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Robust, inclusive, and responsible identification systems can increase access to finance, healthcare, education, and other critical services and benefits. Identification systems are also key to improving efficiency and enabling innovation for public- and private-sector services, such as greater efficiency in the delivery of social safety nets and facilitating the development of digital economies. However, the World Bank estimates that more than 1.1 billion individuals do not have official proof of their identity. New technologies provide countries with the opportunity to leapfrog paper-based systems and rapidly establish a robust identification infrastructure. As a result, the countries are increasingly adopting nationwide digital identification (ID) programs and leveraging them in other sectors. Whether a country is enhancing existing ID systems or implementing new systems from the ground up, technology choices are critical to the success of digital identification systems. A number of new technologies are emerging to enable various aspects of ID lifecycle. For some of these technologies, no large-scale studies have been done; for others, current speculation makes objective evaluations difficult. This report is a first attempt to develop a comprehensive overview of the current technology landscape for digital identification. It is intended to serve as a framework for understanding the myriad options and considerations of technology in this rapidly advancing agenda and in no way is intended to provide advice on specific technologies, particularly given there are a number of other considerations and country contexts which need to be considered. This report also does not advocate the use of a certain technology from a particular vendor for any particular application. While some technologies are relatively easy to use and affordable, others are costly or so complex that using them on a large scale presents daunting challenges. This report provides practitioners with an overview of various technologies and advancements that are especially relevant for digital identification systems. It highlights key benefits and challenges associated with each technology. It also provides a framework for assessing each technology on multiple criteria, including length of time it has been in use, its ease of integration with legacy and future systems, and its interoperability with other technologies. The practitioners and stakeholders who read this are reminded to bear in mind that the technologies associated with ID systems are rapidly evolving, and that this report, prepared in early 2018, is a snapshot in time.

Technological innovations. --- Identification.

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Sustainable development. --- Biometric identification --- Economic aspects.

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Authorities in Mexico are seeking solutions to the complex task of improving efficiency in the financial and government sectors when identifying individuals and legal entities, while balancing other public-policy objectives, such as governance, technological neutrality, safety, privacy, and universal coverage. The objective of this document is to describe the identity-management system (IMS) in Mexico and its importance to the financial-sector environment while reflecting on the need for digital identification and authentication procedures and processes. The document will analyze the different options for, and policy implications of, the digital identification of individuals and legal entities in Mexico when meeting financial policy objectives and regulation. This document builds on the principles established by the G20 on digital financial inclusion, the Identity management system analysis, and the common principles on Identification for sustainable development. It takes into account standards and guidelines issued in the financial-sector context that recognize the need to identify individuals and legal entities and intends to provide guidance to Mexican authorities when defining policies that involve the need to identify individuals and legal entities. The document is organized as follows: First, an executive summary presents key observations and recommendations for authorities. A discussion of identification systems in the financial sector comes next, followed by a description of the IMSs in Mexico, including the institutional arrangements, and then by sections on digital identity and the legal framework supporting such infrastructures. Finally, the report concludes with a section on potential actions, which build on initiatives in other countries, which are included along with the report. International standards are attached as appendixes to support the methodology used to elaborate this document.

Identification. --- Management information systems. --- Electronic government information. --- Finance

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Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) varieties have important nutritional differences and there is strong interest to identify nutritionally superior varieties for dissemination. In agricultural household surveys, this information is often collected based on the farmer's self-report. However, recent evidence has demonstrated the inherent difficulties in correctly identifying varieties from self-report information. This study examines the accuracy of self-report information on varietal identification from a data capture experiment on sweet potato varieties in southern Ethiopia. Three household-based methods of identifying varietal adoption are tested against the benchmark of DNA fingerprinting: (A) elicitation from farmers with basic questions for the most widely planted variety; (B) farmer elicitation on five sweet potato phenotypic attributes by showing a visual-aid protocol; and (C) enumerator recording observations on five sweet potato phenotypic attributes using a visual-aid protocol and visiting the field. The reference being the DNA fingerprinting, about 30 percent of improved varieties were identified as local or non-improved, and 20 percent of farmers identified a variety as local when it was in fact improved. The variety names given by farmers delivered inconsistent and fuzzy varietal identities. The visual-aid protocols employed in methods B and C were better than method A, but still way below the adoption estimates given by the DNA fingerprinting method. The findings suggest that estimating the adoption of improved varieties with methods based on farmer self-reports is questionable, and point toward a wider use of DNA fingerprinting, likely to become the gold standard for crop varietal identification.

Agricultural Survey --- Agriculture --- Measurement Error --- Sweet Potato --- Varietal Identification

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This paper investigates the potential of information technology to improve public service delivery and empower citizens. The investigation uses two randomized natural experiments in the renewal of national identification cards by the Bolivian Police. The first experiment arises from the random assignment of police officers and applicants to a manual or digital renewal process, which is identical in all other aspects. The second experiment arises from technical failures in the digital renewal process, which allow police officers to change from the digital to the manual renewal process randomly across renewal days. The efficiency of public service delivery is measured in renewal success rates (which average to a strikingly low rate of 72 percent in the sample) and the time it takes to renew an identification card. The findings show that applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital renewal process were on average 12 percentage points more likely to complete it, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. Further, successful applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital process took on average 31 percent less time to complete the process, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. The investigation finds that information technology significantly lowers barriers to accessing national identification cards, and promotes more equitable provision across the population. The findings suggest that information technology might achieve these goals by introducing efficiencies (such as reducing administrative shortcomings and transaction costs) and limiting the exercise of discretion by police officers in the renewal process.

Digital Id --- Id --- Identification Cards --- Information Technology --- National Id --- Renewal Process