Case Study: Gravity digital ID solution propels Dignified Identities in Cash Programing (DIGID) Project in Kenya
In this article, Gravity shares our learnings from the DIGID Project in Kenya. This humanitarian aid use case provides a prime example for how other organizations can use Gravity’s universal digital ID platform to increase their own aid and impact. This case study includes the following sections:
- Why are digital IDs accessible across organizations important for humanitarian action?
- What is the DIGID Project?
- Gravity Digital ID Platform Overview
- Gravity Platform Benefits for NGOs — Key Learnings
- Organizations can use the Gravity Platform to…
- The Gravity Platform can be used by beneficiaries to…
- Gravity Platform Deployment in Kenya
Why are digital IDs accessible across organizations important for humanitarian action?
Digital IDs are quickly gaining traction on a global scale. Recently, the European Union unveiled plans for a digital ID wallet for EU residents to access public and private services as a strategy to accelerate the shift to an online world.
Today, identity (ID) management remains one of the biggest challenges for humanitarian action. In fact, due to a lack of recognized proof of identity, roughly 1.5 billion individuals (World Bank, 2016) face challenges to accessing or enjoying basic rights and services, including humanitarian assistance. The current challenges regarding identity in humanitarian aid delivery include:
- Too much valuable NGO time and money spent managing duplicative enrollment efforts and inefficiencies: Every time an NGO wants to deliver aid, they must re-register beneficiaries for each project. There is also no way for NGOs working with similar populations to securely share beneficiary data across NGOs and projects, creating siloed, inefficient work streams.
- Lack of access to aid for extremely vulnerable populations: Lack of ID prevents many individuals from accessing much-needed cash-based aid. For example, prior to the DIGID project, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) struggled to provide aid to approximately 25% of its target beneficiaries because they did not have ID (a requirement for mobile money aid distribution via the popular mobile money vendor M-PESA often used by the KRCS for cash transfer distribution).
- Lack of beneficiary data privacy and security: Currently, beneficiary identity data is stored in systems that do not provide optimal privacy and security for this sensitive data. Without a secure data system, NGOs run the risk of beneficiaries “double-dipping” to receive extra aid or, in some instances, non-qualified individuals tyring to receive aid meant for someone else.
Gravity and the DIGID consortium are tackling these challenges via portable, user-centric digital identity for humanitarian aid. Gravity helps NGOs overcome siloed aid delivery with a digital ID solution that beneficiaries can easily use to verify their identity and receive services across multiple organizations and aid projects.
What is the DIGID Project?
The Dignified Identities (DIGID) for cash assistance project aims to address the issue of lack of official or recognized identity for recipients of humanitarian cash assistance by piloting Gravity’s digital identity solution in Kenya. The DIGID Project strives to give control and ownership of personal data back to individuals, and at the same time increase collaboration between NGOs and their beneficiaries, with user consent as a key.
Launched in 2021, the DIGID Project uses Gravity’s digital ID solution to help the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) distribute direct cash transfers to vulnerable Kenyans without IDs in urban and rural, remote areas.
To address the beneficiary technology gap, Gravity also designed its digital ID platform to suit the specific needs of all types of users, ensuring that even beneficiaries with little to no access to or knowledge of technology can create digital identities to access aid services.
The DIGID Project is made possible by some of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world, with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), Innovation Norway, Norwegian Red Cross, Save the Children Norway, Norwegian Refugee Council and Norwegian Church Aid coming together to help tackle this challenge.
Gravity Digital ID Platform Overview
Gravity’s digital ID platform (referred to as the “Gravity Platform” moving forward) used during the DIGID Project is based on decentralized identity and blockchain technology. It is for use by NGOs, Financial Service Providers (FSPs) and aid beneficiaries.
Gravity’s digital ID platform helps the KRCS and international NGOs increase their impact by improving service delivery with ease, saving staff time and money and focusing on what’s really important: providing aid to beneficiaries in need.
The Gravity Platform prioritizes interoperability between organizations and ensures the inclusivity of vulnerable populations to access necessary aid services via persistent digital IDs. Persistent digital identities are important because they use blockchain technology to allow for the easy exchange of verifiable, consistent beneficiary data to different organizations while also protecting beneficiary data privacy and ownership.
Gravity Platform Benefits for NGOs — Key Learnings
After concluding the DIGID Project, the Gravity team met with all stakeholders to get their feedback for future projects using the Gravity Platform.
For NGOs interested in using Gravity’s digital ID solution, the DIGID Project taught us that the Gravity Platform:
Saves NGOs money and staff time in the field
The Gravity Platform makes the overall process of NGO aid distribution faster and more efficient.
Time saved:
During the DIGID project, it took approximately one minute to authenticate and verify a beneficiary with a digital ID via the Gravity Platform for aid services.
Money saved: During the DIGID Project, the KRCS confirmed the identity of beneficiaries by scanning a QR code on the beneficiary’s phone or via a paper QR code given to them at the time of their digital ID registration. The cost per beneficiary of a printed and laminated QR code is $0.30 USD, compared to $2–5 USD for a smart card typically used by the KRCS for cash distribution.
“These digital ID QR codes are good because beneficiaries won’t have to keep registering for cash transfers. It’s much easier this way for us volunteers and for the beneficiaries.”
-Kenya Red Cross Society volunteer
Helps NGOs have a quicker aid response after a crisis
The Gravity Platform allows NGOs to quickly and accurately identify beneficiaries. As previously mentioned, it took approximately one minute to authenticate and verify a beneficiary with a digital ID to ensure that the correct person was receiving the cash disbursement. This process had previously relied on a chief or community leader to be present to individually verify each beneficiary’s ID at disbursement. If the chief/community leader could not be present at the time of aid distribution, there was also the risk that a person could falsely claim to be a beneficiary in order to receive a cash disbursement meant for someone else.
