Rwanda launching digital identity, biometrics enrollment with $8.5M budget

The government of Rwanda is investing 12.2 billion Rwandan francs (approximately US$8.5 million) in the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year to advance the rollout of the nation’s digital identity program, including fingerprint and iris biometrics enrollment.

Minister of ICT and Innovation Paula Ingabire told a Parliamentary Committee that the full cost of setting up the Single Digital Identification System (SDIS) is anticipated to be Rwf54.2 billion (US$38 million), The New Times reports.

In the previous fiscal year, Rwf5.3 billion (US$3.7 million) was allocated to begin the project, but tenders for the project were delayed.

Now, the government is in the process of finalizing contracts with bidders, and expects to begin carrying out the coming year’s work by the end of June. The delays were attributed to procurement challenges which have since been resolved, according to ICT Ministry Permanent Secretary Yves Iradukunda.

SDIS is intended to ease access to public services, financial services, mobile account registration and other services.

The next step includes establishing infrastructure and launching the national registration and biometrics enrollment campaign, and is expected to begin next month.

The first phase of the project was feasibility studies, which have already been completed. A pre-enrollment system to process and digitize civil registry data is in development. So is the core ID system, while procurement documents have been issued and bidders are currently submitting proposals.

Biometric registration centers will be set up across Rwanda, and all identities verified and deduplicated with an automated biometric information system (ABIS). The ABIS will also back real-time authentication and ID card printing, according to the report.

Rwanda’s RISA also accepted bids for an automated multi-modal and modular biometric authentication system (AMBAS) up until a May 7.

The finished system will include a public key infrastructure (PKI) to secure the digital identities.

A national communication plan will soon begin to apprise the public of the system’s importance and how to register.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  government purchasing  |  national ID  |  Rwanda  |  Single Digital Identification System (SDIS)