The ID2020 Alliance supports the design and implementation of digital identity programs that align with our vision of “good” digital identity.
This year, we are narrowing our programmatic focus to four thematic areas: refugees, forcibly displaced and stateless persons; maternal and child health; cities; and financial inclusion. We believe that prioritizing these themes will help us to best answer our open questions around digital identity, while delivering impactful programs around some of today’s most pressing global challenges.
Our programmatic work has two main goals. We aim to directly improve the lives of individuals involved in ID2020-supported programs and, simultaneously, we aim to develop a robust and comprehensive evidence base that supports the scaling of good digital identity broadly.
A robust and comprehensive evidence base is essential in order for user-centric, privacy-protecting and portable digital identity to take root. By supporting diverse programs with multiple partners, and by monitoring these programs carefully, we can create and drive valuable insights about which aspects of digital identity work, why they work and how they can be replicated.
To achieve this evidence base, we have developed a set of common learning objectives and metrics, and adopted rigorous monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices. This M&E framework is applied across all supported pilots to facilitate comparison across digital identity programs and yield important learnings for innovation, scalability and replicability.
It’s important that this evidence base be comprehensive, spanning diverse contexts, geographies and populations. That’s why to date, the ID2020 Alliance has been open to any digital identity pilot that adheres to our fundamental principles. Ultimately, these center around the question of how digital identity can meaningfully improve people’s lives.
Throughout this process, we’ve recognized a consistency in the questions that we repeatedly ask and hear about digital identity. These questions cluster around our thematic areas of focus — refugees, forcibly displaced and stateless persons; maternal and child health; cities; and financial inclusion. We believe that strategically prioritizing pilots that focus on these areas will ultimately yield the most comprehensive and useful evidence base.
In 2019, these thematic areas will drive our programmatic work, including how we prioritize, select and design projects. We plan to implement larger and more strategic pilots in each thematic area, and to invest in research, advocacy and ecosystem development in each.
Ultimately, we’re committed to sustainability and scale. Helping to convene an ecosystem of partners around each theme will help to ensure long-term commitment to addressing the questions and learning opportunities core to each theme.
We look forward to collaborating with our partners and other organizations who are doing important work in these areas. If you’d like to get involved or have a program idea in any of our thematic areas, we’d love to hear from you.
For more information on our ongoing pilot projects and how to submit a proposal, check out our new website.
