As global leaders convened in Washington DC for the annual World Bank’s International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, the African Union said on Friday that African leaders and development partners had agreed on a common approach to provide digital identification services for millions of people on the African continent.

Representatives from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the East African Community, African Ministers of Finance, development partners and the World Bank are meeting to discuss the way forward for Africa’s future.

African Union Commission deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha said partnership agreements would play a role in “accelerating the provision of unique identification to millions of people in Africa as a means to foster more inclusive economies and greater regional integration”.

Mwencha said: “People have a right to legal identity and recognition which are essential prerequisites for decent work, livelihoods and well-being.”

Statistics indicate that globally, about 1.5-billion people, including 170-million children under the age of five years old, are unable to prove their official identity. Moreover, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of its population, around 37%, without a form of legal identification, as well as the highest rate of unregistered births.

World Bank VP for Africa Makhtar Diop said the institution was committed collaborating with the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities “to develop a set of harmonised standards to support inter-operability between national identification systems and mutual recognition of identification documents”.

In 2014, the World Bank Group launched the Identification for Development (ID4D) initiative that supports progress towards identification systems using the latest technological solutions. The initiative is also aimed at supporting the World Bank’s goals of ending poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity.

The issue of identification, Diop said, “provides a foundation for other rights and gives a voice to the voiceless. It is indispensable for ensuring access to education, financial services, and health and social benefits”.