Identity is a prerequisite for financial inclusion, universal healthcare, equal access to education, and gender equality. As such, perhaps no other development intervention offers the same leverage to create systemic change in global development outcomes.

Yet, the robust evidence base needed to accurately assess how, why, and in what manner digital identity can improve lives simply does not exist. ID2020's integrated approach to technical development, pilot programs, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning, are all critical to amassing the information necessary to conduct methodologically robust analysis of digital identity interventions, find the best pathways to scale, and inform policy efforts going forward.

Our partners are working together to develop these technical and ethical standards, fund and implement pilots that are rigorously monitored, and pool innovation, building broad confidence in outcomes and opening up opportunities to rapidly disseminate learnings.

As of this date of submission in 2018, both of our first two pilot projects are approved by our board and agreed to by all pilot partners, and are poised to launch within the next few months. Several other pilot projects are currently in various stages of development. We anticipate that two additional pilots will the approved prior to end end of Q4 2018, with expected launch dates in early 2019.

ID2020’s current partners include Accenture and Microsoft on the private sector side, and FHI360, Gavi, Hyperledger, iRespond, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Simprints, UNHCR, and UN-ICC on the public sector end. Alliance partners each come to the table with their own relevant and essential expertise. Microsoft, for example, alone manages 1 billion digital identities, while UNHCR has a international legal mandate to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

All human beings are potential beneficiaries when it comes to digital identity. Additionally, there is great utility for organizations working to address poverty, hunger, global health, education, and all other global challenges. Organizations are often stymied because they do not know how many people they are trying to serve, nor can they accurately measure progress. Digital identity alone cannot solve these issues, but it can facilitate accurate population data and amplify ongoing work.

As our pilots are still in progress, results are not yet available. However, we have several broad, expected outcome measures for all ID2020 pilot projects, which will be closely monitored. At least five broad "buckets" of outcomes will be assessed across all pilots, including: (1) the feasibility of broad adoption; (2) success of enrollment for intended beneficiaries; (3) ensuring that the highest level of privacy standards are met; (4) access of the beneficiaries to the intended services; and (5) user-centricity -- that is, the extent to which users understand the consent process, how their data will be used, and their own control over that data.

One key challenge for ID2020's overall pilot phase was methodological in nature. As ID2020 is piloting a variety of different digital identity solutions, in a number of different geographical jurisdictions, focused on a host of different target populations, we are essentially comparing apples to oranges. This initially posed some methodological hurdles in terms of planning for data gathering and cross-pilot impact assessment. However, through the development and adoption of a robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework across all ID2020 pilot partners, we believe that this challenge has been effectively managed.

One key criteria for success will be support (tacit or explicit) from host governments and civil society organizations. This is not only essential for the successful roll-out of our current pilot projects, but will be even more necessary when attempting to scale. Due to the fact that ID2020 is focusing our pilot phase on the world's most vulnerable populations, this involves working in higher-risk, more volatile political environments. Careful risk assessment and due diligence can mitigate some of these risks, but ultimately developing good working relationships on the ground between our pilot partners and governmental and NGO actors will be critical to the success of ID2020's initial pilot phase.

Assessing the potential for replication, scale, and sustainability is central to the overall model of ID2020's initial pilot phase and to our monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework. For example, one key metric we will be tracking in all our pilot projects is the cost-benefit ratio. Gathering data on a pilot’s projected cost per enrolled user will allow ID2020 to compare both cost-benefit ratios across pilots, as well as assess the financial sustainability of each pilot long-term.

ID2020's pilot phase was developed out of critical lessons learned from existing digital identity programs globally. We are highly cognizant of the fact that digital identity brings with it significant risks of data misuse and abuse, particularly when systems are designed as large, centralized databases. India's Aadhar program, for example, has experienced massive data leaks and security breaches.

We believe there is a better way. Our main lessons taken from existing programs is that: (1) identity needs to be approached from a human rights first perspective -- digital identity is not just a service we are providing, but the capacity to assert a fundamental human right. (2) Everyone must have control over their own digital identities, including how their personal data is collected, used, and shared. And (3) we need broad agreement on principles, technical design patterns, and interoperability standards in order for user-controlled digital identities to be trusted and recognized. But this is not something that will emerge spontaneously. To do this, we need sustained and transparent collaboration aligned around these shared principles. That is what ID2020 has been developed, and is mandated, to do.