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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded MOSIP expands on the digital ID framework by incorporating additional "features" such as support for "digital cash" and proof of vaccination status, as we previously reported.
However, while testing of the technology continues to spread in the third world (like in Mexico and Peru in Latin America), several Western nations are already beginning to roll out MOSIP for their citizens.
As we reported, lawmakers in Australia's Senate have just passed a new bill to roll out the digital ID system for public use.
The legislation easily passed with virtually no resistance.
Australia is officially on the path to having a national, government-regulated, digital identity system that is controlled by, The scheme will replace traditional IDs and will be able to be linked to systems that hold vast amounts of personally and financially sensitive data used by banks, insurers, utilities, and agencies.
The digital ID system has been developed to have the ability to link to bank accounts, central bank digital currencies (CBDC), and social credit scores, and vaccinate proof.
The Albanese government finally secured the required support for enabling legislation for the digital ID system in the Senate from the Coalition and the Greens late last month.
On Friday, an article published by Biometric Update reported on an interview with Sierra Leone's National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) Deputy Director Moses T.F. Vibbie.
The interview was conducted on the sidelines of a MOSIP Connect event last month in Addis Ababa.
Vibbie explained that the strong political will of the country's President Julius Maada Bio, and the dedication of the NCRA's Director General Mohamed Mubashir Massaquoi, are the other driving forces behind the initiative.
Massaquoi is also an ambassador for ID4Africa.
ID4Africa's foundation partners are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Omidyar Network.
So far, he said, digital ID has been instrumental in the country's ongoing government efforts as almost all government services have been digitized and linked to the digital ID.
It is required for passports, work, and residence permits.
Sierra Leone started implementing a "modern" digital identity system in 2016/2017.
In 2023, the country signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a national digital ID pilot built with Gates's MOSIP.
The aim of this, it is said,
Essentially, those without digital ID would be excluded from accessing basic services...
NCRA Director General Massaquoi said:
Biometric Update noted that MOSIP had also recently signed an MoU with Burkina Faso and surpassed 76 million registrations across 9 jurisdictions.
MOSIP is a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative that offers a "formidable solution" for digital ID for the 850 million people worldwide,
The Foundation, which is known to profiteer off the poor to enrich itself, offers its digital ID "solution" to countries "for free."
According to a 2022 article published by Devex, donors committed a total of US$295 million to the DPI cause during the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
Big donors included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which committed $200 million; Norway, which committed $50 million; Germany with nearly $35 million; and the EU's Horn of Africa Initiative, with nearly $10 million.
According to its website, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MOPSIP is supported by,
Interestingly, Pratiksha Trust was founded by Dr. Kris Gopalakrishnan - the former co-chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the chairman of Axilor Ventures, and co-founder of Infosys.
Pratiksha Trust has also "extended very generous support" to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in promoting research in brain science, data science, and computing architectures and algorithms inspired by the brain.
The bulk of the grants awarded by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust relate to land and water development, and microfinance:
Currently, MOPSIP has 7 national rollouts and 10 pilot plans in progress.
Despite how Sierre Leone's officials portray it, the "foundational digital ID managed by the NCRA" is an UN-controlled program.
In 2020, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) conducted a Country Assessment Report for Sierra Leone, as Sierra Loaded explains.
UNECA endorsed the NCR Act's consolidation of CVRS functions under NCRA in line with core principles and standards of the United Nations Legal Identity initiative.
In early 2020, Sierre Leone was among nine countries selected to "benefit" from the UN Legal Identity that the Government of Sierra Leone jointly manages through the NCRA and the UN Agencies of,
In October 2021, Massaquoi, NCRA Director-General, hired Anette Bayer Forsingdal, an IOM external consultant.
IOM is one of the critical partners positioned to support NCRA in effectively implementing the UN Legal Identity Agenda in Sierra Leone.
IOM is also one of the donor partners to NCRA's efforts in implementing the UN's digital identity agenda.
At the time, NCRA had recently concluded an internal legal review covering policies, regulations, and bills to support the smooth integration of other legal policy provisions that would guide a well-functioning CRVS and ID Management system in Sierra Leone.
For her part, Bayer said she was delighted to be part of NCRA and that CRVS had worked very well in Namibia and among a few other countries in Africa...
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