CONFERENCE
- 20-23 May 2025
- Ethiopian Skylight Hotel
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Theme in 2025:
Digital Identity at Scale: Prioritizing use, accelerating impact
MOTIVATION
While building a digital identity is not inherently complex once foundational identity registers are established, the challenge lies in developing the right ecosystem to support its effective use. This involves creating an enabling environment where public and private relying parties can seamlessly integrate digital identity into their services, enhancing user onboarding and unlocking new applications made possible by secure, digital access.
A fully functioning digital identity ecosystem encompasses digital identity public infrastructure, including identity verification services, alongside robust regulatory frameworks and governance. These elements are crucial for fostering a sustainable environment for digital service delivery at scale, ensuring that the potential of digital identity is fully realized across sectors.
This topic is the central theme of our 2025 AGM, where we will focus on scaling digital identity by driving both its supply and demand. Our discussions will explore actionable strategies and innovative pathways to accelerate impact of its transformative power through enabling use cases.
THE 3 PILLARS OF THIS THEME
Scale
Identity management takes a different form as it reaches population scale and could benefit from the development and deployment of platforms often referred to as digital public infrastructure (DPI). However, the path to scalability is not purely a technical endeavor. It is crucial to address governance, safeguards, and user-centric considerations as systems grow. The program will offer a multi-perspective exploration of the challenges, risks, and strategies involved in scaling identity management solutions.
Use
Digital identity should not be framed as technology in search of problems to solve. Instead, the focus must begin with identifying and understanding the key use cases where digital identity can provide significant benefits. The program will provide a broad exploration of sectoral uses of functional identity, built on foundational digital identity. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of each sector’s unique requirements to ensure that identity systems are equipped to meet their needs. These applications will drive adoption, promote inclusion, and support sustainability.
Impact
With only six years remaining to achieve the SDGs, it is crucial for the development community to explore innovative approaches, business models, and strategies to accelerate the impact of digital identity and digital transformation. The AGM will highlight success stories and examine strategies for fast-tracking progress, focusing on initiatives that deliver immediate, tangible impact.
In summary, the program will not focus on technical platforms seeking applications. Instead, it will address real challenges, problems, and realities specific to Africa, defining the requirements that digital identity systems must meet to effectively respond at scale and achieve meaningful impact. Depending on a country’s context, the solution may involve shared assets governed collectively and deployed for public benefit—referred to as digital public infrastructure. These assets can be enhanced with appropriate interfaces to ensure access for all authorized users, while governance is managed by a representative body of stakeholders. The program is founded on the belief that identity is not the responsibility of a single ministry; it impacts everyone. Therefore, the authority over identity should be shared and collectively overseen, rather than confined to one entity.
PROGRAM MODULES
The plenary sessions on Days 1 and 2 will maintain our tradition of delivering high-quality discussions on foundational issues and the latest developments in Africa and globally. Days 3 and 4 will showcase symposiums and workshops designed to dive deeper into specific, highly focused topics. The symposiums in particular, are being introduced for the first in 2025 to explore some of the most compelling sectoral use cases for digital identity, focusing on the transformation of foundational digital identity into functional systems that serve real-world applications and use cases
| Date | Activities |
|---|---|
|
May 20-21 |
• Plenary Sessions
• Exposition
|
|
May 22 |
• Exposition cont’d |
|
May 22 & 23 |
• Symposiums & Workshops running in parallel tracks |
French 