Zambia’s Smart Zambia Institute is seeking an international system integrator to deploy and customize a MOSIP-based digital identity platform, with a goal of reaching 2 million citizens initially and 80 percent of the country’s roughly 20 million population by end of 2026. The project is backed by over $100 million from the World Bank’s International Development Association under the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project.
The procurement covers foundational digital ID modules, civil registration and vital statistics infrastructure, backend systems, and enrollment kits. The government has specified open standards to avoid vendor lock-in, and SZI National Coordinator Percy Chinyama has emphasized a “home-grown” strategy in which Zambian developers build the core system with international supplementary expertise.
Chinyama has framed the initiative as a financial inclusion priority as much as a governance one. “Simply having it can automatically make you bankable,” he said of the credential, pointing to the platform’s intended role in connecting citizens to formal financial services. The digital ID is designed to integrate with the country’s civil registration infrastructure and serve as a gateway to government services and digital economy participation.
The rollout is designed to connect citizens to government services, financial inclusion platforms, and the broader digital economy — a model increasingly reliant on mobile-accessible credentials. MOSIP, an open-source foundational digital identity platform, has become a common backbone for such programs across Africa. Lesotho recently signed a MOSIP-based agreement with UNICEF, and several other nations on the continent are pursuing similar infrastructure.
Existing MOSIP system integrators active in the region include Laxton, Veridos, NCINGA, and Credence ID. The Zambia project is part of Phase 2 of the Inclusive Digitalization in Eastern and Southern Africa multiphase programmatic approach, which carries a total envelope of $2.48 billion.
Sources: CoinGeek, Smart Zambia Institute, World Bank
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By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
