Benin receives 2,050 biometric terminals from World Bank to boost civil registration

The government of Benin will see a boost in its civil registration efforts thanks to a donation of 2,050 mobile registration terminals by the World Bank intended to boost the country’s CRVS operational capabilities.

The devices were donated recently to the National Agency for the Identification of Persons (ANIP), through the WURI-Benin project.

WURI (West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion) is a World Bank-funded project meant to establish a foundational identity architecture that promotes regional integration and facilitates access to public services in six West African nations. It envisages at least 100 million people in these countries to have legal ID by 2028.

The head of WURI-Benin, Jean Aholou, handed over the terminals to the Director General of ANIP, Aristide Adjinacou, during a recent ceremony in Cotonou, according to a LinkedIn post.

Per the officials, the terminals are meant to facilitate digital and instant registration of births in Benin, paving the way for easy identification of citizens in the country.

The gadgets will ensure that health facilities in all the districts of Benin can easily register births, marriages and even deaths, easily, and directly into the National Register of Natural Persons (RNPP) and the National Register of Civil Status Events (RNEC).

“These 2050 terminals will considerably strengthen our capacity to modernize civil status in Benin and ensure that every child is automatically registered in the RNPP from birth. This is a major step forward for the inclusion and protection of our citizens,” said Adjinacou at a ceremony to receive the donation.

“This equipment will also improve the reliability of the data collected, which will be integrated directly into our national databases.”

Apart from facilitating digital civil registration, it is hoped that the equipment will help in the reliable collection of data, enhance the accuracy of information collected and expand access to services.

The handing over the of the devices comes just days after the Technical Committee of WURI-Benin met in its third session of 2024 to review progress in the implementation of the project’s activities for the year.

In a blog article in June, the World Bank explained that the WURI project is helping to ease access to services in Benin thanks to the introduction of a foundation identity certificate (fID) which is also known as “C’est moi” card.

The donation to boost civil registration in Benin will go a long way in expanding access to foundation ID which is vital for the country’s efforts in closing its legal ID gap.

In a World Bank survey conducted in 2021 and 2022, Benin was listed among 13 sub–Saharan African countries (of the 36 countries surveyed) with less than 70 percent access to government-issued identity documents, thereby keeping people away from accessing basic services such as financial support from the government, job, or financial services.

In Benin, 54 percent of adults without legal ID said it prevented them from accessing financial services, while 36 percent of those without ID said they lacked the necessary breeder documents to obtain one.

Article Topics

Africa  |  Benin  |  birth registration  |  civil registration  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  legal identity  |  World Bank  |  WURI