New Digital Public Infrastructure program from World Bank aims for inclusivity

The World Bank has released its annual report on the Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative, marking ten years of the program. In tandem, it celebrates five years of the Digital Government-to-Person Payments (G2Px) Initiative.

“Through ID4D and G2Px, the World Bank has helped more than 80 countries strengthen ID and civil registration systems or build new digital ID functionality, and more than 40 countries digitalize G2P payments in a way that provides more choice and convenience for recipients,” says the report. 

The document covers topics ranging from stateless individuals to digital literacy to verifiable credentials and digital wallets. But, according to some industry observers, the most significant finding is that the world is moving past foundational projects in identity and digital payments to embrace Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) at large. 

“Between 2022 and 2024, Digital Public Infrastructure evolved from a nascent concept into a central pillar of the digital agenda,” the report says. To broaden its support for digital public infrastructure (DPI) implementation and use, the World Bank has launched a new cross-sector DPI Program.

“The World Bank Group’s new DPI Program reflects the growing recognition that digital identification, payments, data sharing, and trust systems are essential building blocks for transactions across sectors,” the report says. 

The program offers an integrated platform to support nations in designing, implementing and maintaining DPI that is “fit-for-purpose, context-specific, and grounded in inclusion, trust and impact.” It aims to strengthen national DPI strategies, implement safe and inclusive DPI systems, and enable impact and service transformation. 

It follows the release of a white paper designed as a road map for core approaches to building DPI.

Give communities agency in defining DPG: West African leaders

A recent meeting held during the UN General Assembly in New York, hosted by the 50-in-5 campaign, explored its efforts to help 50 countries design, launch, and scale components of their digital public infrastructure by 2028.

“Digital cooperation is more needed than ever,” says Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO of the Digital Public Goods Alliance. “Unprecedented cuts to international development assistance is making it more critical than ever to succeed with building digital public infrastructure, because these technologies are shared means to many ends.” 

During the event, government ministers from Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Togo share updates on their countries’ progress. They emphasize the importance of collaboration on digital public infrastructure and digital public goods (DPG); in the words of Salimah Monorma Bah, minister of communications technology and innovation for Sierra Leone, when it comes to DPGs, “there’s a feeling of this thing being done to us and not with us. So I think we really need to significantly change that. I think we need to build more capacity and have more people within the region developing DPGs.” 

The theme is also present in remarks from Cina Lawson, minister of digital economy and transformation for Togo. “In life you would rather help someone than being helped. You want to be in the position to be doing things. And one thing that the continent is really passionate about at this point is that we want to be solving our own issues.”

Further along in the event, Brazil’s Minister of Management and Innovation in Public Services Esther Dweck says that “both in Brazil and internationally, we have been promoting digital public infrastructures as a global strategy for using technology to increase state capacity to better serve the population and to promote sustainable development goals.” 

Developments in the Caribbean and Latin America get their own panel. The first deputy prime minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mikailo Federov, drops in to discuss his country’s rapid digital transformation through the implementation of the Diia web portal. East Africa takes the spotlight for a session. 

Across the board, the message is consistent: modernized digital public infrastructure is essential. Just as you cannot cross a bridge that’s unfinished, you can’t complete digital transformation without building what’s needed to achieve it. 

Lessons from Aadhaar emphasize cost savings, security by design

A piece for the World Economic Forum runs with the metaphor: “DPI is the digital equivalent of highways, railways and utility grids. These shared national assets enable economic and social activity at scale. The building blocks of DPI – digital identity, payments and data exchange – are like pipes and power lines that carry trust instead of water or electricity.” 

The authors make the case that India’s DPI “treats digital identity, payments and data exchange as secure foundational infrastructure rather than a profit centre” – an approach that has “yielded extraordinary societal and economic returns and creates a blueprint for other countries developing their own DPI.”

It notes that, since launching, India’s Aadhaar system for national digital identity has enrolled over 1.3 billion residents, transforming India’s economy by “dramatically reducing identity verification costs from $10-20 to just $0.27 per transaction.”

Efficiency and cost are factors, but the biggest is security. Aadhaar has taken its share of criticism for data leaks. The authors argue that India’s approach to DPI security offers lessons for other nations.

“First, security cannot be an afterthought, it must be built into the DNA of DPI systems from conception,” the paper says, noting that security-by-design principles were embedded into Aadhaar’s biometric protocols, enabling widespread smartphone adoption. 

“India’s model also involves government-owned infrastructure operating alongside private sector innovation,” a hybrid approach that combines innovation and resilience. And, “the government’s Digital India campaign emphasizes cyber hygiene and digital literacy for all. It recognizes that secure systems remain vulnerable without user understanding of basic security practices.”

Article Topics

50-in-5  |  Africa  |  biometrics  |  civil registration  |  digital identity  |  digital inclusion  |  digital public goods  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Identification for Development (ID4D)  |  India  |  World Bank