All eyes on Marrakesh: what to expect as digital ID community returns to the ID4Africa summit

The ID4Africa 2022 Augmented General Meeting kicks off in Morocco on 15 June. With the theme of ‘Identity in context: the Digital Transformation Journey Begins,’ the summit intends to kickstart debate, consensus-reaching and decision-making on legal and digital ID issues for African countries and groupings.

After the first two days in Morocco, there will be a period for the working groups to develop their ideas for the second part, an entirely online event on 28 June for recommendations from Workshops 1 and 2 (see below) and again on 30 June for the equivalent for Workshops 2 and 3.

There has not been a full ID4Africa summit since Johannesburg in 2019, due to COVID-19. However, the ID4Africa team has kept the momentum and in fact explored many more topics through its series of livecasts in the meantime, all available on its YouTube channel.

Part 1: Marrakesh, mainly in person

While the world has transitioned into hybrid conferences, ID4Africa is clear that this is not a hybrid but an “augmented” event. Part 1 on 15 and 16 June is taking place in Marrakesh with only part of the first morning livestreamed, a plenary of the heads of 10 ID authorities embarking on new ID projects. See the detailed agenda. There will of course be opening remarks by ID4Africa Executive Chair, Dr. Joseph Atick.

Day 1 continues with discussions from industry providers of digital ID infrastructure such as Thales, HID Global and Zetes.

Day 2 is dedicated to four workshops on ‘Digital Infrastructure/Digital Stacks’; ‘Identity Management for Frictionless Borders’; ‘Mission 100: Towards Achieving 100% Legal Identity by 2030,’ covering the issues behind UN SDG 16.9 and finally ‘ID Communication & Awareness Strategies: Best Practices for Building Evidence and Engaging the Public.’

Fifty participants will discuss and brainstorm around the topics, with an audience. The participants will then present their findings for the livecasts later in the month.

This year’s event is more selective and is set to have more decision makers meeting in person.

“The ID4Africa Annual Meeting has become the premier event on ID for development purposes, not just in Africa but globally. It has a great balance of governments, development agencies, industry and use cases,” Jonathan Marskell of the World Bank is quoted as saying about the events.

“The ID4Africa movement is the hub for knowledge and sharing experiences on Identity issues,” comments Brenda Joshua Kileo, National Identification Authority (NIDA), Tanzania.

What else to look out for

There will be an expo area running throughout the event. More than 100 exhibitors will show their latest biometrics products and digital ID services, with special demonstrations by Innovatrics, BioRugged and HID Global.

Pakistan’s NADRA will also be on-hand to discuss their progress in infrastructure and digital ID rollout.

As previously, Biometric Update will be reporting from live on location as the Official Journalist of ID4Africa.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  ID4Africa  |  ID4Africa 2022  |  Identification for Development (ID4D)  |  identity management  |  Morocco  |  national ID  |  SDG 16.9