Yoti discusses digital identity use to monitor food and cash rations

Yoti has published the first of six articles looking at the use of digital identities in different humanitarian settings.

Specifically, the initial piece looks at the potential benefit of using digital ID technologies to monitor food and cash rations in northern Mozambique.

In it, Yoti’s Head of Social Purpose Ken Banks first mentions that food shortages in Mozambique are frequent, caused by natural disasters, military conflicts, and unfavorable financial circumstances for the majority of the population. These crises, according to Banks, prompted the creation of camps for internally displaced people, accommodating as many as 120,000 in a single location.

Food aid organizations like the UN’s World Food Programme and World Vision International have been involved in food distribution programs in the area for some time, but because of the sheer number of people in camps, keeping track of the commodities remains difficult.

The solution proposed by Yoti would enable individuals to register their names, photographs, and fingerprint biometrics into an offline database, as many of them are unlikely to have IDs due to having fled their homes.

Before receiving a food parcel, water, or medication, camp inhabitants will then have their digital identity authenticated.

The system proposed by Yoti would also enable sharing of databases between camps, enabling people to be identified and authenticated if they decided to move from one camp to another or if they are displaced again in the future.

This is not the only initiative ‘for good’ Yoti is currently working on. Last week, the company received two rounds of funding as a prize for participating in the UK government’s Safety Tech Challenge Fund initiative.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  data sharing  |  digital identity  |  humanitarian  |  Identification for Development (ID4D)  |  identity management  |  identity verification  |  Yoti