Algorand launches Aadhaar-based Digital Health Passport for Indian women in the informal sector

Blockchain technology provider Algorand Foundation has launched a Digital Health Passport in collaboration with India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) to provide verifiable digital identities to women working in the informal sector.

The digital ID is designed to help nearly 3.5 million members of the trade union access essential health and social service programs. Women doing informal work, such as domestic work, construction, street vending and others, often lack the documentation needed for India’s welfare systems.

The duo kicked off the first pilot last year in the Indian state of Gujarat, enrolling 200 women. This week, Algorand announced that the project is in full deployment across SEWA’s community centers.

The platform allows women to upload their documents to the Digital Health Passport, giving access to government workers who can help enroll them into welfare benefits such as health coverage, pensions, housing and food rations. The blockchain-based wallet system integrates with India’s national identity Aadhaar and document-storage platforms such as DigiLocker to ensure document verification.

Singapore-incorporated Algorand is providing its blockchain platform AlgoBharat for the Digital Health Passport, ensuring that the information remains secure and compliant with India’s new Personal Identifiable Information regulations. SEWA, on the other hand, is helping women acquire the digital ID through its community center network.

The Gujarat pilot aimed to solve the issues faced by SEWA community centers by manually collecting information from its 200,000 members and entering it into spreadsheets. The Gujarat centers had records from less than one-fifth of their membership in the state.

The first stage of SEWA’s plan is to expand the program to 200,000 to 300,000 members in Gujarat, followed by a wider expansion across India. According to data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), 82 percent of employed women in India work in informal jobs.

The Algorand Foundation also launched another project in India focusing on providing verified digital identities and credit scores to women entrepreneurs. The project is developed in collaboration with the Mann Deshi Foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to economically empowering rural women in India.

The alternative credit score system, built on Algorand’s blockchain, is designed for individuals who lack formal credit histories or documentation. Small businesses owned by women in rural India are often excluded from loans due to a lack of documents, credit history and complex Know Your Customer (KYC) processes.

The Mann Deshi Credit Scorecard app was launched earlier this year. Members can upload paperwork such as KYC documents, business licenses and training certificates to DigiLocker, while the app creates a token representing the documents.

The Credit Scorecard relies on Algorand’s Tokenized Trust Framework (TTF), while Mann Deshi is the primary trusted verifier.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  Algorand Foundation  |  blockchain  |  digital ID  |  digital inclusion  |  financial inclusion  |  health passes  |  India  |  verifiable credentials