Today we are excited to announce the launch of our Digital Identity Toolkit. As part of our wider Social Purpose strategy, it is aimed at the general public, entrepreneurs, software developers, humanitarian organisations, academics and journalists, we seek to demystify digital identities and – where appropriate – help promote their adoption and use in pursuit of humanitarian solutions around the world.
Digital Identity Toolkit
The easy-to-use Toolkit aims to provide everything you need to know about digital identity. To make it as accessible as possible, we’ve broken it down into eight separate sections so you can dive straight into any area that interests you the most. Each section will be launched individually over the next few months so please note that not all of them will be available at once.
1. The Introduction
Provides a summary of the Toolkit’s content, and details of intended audience and learning objectives.
2. Identity Basics
Explores what identity is, what it is used for, the different types of traditional (non-digital) identification, why it matters and some of the consequences of living without identification. It also provides a brief history of identification and explores the shift from paper-based to online/digital identities.
3. Digital Identity Explained
looks at how to create a digital identity and what it can be used for. We dive into digital trends and developments, provide advice on how you can establish and manage your digital identity, and look at the different types of digital providers.
4. Case Studies
Gives examples of how governments, NGOs and the private sector around the world use digital identities. This section is categorised by sector to give you a sense of the vastly different uses of digital identity: from supporting refugees’ access to critical services and making it easier to travel and collaborate across borders through to enabling access to a wide range of government and financial services.
5. Digital Identity Providers
Gives examples of the different types of verified digital identity providers, describes their solutions, how they’re used, who they target, their unique selling points, their main uses and what they’re best used for.
6. Implementation
Looks at how you might integrate the solutions outlined in the previous section into your own products or services.
7. Data Privacy and Security
Examines key privacy and security points that you need to factor in as you plan, develop and build a digital identity system. It has a detailed checklist of questions to help you protect your users’ privacy and security at every stage.
8. Reports and Further Reading
Is a directory of reports on digital identity for those who wish to delve further into this exciting area of work.
Download, read and share
The toolkit is available here to download. We hope it is useful for as many people as possible and we encourage you to read, review and share with whoever may be interested.
Given that digital identity is a rapidly evolving sector, this is something of a living resource. If you spot anything amiss, or you have suggestions that might help us improve things, we’d love to hear from you.
Photo credits: Hayley Capp/CARE UK