AfriPass

Early concept illustrating how the digital card could be.

Inspiration

Cross-border road transport plays a central role in trade across Africa, yet it is often slow, fragmented, and exposed to fraud and operational risks. In our initial exploration of the problem space, we identified recurring challenges such as weak driver identity verification, inconsistent cargo documentation, repeated border checks, and limited data sharing between countries.

These observations highlighted the absence of a shared and trusted identity framework for transportation actors. This project is motivated by the idea that Digital ID can serve as a foundation for improving coordination and trust between African countries, using transportation as a practical and high-impact entry point.

What We Are Building

AFRIPASS is a proposed Digital Transit Identity platform designed to support cross-border trucking in Africa.

The platform aims to introduce a unified digital identity that links:

the driver,
the truck,
the transported cargo,
and the planned transport route.

By standardizing and digitizing these elements, the system is intended to enable authorities to verify transport information more efficiently and consistently across borders.

How We Plan to Build It

AFRIPASS is being designed as a Digital ID use case compatible with platforms such as MOSIP.

The planned system architecture includes:

Driver identity enrollment, based on verified credentials,
Digital credentials associated with trucks and cargo,
Verification services accessible to border and regulatory authorities through APIs,
Route and trip data to support basic monitoring and traceability.

The project will follow Agile software engineering practices. The system is planned to be structured as a set of microservices, with Docker used for containerization and YAML-based configuration to support development and testing.

What We Expect to Learn

Through this project, we expect to gain practical experience in:

Digital identity systems and their lifecycle,
Designing interoperable systems for cross-border use,
API-driven and microservices-based architectures,
Applying Agile development methods within a limited timeframe.

We also expect to deepen our understanding of the trade-offs between technical feasibility, security, privacy, and usability in Digital ID solutions.

Anticipated Challenges

One anticipated challenge is defining an appropriate scope that balances ambition with feasibility within a hackathon context.

Other expected challenges include:

Translating transportation requirements into Digital ID concepts,
Aligning the solution with existing Digital ID platforms,
Addressing privacy, security, and data-sharing considerations across countries.

These challenges will inform design decisions as the project evolves.

Impact and Future Directions

AFRIPASS aims to demonstrate how Digital ID can be applied to transportation to improve efficiency and trust in cross-border trade. In future iterations, the platform could be extended to additional transport modes, customs processes, and related public and private services.

The project highlights the potential of Digital ID as an enabling layer for regional interoperability.