The objectives of the meeting were to bring the nominated Permanent Representatives of the Supervisory Committee together to advance the regional objectives of the WURI programme – cross-border access to services for persons in the participating countries, through interoperability of foundational identification (fID) systems and mutual recognition of credentials issued by these systems.

The Meeting included the signing of the programme’s Governance Framework which guides participating Member States’ coordination and cooperation, the endorsement of a regional work plan for 2023, and the adoption of technical recommendations for the foundational identity (fID) systems to be implemented in each country.

In opening the opening, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Ms. Massandjé TOURE-LITSE on behalf of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, reiterated ECOWAS commitment to the WURI Programme and congratulated the Member States for the project achievements since 2018 when it all began and especially for the finalisation of the Governance Framework for the WURI programme. “We have a shared responsibility to be guided by this Governance Framework and to operationalise it”, she added before informing that the ECOWAS Commission has commissioned technical studies to bring to light the roadmap for cross-border interoperability of foundational ID systems across the six Member States.

The World Bank Practice Manager, Social Protection & Jobs for West Africa, Mr Christian Bodewig on his part, congratulated the ECOWAS Commission, the WURI Member States and the World Bank team for the effort and commitment to realising the set objectives of the WURI Programme. He reiterated the World Bank’s continued commitment to supporting economic development and improving the well-being of people.

In line with the adopted Governance Framework, that is using the alphabetical order of Member States, Benin automatically assumed the chairmanship of the WURI programme for a period of six (06) months. In this regard, the Director General of the Agence National d’Identification des Personnes (ANIP) and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Benin, Mr. Pascal Nyamulinda, Chaired the inaugural Supervisory Committee Meeting.

The Supervisory Committee congratulated the WURI countries for the progress made towards cross-border interoperability and charged the WURI project coordinators to ensure full implementation at country level. The Committee also recommended to the ECOWAS Commission to initiate a reflection mechanism within its bodies for adoption at the community level.

The West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) is a multi-phase programme financed by the World Bank and implemented by Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger and Togo, and the ECOWAS Commission, with the objective to increase the number of persons in participating countries who have government-recognized proof of unique identity that enables access to services. Specifically, the Commission aims to foster regional dialogues and cooperation for cross-border mutual recognition of foundational identity systems for access to services. The ECOWAS Commission and the World Bank serves as the Secretariat for the Supervisory Committee and any other committee set up for the programme. The ECOWAS Commission is responsible for the coordination of the regional aspects of the programme between the ECOWAS Member States, and the World Bank is providing financial, technical and coordination support to the programme.