ECOWAS commission,world bank meet to discuss digital identification initiatives

The ECOWAS Commission and the World Bank on Thursday, October 24, 2024 held a working visit to the Central Bank of West African States (ECOWAS) in Dakar, Senegal, to initiate discussions on additional digital identification initiatives in the ECOWAS region.

The visit, undertaken under the West Africa Unified Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) programme funded by the World Bank, aimed to promote knowledge exchange, reduce duplication of efforts and achieve a coherent and coordinated regional approach to service delivery through medium of Fundamental Identification Systems (fIDs)

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The Director of Free Movement of People and Migration, Mr Albert Siaw-Boateng, who led the ECOWAS delegation on behalf of the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Ms Massandjé Toure-Litse, explained: “Our primary objective was to address concerns raised by WURI participating Member States about a similar initiative supposedly led by the WCEAO. “He added: “Our meeting aims to understand the findings of this study and identify key recommendations that may allow alignment with the WURI project currently being implemented. ”

In turn, the WCEAO, represented by the Director of Financial Inclusion, Mrs. Niffone Jacqueline Dabou, expressed knowledge about the WURI program and its objectives. She stressed that both institutions can collaborate to drive the success of digitalization. Thus, a working group was suggested to explore ways to ensure that the number of identification allocated to individuals by WURI is integrated into the information systems of banking and financial institutions.

The World Bank delegation, led by Mr. Conrad Daly, Senior Adviser on Human Development and Technology and Project Lead WURI-ECOWAS, took the opportunity to present a new initiative: the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WEFI). The project aims to collect aggregate data on financial inclusion, starting from the recognition that there is a large funding gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa.

The ECOWAS delegation comprised the Director of Free Movement of People and Migration (head of delegation), the Head of the ECOWAS National Office in Senegal, the Acting Director of Legal Affairs, the Acting Principal Officer of Member States Relations, External Relations and the Programmes Officer for Applications Electronics. WURI Project Manager and WURI Communication Specialist attended equally.