ECOWAS and the World Bank last week conducted a working visit to the West African Central Bank (BCEAO) in Dakar, Senegal to initiate discussions on complementary digital identification (ID) initiative in the ECOWAS region.
The visit which was within the framework of the World Bank-funded West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) program, was to facilitate learning with the purpose to minimize duplication of efforts and achieve a coherent and coordinated regional approach to service delivery through foundational ID (fID) systems.
The Director of Free Movement of Persons and Migration who led the ECOWAS delegation, Mr. Albert Siaw-Boateng, on behalf of the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Massandje Toure-Litse said “our primary goal was to address concerns raised with the WURI participating Member States regarding a similar assignment reportedly conducted by BCEAO.”
“Our meeting with you therefore is to understand the findings and identify any key recommendation that would allow alignment with the WURI project currently under implementation,” he explained.
On the part of BCEAO led by the Director of Financial Inclusion, Niffone Jacqueline DABOU, they are aware of the WURI program and its objectives and they are of the opinion that both institutions can leverage on each other to bring about success in the digitalization drive.
They therefore advocated for the setting up of a working group to explore ways to ensure that the identification number assigned to an individual through WURI is integrated into the information systems of banking and financial institutions.
The World Bank delegation led by the Sr. Counsel, Human Development & Technology, Lead, WURI-ECOWAS Project, Conrad Daly, also used the opportunity to introduce a new initiative, Women Entrepreneur Financial Initiative (WEFI) that seeks to collect disaggregated data on financial inclusion.
The project stems from the fact that there is a huge gap financing to women entrepreneurs in Africa.
Others were the WURI Project Manager and the WURI Communications Specialist.
Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Commission, the World Bank and the Republics of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Togo on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, in Dakar, Senegal, held the 16th Coordination Committee Meeting of the West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) Programme.
Basically, the coordination committee meeting is an opportunity for the WURI participating countries and the ECOWAS Commission to share their progress update and also discuss the priorities for the upcoming quarter and also to discuss ways and means to ensure successful implementation.
The highlights of the 16th Coordination Committee Meeting were the discussion on the development of the Community Act on Electronic Identification and Service Accessibility within ECOWAS for use by all entities in the digital ID and digital economy ecosystems, an activity which is spearheaded by the ECOWAS Commission.
At the end of the exercise, a validated Situational Analysis of Digital fID and relevant legislation, along with the draft Community Act and Action Plan on Electronic Identification and Service Accessibility within ECOWAS, approved by relevant technical experts, sectoral ministers for digital ID and digital economy, the ECOWAS Commission Legal Directorate, and the Community Parliament, will be available.
Finally, an enacted Community Act and Action Plan on Electronic Identification and Service Accessibility within ECOWAS will be adopted by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers.
Participants acknowledged the need for a Community Act to serve as a binding legislative instrument within ECOWAS, aiming to establish uniform standards, policies, or regulations across Member States. They urged the ECOWAS Commission to increase engagement with Member States and stakeholders.
