Civitas ID has secured USD$500,000 from the Gates Foundation to build open-source digital identity infrastructure for displaced populations.
On 11 August 2026, San Francisco-based non-profit Civitas ID announced it received a two-year, USD $500,000 grant from the Gates Foundation. The funding aims to advance open-source Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to address the documentation gap that prevents nearly one billion people worldwide—initially targeting 117.8 million forcibly displaced people—from accessing formal jobs, banking, healthcare, and education, with plans to serve broader populations over time.
Civitas ID is developing three core open-source elements to close this gap: verifiable digital credentials issued and verified by institutions, a personal digital wallet allowing individuals to hold and maintain full control over their credentials, and a service navigation platform that helps individuals discover and access available local services and aid.
The platform’s inspectable architecture is built using W3C Verifiable Credentials, Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs), open protocols, and artificial intelligence, designed for institutional adoption by governments, banks, employers, healthcare providers, and schools. Human-centred design research is led by IDEO.org to anchor the technology in actual user needs, complemented by a global ecosystem of humanitarian, academic, financial, technology, and legal partners running active pilot corridors in Colombia and Kenya.
Civitas ID Founder and Board Chair Colin Walsh noted that the grant will allow the organisation to scale its infrastructure and “shift the paradigm from aid to self-reliance,” turning documentation from an economic barrier into an institutionally recognised bridge to long-term economic mobility.
