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Paper short abstract:

The paper sheds light on core institutional actors that constitutes the global policy environment on legal identity and national and civil registration. It examines interactions and tensions around different priorities and approaches to the development of national registration systems.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is focused on the story of the international policy community related to national identification documents, registration, and legal identity, with reference to Ghana and Uganda. It draws on a travelling policy models approach, arguing for the importance of not only understanding the movement of a policy between different geographical and institutional sites but also within sites, and the unfolding momentum and dynamics within each policy space. The paper argues that understanding these policy travels is important in order to comprehend modifications derived from frictions and negotiations among different actors in terms of priorities, mandates and interests. Such frictions are linked, for example to civil registration and legal identity versus national and digital IDs, functional versus foundational ID systems, and a development versus a human rights focus. It is important to recognise frictions within the policy environment, but also to understand each specific history and context. This can be assisted by emphasising the dynamic life of a policy and the movements and adjustments that occur, within a changing political economy of policy, and how both individuals and significant political and structural influence the policy ecosystem. The article is based on both in-person and digital fieldwork especially with multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.