Building foundations for Sudan’s recovery through digital identity

More than 800 million people worldwide still lack official proof of identity, according to the World Bank's Identification for Development Dataset. This can limit access to social protection, finance and even basic rights. Countries such as Nigeria and Estonia that have introduced robust digital ID systems are using them to strengthen their institutions and expand opportunities for their citizens.

Sudan is currently preparing to launch SudaPass, a unified national digital identity platform announced by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Transformation as part of its wider Baladna digital government programme. The announcement comes as Sudan works to restore services and strengthen institutions amid ongoing conflict.

More than 30 million people in Sudan require humanitarian assistance, according to UN figures, and more than 14 million people have been displaced out of a population of 51 million. The scale of movement, conflict-driven disruption of registries and absence of updated population data since the 2008 national census limit planning and weaken service delivery. Disrupted population data now affects every sector – from health coverage to education planning and emergency response.

Sudan's instability also reverberates far beyond its borders. The country borders seven other nations whose political and economic trajectories shape the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, North Africa and West Asia. As the second largest Red Sea coastline, Sudan also anchors one of the most strategic maritime corridors, which carries close to 10% of global maritime trade. And the country holds one of the world’s largest untapped foundations for food security because of its vast arable land and extensive river systems.

Sudan’s reconstruction will affect whether people can regain reliable access to services, livelihoods and protection. It will also influence migration patterns, humanitarian corridors, food supply chains and security conditions across the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and the Red Sea. A credible digital identity system could help to strengthen peace-building, support state coherence and reintroduce predictability to a region that plays a pivotal role in global economic and security dynamics.

Governments cannot allocate resources, deliver services or design social protection without knowing who lives where. In Sudan, registries remain fragmented, ministries use different identifiers and humanitarian agencies run parallel databases that rarely align. This fragmentation makes it difficult to target support, plan public services and coordinate budgeting and crisis response during recovery. Humanitarian systems have supported emergency delivery, but recovery now requires stronger alignment across institutions.

India, on the other hand, has achieved significant reductions in leakage of benefit transfers through its Aadhaar digital identity programme and Direct Benefit Transfer platform. Estonia has created one of the world’s most efficient public administrations by linking nearly every public service to a secure digital identity through its e-ID system. And Nigeria has strengthened financial inclusion and regulatory oversight by registering more than 100 million people under its national identity number through a World Bank supported programme.

These identity systems have improved transparency, reduced fraud and strengthened governance structures. Sudan’s reconstruction calls for similarly strong foundations, designed for the country's context and priorities. Without accurate identity data, it will remain difficult to plan schools, hospitals, subsidies or future elections. A modern identity system would also support Sudan’s fiscal recovery, since credible registries can help governments allocate budgets more accurately and mobilize domestic resources more effectively.

Sudan’s humanitarian and development ecosystem includes hundreds of agencies working across different regions and operating on different systems. As Sudan moves from emergency response toward recovery, fragmentation can increase costs, slow coordination and delay support. But a unified digital identity system could create shared visibility across institutions. It would help agencies verify people more efficiently and reduce the need for repeated registration exercises by those from displaced communities.

Secure digital identity data can help improve registration accuracy and strengthen continuity of assistance in displacement settings, according to the UN Refugee Agency. A shared system could also help Sudan's national authorities design a social protection architecture to eventually transition households from emergency aid to more stable programmes. Over time, this integration could support poverty reduction and subsidy reform, creating more predictable safety nets.

The World Bank's Global Findex Database shows that financial account ownership remains low across much of the region. Sudan’s reliance on informal finance limits entrepreneurship and household resilience. Digital identity reduces onboarding costs for banks and mobile money providers. It helps regulators improve compliance and supervision. It allows entrepreneurs to register businesses more easily and gives young people verified digital records for education and employment use. Financial inclusion improves when identity becomes reliable, secure and widely accessible.

Nigeria’s experience using national identification number-enabled telecom operators, banks and fintech firms to authenticate customers at scale has strengthened financial inclusion and reduced fraud. Sudan’s financial system could realize similar gains once digital identity data becomes reliable and accessible. The private sector could build secure digital services on top of a trusted identity layer, ranging from mobile payments to e-commerce and agriculture solutions.

Identity systems succeed when governments build trust through dialogue rather than technology alone, using frameworks such as the World Bank’s Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development.

Sudan's system needs inclusive enrolment that reaches displaced families, nomadic populations and undocumented groups. It needs strong governance and legal safeguards supported by frameworks such as the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection. It also needs interoperability across ministries without unrestricted data pooling. And it needs transparent communication so that citizens understand how the system protects their rights.

Of course, a digital identity system cannot resolve Sudan’s conflict. It cannot replace political settlement or institutional reform. But without a modern identity infrastructure, many of the changes the country seeks – subsidy reform, targeted safety nets, mobile money adoption, public payroll management and stronger electoral processes – will remain out of reach.

Sudan lies at the centre of global food systems, migration dynamics and Red Sea trade. Rebuilding accountable institutions and predictable public services will support Sudanese communities first and will also support wider regional stability. SudaPass offers a foundation for more accountable institutions, more predictable public services and a more inclusive economy. With the right governance and sustained dialogue, a digital identity platform could help Sudan build the trust and capability it needs for long-term recovery.