The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security (MHAISS) is creating awareness about the mobile identity prototype, which will allow Namibians to apply for documents, including birth certificates, from the comfort of their homes.

The Ministry, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), tested the mobile identity prototype at Otjimbingwe, Erongo Region.

A senior analyst programmer at the Home Affairs Ministry used a scenario where a mother living in a remote area has given birth at home and needs to acquire a birth certificate.

"The mother and the community health worker, they can come together; they must just have a mobile phone. They come together, and they register a kid for a birth certificate. Once the kid has been registered for a birth certificate, the Ministry of Home Affairs receives the information, and after receiving the information, they can then send it back. If there's anything that needs to be signed, they send it back via the app to the mother, and then the mother can just sign digitally on the mobile app, and then the birth certificate is approved and ready to be used."

The birth certificate will be available on the mobile application, and there is no need to have a hard copy.

This option will save money spent on travelling costs and increase the number of registered newborns. 

The ministry is also making provision for the mobile application to work offline for those without internet services.

"If you don't have a mobile phone, you can be in contact with a community health worker that can assist you with registering with their mobile phone. But the plan is for every mother in a rural area to be able to register for their kid from the comfort of their home," adds Ileka.

Some Otjimbingwe residents who used the mobile ID prototype were sceptical at first.

"I was taken through the process, and I now understood how convenient and easier it makes life. In the past I had to travel kilometres to reach Home Affairs in order to register my son, but with the m-ID I don't have to leave my home anymore. Out 

"Like in Otjimbingwe, we don't; we hardly have a post office or anything, so the benefit would be that the money that we would use to travel, we just put it back in the bag or maybe use it for something else." 

The ministry will roll out the mobile ID in 2026 after nationwide consultations.