Identity management applications in international development

re:publica 18 - Politics & Society

Against the backdrop of more than one billion people lacking legal proof of identity, we want to bring together technologists and development experts to single out a common vision on how blockchain-powered identification systems need to be designed to leave no one behind. You are invited to develop concrete ideas around use cases of self-sovereign identity in collaboration with GIZ and other experts.

• Salomé Eggler
• Tey Al-Rjula
• Alexander Schmid
• Thérèse Carolin Tasche

Today, exercising many rights and accessing a variety of services such as healthcare, education and voting comes in lockstep with legal proof of existence – if you don’t have it, you can’t participate. Given that the birth of one out of four children under the age of five remains unregistered worldwide, this has alarming consequences for a lot a people. However, remedy seems within reach: blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology showcase new avenues when it comes to managing one's identity. By providing people with a digital ID, blockchained identities not only offer access to political, economic and social life, but also promise the mitigation of identity theft as well as time and money consuming KYC processes. Unsurprisingly, many of the most innovative projects in terms of identity management in the 21st century thus focus on self-sovereign identity.

Let's co-create!

In an attempt to streamline current efforts and move towards more hands-on applications, this workshop will:

• build bridges between technologists and international development experts;
• forge a common vision about the design of decentralized identity management; and
• highlight core ingredients of such a delivery framework, taking into account the privacy concerns of the most vulnerable.

Beyond that, to foster cooperative approaches and create workable solutions, the workshop will guide participants through GIZ´s international project portfolio to elucidate the most pressing issues in respect to decentralized identity management.

While the workshop will provide nuanced insights into recently implemented development projects, all those interested in having a closer look at data protection questions are warmly invited to join the introductory session on self-determined identity management on 2 May.

supported by T-Labs