Grant announcement

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Committee of Central Bank Governors, FinMark Trust, and Co-Develop have announced a strategic partnership to build Africa's most ambitious regional Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative; a federated electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) ecosystem spanning 16 member states.

Regional DPI Leadership Meets Global Expertise

The partnership combines SADC's proven track record in regional financial infrastructure and FinMark Trust’s more than 20 years of experience in advancing financial inclusion and shaping inclusive financial markets, with Co-Develop's expertise in scaling Digital Public Infrastructure globally. Together, they are pioneering how the three core pillars of DPI – digital identity, digital payments, and secure data exchange – can work seamlessly across national boundaries to enable true regional economic integration.

SADC has already demonstrated remarkable leadership in building shared digital infrastructure. The SADC Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, operational since 2013, and the Transactions Cleared on Immediate Basis (TCIB) system, launched in 2021, provide the digital payments foundation that this new initiative will enhance with interoperable identity verification capabilities.

Co-Develop's support enables the technical assistance and capacity-building needed to scale these proven foundations into a comprehensive, scalable and interoperable e-KYC ecosystem across the SADC region that serves all citizens, not only those with access to traditional financial services.

Addressing Regional Exclusion Through Shared Infrastructure

The challenge facing Southern Africa exemplifies why DPI matters: 3.7 million SADC nationals living outside their home countries face systematic financial exclusion despite most member states having foundational digital identity systems. Poor interoperability between national ID platforms and financial service providers creates barriers that force millions to rely on informal, cash-based transactions.

SADC's strategic response demonstrates infrastructure thinking in action. Rather than attempting 16 separate bilateral agreements, the partnership will create shared, reusable digital infrastructure that enables innovation and inclusion at a regional scale.

Building Africa's First Regional DPI Ecosystem

Through this collaboration, FinMark Trust will provide technical support to implement three integrated DPI components:

Federated digital identity: Connecting national digital ID systems across SADC member states to enable real-time, cross-border identity verification while maintaining national sovereignty over citizen data.

Interoperable data exchange: Developing standardised protocols that allow secure sharing of identity and compliance information while balancing AML/CFT requirements with financial inclusion goals.

Enhanced digital payments: Integrating identity verification capabilities with existing RTGS and TCIB infrastructure to create seamless, secure financial services across the region.

This approach reflects core DPI principles – building infrastructure that is interoperable, reusable across sectors, and designed to enable innovation rather than lock in specific solutions.

Validated Through Pilot Success

The partnership builds on validated results from FinMark Trust's pilot programme between Lesotho and South Africa, which successfully demonstrated real-time, cross-border identity verification. Lesotho migrants were able to access formal remittances services in South Africa using their national digital IDs, proving both technical feasibility and policy relevance of the regional DPI approach.

These results confirm that proper DPI design can eliminate exclusion barriers while maintaining security and compliance standards, creating a template for regional scaling.

Expected Regional Transformation

The SADC-Co-Develop partnership will deliver a measurable impact across multiple dimensions:

• Financial inclusion: Enabling millions of currently excluded migrants and cross-border traders to access formal financial services
• Economic efficiency: Reducing transaction costs and processing times through standardised, automated verification systems
• Regulatory compliance: Enhancing AML/CFT monitoring capabilities through improved data quality and real-time verification
• Innovation foundation: Creating shared infrastructure that enables new financial products and services across the region.

Global DPI Implications

This initiative aligns with the strategic missions of all three organisations, positioning them as leaders in the global DPI movement. SADC demonstrates how regional economic communities can accelerate national DPI strategies while creating cross-border capabilities that would be impossible with isolated systems. Co-Develop validates its approach of supporting country-led initiatives that address real inclusion challenges through shared infrastructure. For FinMark Trust, it highlights how interoperable digital infrastructure can drive financial inclusion while simultaneously strengthening financial integrity.

The partnership directly advances the global goal of supporting DPI adoption in 50 countries over the next five years, showing how regional cooperation can amplify national efforts while creating new models for cross-border digital governance.

Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth

The collaboration reflects a shared understanding that digital public infrastructure, like roads, electricity and telecommunications before it, becomes more valuable as more people can access and use it. By treating digital identity, payments and data exchange as shared public goods rather than proprietary assets, SADC and Co-Develop are creating the foundation for inclusive regional economic integration.

"The SADC region's leadership in regional DPI demonstrates how infrastructure thinking can unlock transformation at unprecedented scale," noted a Co-Develop representative. "This partnership amplifies existing capabilities while creating new possibilities for cross-border inclusion."

SADC officials emphasised the initiative's alignment with existing regional integration goals: "Building on our proven track record with RTGS and TCIB, this partnership enables us to create the digital infrastructure that our regional economy requires for inclusive growth."

FinMark Trust’s CEO, Brendan Pearce, says, “We're proud to be the technical support for this effort, from diagnostics and pilots to policy engagement, our role is to ensure that digital infrastructure is inclusive by design, so that those who need it most – vulnerable and marginalised communities – are not left behind.”

Setting the Standard for Regional DPI

As countries worldwide grapple with cross-border digital services and regional integration challenges, the SADC-Co-Develop partnership offers a compelling model for how Digital Public Infrastructure can transcend national boundaries while respecting sovereignty and serving local priorities.

The initiative contributes to growing global evidence that DPI, when properly designed and implemented, can address inclusion challenges at the population scale while creating the shared foundation for digital economic growth.

About SADC CCBG: The Southern African Development Community Committee of Central Bank Governors coordinates financial system development across 16 member states, with proven expertise in regional digital infrastructure, including RTGS and TCIB payment systems.

About FinMark Trust: FinMark Trust is a non-profit trust that promotes financial inclusion to strengthen financial sector development in the SADC region. For over 20 years, it has used an evidence-based approach to identify and address systemic constraints that prevent financial markets from reaching unserved and underserved people, helping to improve lives and livelihoods.

About Co-Develop: Co-Develop is a global nonprofit fund accelerating the adoption of safe and inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure at scale, supporting DPI deployment in 50 countries over the next five years through strategic investments and partnerships.