Delegates attending the annual ID4Africa Forum, that ended in Kigali yesterday, paid a visit to various operations centres of the National Identification Agency (NIDA) to learn from the Rwandan ID system.

The visit aimed at giving officials in charge of ID agencies from different African countries a hands-on demonstration of the best practices adopted by Rwanda.

They visited three local government offices; Gitega, Niboyi and Remera where they inspected how the application and enrollment processes (including biometric capture) are carried out.

They also visited NIDA headquarters at Kimihurura where Pascal Nyamulinda, the director general took them on a guided tour of Rwanda National ID card personalisation and production centres.

They inspected various NIDA facilities, such as stores and the card production chain, for a practical demonstration of the available technologies and the skills engaged in ID production, validation, storing, among other processes.

One of the delegates, Tejan Gassama, the acting Head of Technology at Sierra Leone’s National Social Security and Insurance Trust, said Rwanda’s ID system was satisfactory, both in terms of infrastructure and process.

"My assessment as an information technologist is that everything is perfect. Rwanda has the infrastructure and the system processes are robust. The validation, enrollment, and other processes are excellent. All is set for the e-ID system,” he said.

"I was recording everything and I have the video. When I go back, I will present it and we shall base on it and make improvements”.

Nanikian Lejite, Information Technology Manager at the National Population Identification Office of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he had learnt important lessons that he was going to take back home to improve their own system.

"For example, I have understood that in DRC we can produce both electronic IDs and the e-IDs with a chip. The e-IDs being for urban users and the normal electronic IDs for rural users as a way of cutting down costs,” he said, adding that his assessment of the system was that it provides efficient service delivery, from top to bottom.

To make the delegates have more understanding of the Rwandan identification system, ID4Africa also prepared a special report entitled: "The Identity Ecosystem of Rwanda: A Case Study of a Performant ID System in an African Development Context” which was released and made available in hard copy as well as in electronic form to all attending delegates.

Christophe Rockmore, an observer from the World Bank, said NIDA had put up excellent organisation for the event.

"All the organisation was good. NIDA offered us all the information that we needed and this is most appreciated. In addition, we were well received and top officials have been available, giving us time,” he said.

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