The Problem
For everyone who possesses important documents — such as educational documents, publications and creative works, and business or commercial documents — keeping them safe is essential because they represent who a person is, what they have achieved, or what they have created.
However, across Africa many people and institutions still lose such documents, particularly in conflict-affected regions. For example, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fighting involving the M23 armed group has disrupted offices and damaged administrative records. In northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram destroyed thousands of schools between 2009 and 2015 (UNESCO), leading to the loss of educational records.
When documents are lost, the common solution is to return to the institution that issued or holds them to request a new copy. Yet this becomes extremely difficult when the institution remains in a conflict area while the person has moved to another region or country. Distance, high costs, and weak communication systems create serious barriers. In addition, many institutions still rely on paper-based records, which can easily be lost, damaged, or destroyed over time.
As a result, document recovery often becomes slow, expensive, or impossible, contributing to a broader challenge across Africa where about 494 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack official proof of legal identity (World Bank ID4D, 2021).
However, across Africa many people and institutions still lose such documents, particularly in conflict-affected regions. For example, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fighting involving the M23 armed group has disrupted offices and damaged administrative records. In northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram destroyed thousands of schools between 2009 and 2015 (UNESCO), leading to the loss of educational records.
When documents are lost, the common solution is to return to the institution that issued or holds them to request a new copy. Yet this becomes extremely difficult when the institution remains in a conflict area while the person has moved to another region or country. Distance, high costs, and weak communication systems create serious barriers. In addition, many institutions still rely on paper-based records, which can easily be lost, damaged, or destroyed over time.
As a result, document recovery often becomes slow, expensive, or impossible, contributing to a broader challenge across Africa where about 494 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack official proof of legal identity (World Bank ID4D, 2021).
