Lesotho, UNICEF partner to develop MOSIP-based integrated national ID

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will support the government of Lesotho in the development of an integrated national digital ID ecosystem.

The initiative is part of the 2026 Action Plan contained in the Lesotho–UNICEF Program of Cooperation 2025–2028, according to a Lesotho government announcement.

The Ministry of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation (MICSTI) and the UNICEF country office for Lesotho signed the agreement recently.

According to the government, the UN agency will assist the Southern African Kingdom in putting in place a national ID ecosystem to facilitate the renewal of passports and national ID cards.

With the support, enhancements will also be made in the area of “biometric registration, proof-of-life verification and updating of expired identity documents.” The announcement adds that the move will equally strengthen “identity verification for financial services and contribute to improved monitoring of financial flows and prevention of fraud and money laundering.”

The government says that improving identification services in the country will contribute to the attainment of objectives outlined in the National Strategic Development Plan II and the National Social Protection Strategy II.

Lesotho is a member of the 50-in-5 campaign, an initiative that seeks to help countries of the Global South in their efforts to build secure, inclusive and interoperable digital public infrastructure (DPI) by 2028. Lesotho is building its digital public infrastructure based on MOSIP, which has been described as the go-to open source platform for building DPI ecosystems.

UNICEF plays a major role in facilitating access to legal and digital identity. As co-chair of the UN Legal Identity Agenda Task Force, the agency supports initiatives especially in Africa where many countries are behind schedule in terms of meeting the SDG 16.9 target of issuing a legal identity to everyone, including civil registration, by 2030.

Article Topics

Africa  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  identity document  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  Lesotho  |  MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identity Platform)  |  national ID  |  UNICEF