Zambia digital ID rollout: MOSIP integration with World Bank funding

Zambia is advancing a national digital ID rollout through the Smart Zambia Institute (SZI), using a “homegrown” approach while seeking international expertise for key deployment work. SZI National Coordinator Percy Chinyama said the country is building an ecosystem supported by World Bank financing, but wants the application and wider system to be developed locally. The government is inviting a system integrator to help deploy, customize, and integrate a Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP)-based digital ID into Zambia’s national civil registration architecture. Chinyama emphasized use of open standards to avoid vendor lock-in and support long-term maintenance. A core goal is financial inclusion: Chinyama said the digital ID could help people become “bankable,” and Zambia aims for everyone with a bank account to be properly identified. SZI also targets including at least 80% of residents in the digital economy by the end of 2026. According to Zambia’s Presidential Delivery Unit, significant budget allocations are already earmarked to support digital inclusion objectives. The initiative is part of the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project (DZAP), which has received over $100 million from the World Bank’s International Development Association. The timeline referenced by SZI: full digital ID implementation expected by the end of 2026. Past related efforts include the “Kwenyu Pact” with the Czech Republic to digitize key economic sectors, and a partnership announced in 2025 with cloud firm Inq and South African tech company Mezzanine to help drive digital transformation with local system hosting for data sovereignty.