“The [cash distribution] process was well organised.”
-Beneficiary, DIGID Project
Facilitates interoperability across different aid organizations and projects
The Gravity Platform streamlines humanitarian action targeting the same beneficiary populations. During the DIGID Project, the Gravity Platform successfully integrated with KRCS vendor RedRose, a beneficiary and cash distribution management system used to facilitate the distribution of direct cash transfers to beneficiaries.
Helps NGOs put more money directly into the hands of target beneficiaries
The DIGID Project is the first time that the KRCS was able to provide many beneficiaries with direct cash transfers in lieu of mobile money transfers via mobile money service M-PESA.
From the beneficiary feedback received after the DIGID Project, we learned that many beneficiaries prefer direct cash aid to M-PESA mobile money payments because the cash is put directly into their hands at the time of distribution without them having to worry about how to receive or access a mobile money payment.
By providing hard cash directly to beneficiaries at the time of distribution, the DIGID Project eliminated the need for beneficiaries to rely on more tech-savvy alternates/agents to handle M-PESA mobile money transfers on their behalf. With mobile money payments, beneficiaries may not know when they receive the payment, and in some instances, there is even the risk that an alternate/agent takes some of the money from beneficiaries without their knowledge, leaving them with less money than intended by the NGO.
Enables NGOs to provide aid to beneficiaries without ID that they could not access prior
With the Gravity Platform, it is now possible for NGOs to deliver aid to extremely vulnerable beneficiaries who are often left out of receiving services due to a lack of ID. Before this project, the KRCS struggled to provide aid to approximately 25% of its target beneficiaries because they did not have ID.
During the DIGID Project, 95% of beneficiaries in Turkana had no official ID, but were able to receive KRCS aid with digital IDs created via Gravity.
Supports all vulnerable populations, regardless of their access to or knowledge of technology
Gravity offers digital identity solutions for smartphone, basic phone and no phone users via QR codes. The Gravity Platform also works to close the technology gap by introducing beneficiaries to digital identity solutions that can help them gain access to and benefit from humanitarian aid.
Gives beneficiaries ownership and agency over their personal data
With the Gravity Platform, beneficiaries create digital IDs that allow them to control what personal data they want to share and who they want to share it with, ensuring that beneficiaries have a say in the privacy and management of their personal data at all times.
Organizations can use the Gravity Platform to:
1. Efficiently enroll beneficiaries with digital IDs
The Gravity Platform is built to help organizations support all types of beneficiaries, regardless of their access to or knowledge of technology.
Shared beneficiary enrollment via the Gravity Platform means no more re-registering the same beneficiaries every time and improved coordination between NGOs. Organizations can sign up a beneficiary for a digital ID in three easy ways:
No phone user: NGO signs up beneficiary for a digital ID via a web portal.
Basic phone user: beneficiary signs up for a digital ID via an easy-to-use USSD Menu on their phone.
Smartphone user: beneficiary signs up for a digital ID via an easy-to-use web app on their phone.
2. Easily issue credentials based on beneficiary information
NGOs manage beneficiary data all in one easy place via the Gravity Portal website. This data is encrypted and digitally signed to create a credential. The digital signature helps verify the authenticity and origin of the data accompanying it, ensuring that the beneficiary is who they say they are. It is extremely important to note that this data is securely stored in a decentralized credential repository, which ensures that no individual or third party (not even Gravity) apart from the beneficiary can access any of this data data without the beneficiary’s consent.
3. Quickly authenticate beneficiary information to ensure that aid and services provided are going to the right individual
Organisations delivering assistance and services can use the Gravity Platform to request a beneficiary’s credentials to authenticate them, ensuring that the beneficiary is who they say they are. Organisations can request beneficiary credentials either: (1) directly through the Gravity Platform or an API for beneficiaries with phones, or (2) through a paper QR code for beneficiaries who do not have a phone.
The Gravity Platform can be used by beneficiaries to:
1. Share credentials and authenticate their identity with organizations to access services
Beneficiaries can share credentials that have been requested by an organisation by giving their consent and authenticating themselves via a PIN or other means, including biometrics.
2. Manage their digital identity
Beneficiaries can view their own credentials to see the data that an NGO has collected about them. They can also request to update, delete and recover their data as needed.
Gravity Platform Deployment in Kenya
The Gravity Platform was developed through direct inputs from all types of end-users through user consultations with local communities and NGO staff. After the development phase, an additional round of user acceptance testing in a controlled environment was conducted. In April 2021, the Gravity Platform was field tested in both rural and urban settings in Kenya within the framework of the DIGID Project cash transfer program.
The cash transfer program aimed to support the Kenya Red Cross Society’s COVID-19 response to help vulnerable communities without official IDs meet their basic needs. During the DIGID pilot, the KRCS helped vulnerable Kenyans successfully sign up for digital IDs with Gravity to receive much-needed direct cash transfers.
About Gravity
Gravity builds trusted decentralized identity solutions based on blockchain technology for individuals, organizations and governments. Users leverage Gravity to safely share their personal data to access aid, financing, employment and government services. Organizations and international NGOs use Gravity to efficiently collect verifiable data for improved service delivery, interoperability and impact. Our human-centered digital ID solutions accelerate the financial inclusion and empowerment of all people, anywhere in the world. Our work includes providing digital IDs for vulnerable individuals seeking humanitarian aid, small business owners in Africa seeking financing, refugees seeking employment and thought leadership in the government identity space. Gravity is based in Nairobi, Kenya and Paris, France.
Gravity is grateful to the Kenya Red Cross Society and the DIGID consortium of international NGOs and for their support and assistance throughout the DIGID Project.
To learn more about Gravity, visit our website at www.gravity.earth or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.
