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Civitas ID wins Gates Foundation grant for open-source identity infrastructure

Civitas ID received a two-year, $500,000 Gates Foundation grant to develop open-source identity infrastructure for forcibly displaced populations.

2026-08-11CC-BY-4.0verifiable-credentialsdisplaced-populationsdigital-public-infrastructurew3c

About

Verifiable Credentials & Identity Wallets (W3C VC 2.0)Digital ID

Key Facts

  • The grant is worth $500,000 over two years, with design support from IDEO.org.
  • The system is built on W3C Verifiable Credentials and decentralized identifiers.
  • Pilots are active in Colombia and Kenya.

Card Text

Displacement is the hardest case for identity systems because the assumption of a stable issuing authority breaks down. Portable credentials anchored in open standards rather than a single national register are one of the few architectures that survive that condition.

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