Sierra Leone partners with Bhutan, Sign on digital identity platform

 The governments of Sierra Leone and Bhutan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sign Foundation to collaborate on the design, development, and implementation of a digital identity platform for Sierra Leone.

An announcement says the agreement between Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation (MoCTI), Bhutan National Digital Identity Limited (Bhutan NDI) and SIGN “marks a significant milestone in Sierra Leone’s digital transformation journey and reflects a shared commitment to building secure, inclusive, and interoperable Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) that empowers citizens, strengthens public service delivery, and supports economic development.”

It builds on an existing MOU between Sierra Leone and scalable digital infrastructure firm Sign, enlisting Sign to power the country’s digital ID plan with blockchain technology.

The joint project will leverage open-source technologies and W3C-compliant verifiable credentials, and place “a strong emphasis on institutional capacity building and knowledge transfer.”

“The parties will work closely to strengthen local technical capabilities, develop implementation expertise within Sierra Leone, and establish governance mechanisms that ensure the platform can be sustainably managed and evolved by national institutions over time.”

Bhutan model to provide template for Sierra Leone

Each partner contributes a particular element of expertise. MoCTI will provide strategic leadership, policy direction, and coordination across government institutions. Bhutan NDI will bring experience in national digital identity architecture and provide the foundational open-source identity framework, with Bhutan’s National Digital Identity program serving as a model. Sign will lead the system design, solution architecture and technical implementation of the platform.

The MoU also establishes a joint working group to develop a phased strategic implementation roadmap for deployment of the national digital ID system. Per the release, the collaboration reflects “a growing commitment among governments and technology partners to build interoperable, citizen-centric digital public infrastructure using open standards and internationally recognised best practices.”

Africa continues rising to digital ID occasion

The previous statement applies across the globe, but particularly in Africa, where the shared vision for a digital identity ecosystem is being adopted with increasing enthusiasm, and a lack of legacy infrastructure frees greenfield projects of technical and political obstacles that can come with established norms.

In a recent interview with the Biometric Update Podcast, Sign CEO Claire Ma points to the rapid spread of MOSIP-based deployments as evidence that many governments in Africa and the Global South are moving faster on foundational digital identity infrastructure than some advanced economies.

Article Topics

Africa  |  Bhutan NDI  |  digital ID  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Sierra Leone  |  Sign  |  verifiable credentials