Benin shares its X-Road-inspired DPI interoperability experience in peer learning webinar

A recent peer learning discussion organized by the Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI) spotlighted the DPI path walked by Benin since 2016.

Since that time, the West African country has been pursuing its digital transformation plans anchored on a DPI architecture comprising pillars like digital ID, digital payments and data exchange systems.

During the virtual peer learning session which was attended by people from countries including Ghana, Lesotho, South Africa and Zambia, a trio from Benin’s Information and Digital Systems Agency (ASIN), explained details about the country’s DPI trajectory including its governance and regulatory frameworks, funding and sustainability approaches, among other things.

According to the three speakers, the country’s DPI journey is modeled on Estonia’s X-Road, which today is developed by several countries under the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS). Benin’s DPI efforts started about nine years ago with the coming to power of President Patrice Talon, who wanted to put the country on a new digital transformation route.

“Since then, we’ve achieved various results, including an interoperability system, a citizen portal with over 200 digitized services, a national PKI, a physical person registry, and a national payments platform mainly via mobile money for financial inclusion,” one of the speakers, Anziz Adehan, said.

They explained that Benin’s DPI ecosystem, which seeks to ensure a smart administration, service delivery efficiency, and digital inclusion of all citizens, has three core components.

Other than the digital ID system, there is also an interoperability platform dubbed UXP, a proprietary commercial solution from Estonia-based Cybernetica that takes inspiration from Estonia’s digital interoperability platform, X-Road, and enables secure and standardized data exchange across government and private entities, as well as a dual PKI system for travel document security and digital signatures and authentication.

The speakers note that since it went operational, there are more than 1,500 services integrated, and more than 55 institutions, including from sectors like banking telecoms and insurance, also connected. The system, they explain, supports both citizen-facing and inter-agency services, with more than 300 services fully digitized and over 70 million data exchange transactions completed to date.

To achieve this success, despite a barrage of challenges, the discussants stated that several factors are responsible, and these include strong political will, clear institutional roles and centralized coordination through ASIN, robust legal frameworks that enforce interoperability, progressive onboarding of public and private sector institutions, maximization of local capacity, a dual source of funding from the national budget (which covers most of the core infrastructure and projects) and international partners such as the World Bank and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), plus transparency methods which are being deployed in gauging progress.

Looking ahead, the ASIN officials say they are working to effectively onboard the remaining agencies both in the public and private sectors, build structured registries for missing datasets, continue training and sensitization, and also strengthen PKI adoption and ensure constant regulatory updates.

Adehan also explained the governance, economic model and sustainability approach adopted by ASIN to manage the DPI system. “We maintain the original service fees because digitalization doesn’t increase user costs. However, digitization has significantly improved revenue collection by reducing corruption and increasing transparency. It has also expanded our tax base.”

“ASIN teams receive dedicated training for all major projects. International partners must collaborate with a local company to build national capacity. We regularly conduct capacity building for local stakeholders and continuously adapt mechanisms based on biennial evaluations to ensure long-term efficiency,” he added.

As part of a plan to make its digital ID system more inclusive, Benin is planning to launch a mobile wallet by next year.

The peer learning exchange was part of the CDPI’s wider effort of advancing cross-country learning on DPI implementation.

Shaping a digital future with DPI

With DPI, countries are sure to effectively shape their digital and economic futures, says Sanjay Jain, director of DPI at the Gates Foundation.

In a write-up in April, he discussed the critical nature of DPI and how countries can make the most of them in areas such as financial inclusion and social protection.

It is his conviction that well-built DPI systems “can serve as the rails for an entire economic system”, facilitating aspects like small business loan applications.

Jain holds that if built on open-source platforms like MOSIP and Mojaloop, it can enhance digital inclusion and participation and super fairer and more dynamic markets reduce costs and duplication of ID systems, for example, in public service delivery.

Given the extremely vital nature of DPI, Jain insists that building such systems must be done right, and cites certain principles to follow. These include reusability, interoperability, country ownership (sovereignty) and accountability.

He advises that “by investing in DPI, countries will have a stronger foundation to lead a fairer shot at building economies that work for everyone.”

Reimaging DPI for a connected future

Jain’s views are corroborated by a World Economic Forum (WEF) commentary which also highlights the place of DPI in helping countries build a connected future. It argues why a collaborative framework for DPI development is necessary, noting that it must now be viewed as a necessity and not an afterthought.

The article posits that the development of DPI must be reimagined, and evolve in order to meet the exigencies of changing technologies. It examines what DPI is and why it matters, why current DPI systems must advance, as well as the need for a future-focused and collaborative DPI development roadmap.

Initiatives like the 50-in-5 campaign underpin the importance of collaboration and shared learning in the development of safe, inclusive and interoperable DPI.

This post was updated at 4:42pm Eastern on September 3, 2025 to clarify that UXP is a commercial product from Cybernetica, not a version of X-Road.

Article Topics

Africa  |  Benin  |  Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI)  |  digital government  |  digital public infrastructure  |  government services  |  interoperability  |  X-Road