Malawi eyes SDG 16.9 target with universal legal identity blueprint

Malawi doesn’t want to be left behind in terms of meeting the 16.9 target of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which requires countries to provide legal identity to everyone, including birth registration, by 2030. The country recently unveiled a blueprint to enable it quicken its steps towards meeting that objective.

Through the National Registration Bureau’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan which it launched last month, the Southeastern African nation intends to ensure that all births, marriages and deaths are registered by 2030. Already, the country has a high national ID adoption rate with over 12 million citizens having legal identity.

Anchored on six major pillars, the strategy outlines how the Malawian government intends to modernize its civil registration and national digital ID system not only to provide a secure, verifiable and inclusive legal identity for all citizens, but to enable them use it as a tool to easily access a wide range of services in the public and private sectors.

The six pillars include ensuring universal civil registration for all citizens in the next five years, putting in place a system that factors in marginalized groups of citizens and residents, strengthening the national DPI ecosystem by enabling interoperability of services, supporting institutional capacity building, facilitating civic engagement and building trust in the ID system, and positioning the government on the right rails in tandem with the nation’s Vision 2063.

According to the Minister of Homeland Security, Ezekiel Ching’oma, who spoke during the launch of the strategy, the blueprint aligns with the NRB’s mandate “to build and maintain a comprehensive National Registration and Identification System” which the country sees as an important pillar of socio-economic development.

“It provides reliable data that government, partners, and the private sector rely on for planning and decision-making,” the minister said.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which helped Malawi in the drafting of the strategy, also acknowledged its relevance in furthering the country’s development. The UN agency has also supported Malawi’s efforts in the past in driving civil registration reform and building an inclusive legal ID system.

UNDP Malawi Deputy Resident Representative, Challa Getachew, described identity as a lifeline, adding that the document will contribute to the country’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) development goal which is to ensure that “every Malawian can access healthcare, education, financial services, and exercise their democratic rights.”

“UNDP is proud to stand with Malawi in building systems that leave no one behind,” Getachew stated.

Malawi is on a good footing with its DPI implementation so far. Next year, the government intends to roll out a national digital ID system that will streamline identity verification and ease service access.

Article Topics

Africa  |  birth registration  |  civil registration  |  digital identity  |  legal identity  |  Malawi  |  National Registration Bureau (NRB)  |  SDG 16.9  |  UNDP