A new study has shown that about 80 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s population has no clear form of identification. What does this mean for the country’s economy in the digital age? David James examines.

Farmers with no identity records can face greater challenges when asking for credits or trying to access other services. Credit: Robert Upe

The laying of the Coral Sea Cable holds out great promise for improving the digitisation of PNG’s economy. But slow registration of digital identities may impede effective take up.

Amanda Watson, Lecturer at the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University, told a Port Moresby conference that identity, along with finance and access to technology, is one of the three digital enablers of a digital ecosystem.

She claimed the National Identification (NID) program ‘has not worked very well’ to date, and ‘the electoral role is problematic.’

According to the report Digital Transformation: The Role of Mobile Technology in Papua New Guinea, which Watson co-authored for the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), about 80 per cent of PNG’s population does not have access to a clear form of identification.

‘The target was to have 1.5 million national IDs by the end of 2018, but only about 500,000 people have been registered’

‘As countries move into the digital age, the ability to prove one’s identity is increasingly essential to gaining access to a range of life-enhancing services, such as healthcare, education, financial services, employment and social protections,’ the report says.

‘Papua New Guinea is among 147 countries where customers are required to present proof of identity to register for a mobile subscription [including prepaid SIM cards]. This means identification barriers will need to be addressed to ensure all citizens have access to a wide range of mobile services.’

Trying to reach everyone

In 2015, the PNG Government announced its intention to capture electronically and register all citizens’ ID credentials in a central database and issue photo cards for voting and identification purposes, such as SIM registration or getting a driver’s licence and passport.

The target was to have 1.5 million national IDs by the end of 2018, but only about 500,000 people have been registered, according to the GSMA report.

The NID program is mandatory and people who do not comply could be fined K500.

‘Farmers who are unable to prove their creditworthiness or validate other vital credentials … are more likely to face barriers in accessing formal services or connecting to the global economy’

The Bank of Papua New Guinea, the PNG Digital Commerce Association (PNGDCA) and the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) have tried encouragement, rather than enforcement, by establishing YuTru.

According to its website, YuTru is a ‘private-sector led digital trust framework to promote financial inclusion and economic and social empowerment.’

The framework uses multimodal biometrics (gait, palm, 2D and 3D face, fingerprint, iris, voice imprints) and behavioural identification techniques to authenticate users and retrieve their identity attributes (documents). And the only item people need in order to join is their mobile phone.

Efforts for the new generations

‘In 2017, UNICEF modelled a decentralised approach to registration in the Kairuku-Hiri District by training teachers and health workers to conduct birth registration activities, reaching 9300 children,’ says the GSMA report.

But the birth registration system has only been decentralised in half of the provinces and progress has been slow due to funding shortages.

Not having a clear form of identification poses great challenges, particularly in the agriculture sector, the report says.

‘Farmers can face the double burden of not having access to a “fixed identity” [i.e. the demographic and biometric details recorded on their identity document] and limited or no information on their more fluid “economic identity” due to their changing social and economic circumstances.

‘Farmers who are unable to prove their creditworthiness or validate other vital credentials—income and transaction histories, land ownership, crop types, geolocation or farm size—are more likely to face barriers in accessing formal services or connecting to the global economy.’

The GSMA report points to the need for:

• Greater oversight, accountability and allocated funds to support and advance the national ID system.
• The purchase and deployment of additional card printing machines across rural provinces, with the 2021 deadline for national IDs just two years away.
• Government and NGO stakeholders to use mobile technology to improve identity enrolment and provide greater access to civil registration services.
• Allowing mobile operators and other private sector organisations to participate in the review of the Civil Registry Act.