Rwanda, Ghana, and Benin have taken a first step towards allowing their national digital identity systems to communicate across borders, in a project that could eventually enable their citizens to securely verify their identities in another country without their personal data being stored in a central continental database.

The three countries have completed the first phase of a cross-border digital identity interoperability pilot under Smart Africa, establishing initial connectivity between their national systems and demonstrating end-to-end identity verification using synthetic data in a controlled testing environment.

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The development announced on Tuesday, October 20, is part of wider efforts to build an African digital ecosystem in which national systems can exchange trusted information while countries retain control over their own data and infrastructure.

Speaking to The New Times on Wednesday, Ralph Oyini Mbouna, Director of Digital Transformation and Services at Smart Africa, said the national systems of the three countries have now been connected through the Smart Africa Data Exchange (SADX), allowing cross-border digital identity verification to be technically demonstrated.

In practice, he said, a Rwandan national travelling to Ghana could eventually have their identity verified directly against Rwanda’s national system, instead of relying on lengthy paperwork to prove who they are.

"This could apply to border crossings, but also to services such as opening a bank account or checking in to a hotel, where permitted by national regulations,” Mbouna said.

He stressed, however, that SADX does not remove visa requirements or change immigration laws, which remain under the authority of individual governments.

"What we are doing is addressing one of the practical barriers to movement across Africa. Today, even when someone has a valid national identity, another country may not have a reliable way to verify it electronically,” he said.

There is also no central African identity database, Mbouna explained. Instead, SADX facilitates verification requests between authorised national systems without storing the underlying records being checked.

"We would also like to explore dedicated lanes and automated e-gates with participating countries, so eligible travellers could avoid long queues and move through border controls more quickly. Each country would still apply its own entry requirements, but the verification itself could become much faster,” he said.

The initiative comes as Africa pursues the ambition of establishing a Single Digital Market by 2030 and seeks to deepen digital integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

"The AfCFTA is working to facilitate trade across Africa. Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) and SADX can support that ambition by providing part of the digital trust infrastructure needed to make cross-border transactions easier,” Mbouna said.

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The pilot brings together two Smart Africa mechanisms: the SATA, which provides a common framework for trust, governance and cooperation between participating countries, and the SADX, the infrastructure through which national systems can securely exchange and verify information.

Unlike a centralised identity system, the model is designed to allow each participating country to maintain control over its own national database while enabling trusted verification requests across borders.

The first use case focuses on cross-border digital identity verification, but the same infrastructure could eventually support the verification of academic qualifications, professional credentials and vaccination records across countries.

For Smart Africa, the broader question is how African countries can make their digital systems interoperable without giving up control over sensitive national data.

"This is at the heart of SATA. We call it ‘Sovereign Digital Trust.’ It means African countries can trust and verify information from each other while keeping full control of their own data,” Mbouna said.

Lacina Koné, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of Smart Africa, said the continent's digital ambitions would be difficult to realise if national systems remain isolated from one another.

"Africa’s digital future cannot be built on fragmented national systems. Our ambition is to connect our digital economies while preserving the sovereignty of every nation,” he said.

"With Benin, Ghana and Rwanda taking this important first technical step, we are demonstrating that interoperability does not require centralisation and integration does not mean surrendering sovereignty.”

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Koné said the initiative represents a move from continental policy ambition towards the practical implementation of an integrated African digital market.

The SATA framework has so far been endorsed by 19 African countries representing more than 335 million people, according to Smart Africa.

The completion of Phase One does not yet mean citizens can use the system for live cross-border identity verification.

The three countries will now move to Phase Two, which will prepare a controlled operational pilot and test how the system works within real institutional procedures.

"This means working with immigration, digital identity, data protection and other relevant national institutions to test how cross-border verification would work within real procedures,” Mbouna said.

"We are targeting the first controlled operational pilot in early 2027, subject to the participating governments completing the necessary national approvals.”

According to Smart Africa, the initiative is being implemented in Rwanda through the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) and the National Identification Agency (NIDA).