DCI launches digital identity interoperability standards for social protection

In financial development initiatives, the aim is to ensure benefits reach the right people while reducing duplication and fraud. Authorities are increasingly leveraging digital identification systems to achieve this goal and ensure their social protection (SP) programs are inclusive.

Yet the design and implementation of these systems varies widely, creating challenges for cross-border collaboration and scalability. This can be especially pertinent to regions that cross national borders.

In response, the Digital Convergence Initiative (DCI) has unveiled Version 1.0.0 of its ID–SP Systems Interoperability Standards, a framework designed to enable secure and reliable data exchange between national identification systems and social protection platforms.

Published on Gitbook and endorsed by the USP2030 Partnership, the standards adopt OpenID Connect, from the OpenID Foundation, and Verifiable Credentials (W3C) as their technical foundation.

These open standards provide a trusted mechanism for social protection systems to authenticate individuals and request verified identity data, such as demographic attributes or authentication tokens, in a privacy-preserving way.

The standards are not about building ID systems themselves or about integrating with health or education platforms, DCI emphasized. Rather, they’re focused squarely on enabling interoperability between ID and social protection systems. This includes supporting social registries, integrated beneficiary registries and other SP platforms “to connect meaningfully and securely with ID systems.”

DCI said the release culminates months of research, peer review and collaboration by a standards committee comprising experts from 20 organizations. By establishing a common technical language, the initiative aims to strengthen digital public infrastructure and foster greater trust in the delivery of social protection programs.

Launched in 2021 under the USP2030 partnership, DCI is a global initiative for the digital transformation of social protection systems. Key aspects of its remit is the development of technical standards for interoperability and to support countries in digital transformation. Germany’s GIZ helps to coordinate DCI along with the World Bank and other partners.

One of those partners is the International Labour Organization (ILO) whose director of the Universal Social Protection Department commented on the work at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha in December.

“Digital transformation of social protection is not an end in itself and it’s not only about cutting costs,” said ILO director Shahra Razavi. “It is about making sure everyone has access to benefits and services, particularly those most at risk of vulnerability and exclusion.”

At the same summit, H.E. Samedy Yok, deputy secretary general of Cambodia’s National Social Protection Council, revealed how the Southeast Asian country had tackled persistent fragmentation.

The official described how a new Digital Social Protection Platform (DSPP) sought to address the issue by establishing a single digital umbrella, with the umbrella providing a unified registry and gateway for eligibility checks, program delivery and fraud prevention.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Digital Convergence Initiative (DCI)  |  digital identity  |  open standards  |  OpenID Connect  |  SDG 16.9  |  social protection  |  standards  |  verifiable credentials