Governance overview

The OSIA initiative is developed by the not-for-profit Secure Identity Alliance with the full support of its membership. It is governed under a formal structure including an independent OSIA Advisory Committee, with work carried out by the OSIA GitHub Community and the OSIA Working Group. These bodies have transparent and publicly available terms of reference to guide intra and inter committee relations.

OSIA Advisory Committee

Consists of government and academic Affiliated Members of the SIA.
The Advisory Committee meets twice a year to review the progress of OSIA and provide strategic guidance for the initiative.

OSIA Working Group

Consists of public and private Members and Affiliated Members of the SIA.
The Working Group meets once a month to manage the evolution of all OSIA functional and technical specifications. It also solicits feedback from the GitHub Open Community and has the power to accept or reject code contributions proposed by members and third parties and to control releases.

GitHub Community & license

OSIA is based on an open copyright and software license. OSIA specifications are published on GitHub supervised by an external and independent consultant.
Any country, technology provider or individual is free to download the functional and technical specifications to implement in their foundational and sectoral ID systems.

Governments can also reference OSIA as Open Standards in tenders.

How to join the initiative?

Send us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You don’t need to be a member of the SIA. To participate in the Working Group, you just need to become an Affiliated Member (this is the equivalent of signing a MoU).

‘Non Government’ companies/organisations join the OSIA Workgroup - The annual fee is fixed at 2,5K Euros per annum excl. VAT

‘Government & Academic’ organizations join the OSIA Advisory Committee – Free

OSIA Advisory Committee Members

Chaired by Nigeria National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), represented by Eng. Aliyu Abubakar Aziz, Director General/CEO

Deputy Chair: Ms Hadiza Dagabana, Director Legal, Regulatory & Compliance Services/ Commission Secretary

Côte D’Ivoire: represented by Mr Christian Ago Kodia, Directeur général, Office National de l’Etat Civil et de l’Identification (ONECI) and Mr Diakalidia Konate Secrétaire Executif, Commission Nationale des Frontières de la Côte d’Ivoire (CNFCI)

DRC, represented by Mr Musavuli Mbutho Moussa, Coordonnateur de la cellule technique, Cabinet du conseiller spécial du numérique au près du Chef de l'Etat and Mr Nanikian Lejite Likaala, Technical Director, Office National d'Identification de la Population (ONIP)

Gabon, represented by Mr Aimé-Martial Massamba, Chef de Département IGC, Agence Nationale des Infrastructures Numériques et des Fréquences (ANINF)

Ghana, represented by Ms Henrietta Lamptey, Registrar of Births and Deaths, Head of Civil Registration and Mr Emmanuel Nortey Botchway, Assistant Registrar – Head of ICT.

Guinea, represented by Mr Himidi Toure, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister

Lesotho, represented by Mr Tumelo Raboletsi, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs

Madagascar, represented by Mr Balsama Hellarison Andriantseheno, Coordinateur Général, Secrétariat Général de la Présidence de la République and Ms Salohy Norotiana Randrianarisoa

Mali, represented by Dr Abdoulaye Alkadi, Directeur National, Direction Nationale de l'Etat-Civil, Ministère de l'AdministrationTerritoriale et de la décentralisation.

Sierra Leone, represented by Mr Mohamed M. MASSAQUOI, DG National Civil Registration Authority

South Sudan, represented by Lt Gen Atem Marol Biar Kuek, Director General, Direction de la Nationalité, Passeports et l'Immigration (DNPI), Ministère de l'Intérieur and Mr David Oroma Joseph Jobojobo, Director for ICT, Ministry of Interior

Sri Lanka, represented by Mr Viyani Gunathilaka, Commissioner General, Department for Registration of Persons

Uganda, represented by Ms. Rosemary Kisembo , Executive Director, National Identification and Registration Authority and Ms Grace Nanyanzi, Director, Information Systems, National Identification and Registration Authority

Vietnam, represented by Mr La Hoang Trung, Director General of the Department of Information and Communications of Hau Giang province

OSIA Workgroup Members

Chaired by Debora Comparin, the following companies are members of the OSIA Working Group:

Aoya, Atos, Biosec, Canadian BankNote, Common Identity, Coppernic, DERMALOG, Digitech, Entrust, Famoco, Gravity, HID, ID30, Idakto, IDEMIA, Identitypass, INGroupe, Innovatrics, Intercede, Laxton, Mantratech, Mobile Technologies, Neurotechnology, OSD, Thales, Veridos