make visible
According to World Bank estimates, an estimated 1 billion people worldwide – 40% of whom live in Africa – do not have official proof of identity, severely limiting their ability to access health, education and financial services .
Countries are increasingly adopting digital ID systems, citing greater efficiency and fraud prevention. But these often exclude marginalized groups, such as the elderly or the homeless, who are denied essential services.
Malawi’s National Registration Bureau collects information such as the person’s name, date of birth, place of residence and parents’ names, in addition to biometric data – fingerprints and photographs.
Since its introduction in 2018, the National ID has become the sole form of identification for many services, including banking, SIM card registration, access to welfare benefits and COVID-19 vaccinations.
The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF), which is supporting the government’s drive to register children, said an ID would make millions of Malawian children without identity “visible” and help investigate abuse. Will help
“The provision of an identity document is the first step towards addressing the issues of child labour, child marriage and child trafficking as well as inheritance,” Bejoy Nambiar, a health systems specialist at UNICEF Malawi, said in an email.
He said children without IDs struggled to enroll in schools and access healthcare, and without accurate and up-to-date numbers providing essential services was challenging. He said that the apprehension of misuse of data is being exaggerated.