identifying 2.4 million children and providing 600,000 birth certificates.

Using OSIA is a cost-effective way for governments to harness innovation, and drive social inclusion, the organization says.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  data sharing  |  digital identity  |  financial inclusion  |  Guinea  |  IDEMIA  |  Identification for Development (ID4D)  |  identity management  |  interoperability  |  OSIA (Open Standards Identity API)  |  Secure Identity Alliance