The Ethiopian government’s Fayda digital ID system, introduced for refugees in 2024 in partnership with the Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), is designed to bring refugees and asylum-seekers into the country’s national identification system and make their identities easier for public and private institutions to verify.
By Golden Page News | August 19, 2026
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — For refugees in Eth iopia, a small plastic identity card carrying a digital number is becoming a powerful gateway to something that has often been difficult to obtain: recognition.
The initiative is now taking on a larger role as Ethiopia pursues a five-year refugee inclusion strategy aimed at moving away from a model heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance toward greater economic participation and self-reliance. A July 2026 report by Biometric Update said the Fayda system is considered a critical component of the government’s new Makatet, or “inclusion,” framework.
From paperwork to a verifiable identity
The problem Fayda seeks to address is bigger than simply replacing a paper card with a digital number.
Ethiopia hosted about 1.09 million refugees and asylum-seekers as of July 2025, mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan. Many live in camps and settlements, while others live in cities including Addis Ababa.
For years, refugees could face practical barriers even when Ethiopian law recognized their rights to services. Expired documents, difficulties verifying refugee identity and limited awareness among service providers sometimes prevented refugees from accessing banking, education, healthcare and other services. Restrictions on movement and work also limited opportunities for economic independence.
The Fayda number is intended to change that.
It is a 12-digit unique identifier generated through Ethiopia’s national digital ID system. Refugees who consent to participate can have the number and a QR code incorporated into their refugee identity card or proof-of-registration document. Enrollment uses biometric information, including fingerprints, iris scans and a facial photograph, alongside biographical information.
The result is an identity credential that can be digitally authenticated rather than repeatedly requiring additional letters or verification from refugee authorities.
UNHCR says refugees with the new credentials can use them to open bank accounts, register SIM cards, receive funds from financial institutions, seek employment opportunities, establish businesses and obtain tax identification numbers. They can also facilitate access to healthcare, education and social protection.
A business license — and a new sense of legitimacy
The change can be particularly significant for refugees trying to build livelihoods.
Among the first 3,000 refugees in Addis Ababa to receive the new cards was Ibtisam Khaled Al-Barti, a Yemeni refugee who opened a coffee shop in the capital.
UNHCR reported in 2024 that Ibtisam had previously struggled to formalize businesses because she lacked documentation that institutions readily recognized. After receiving her Fayda-linked refugee ID, she obtained a business license and was able to operate formally.
Her experience illustrates why identification is closely linked to economic inclusion. Without an identity credential that banks, government agencies and other institutions can readily verify, legal rights may exist on paper while remaining difficult to exercise in everyday life.
Ethiopia has also introduced rules intended to make it easier for refugees meeting specified conditions to obtain work permits, business licenses and self-employment permits. A Fayda number can be part of that process.
The numbers are growing
The program has expanded significantly since its launch.
According to a UNHCR case study published in September 2025, 176,663 refugees had been verified and included in Ethiopia’s National ID Program by August 26, 2025, while 79,668 had received refugee ID cards or proof-of-registration documents containing a Fayda number.
The rollout began as a pilot in Addis Ababa before expanding to other refugee-hosting regions. UNHCR described the eventual objective as covering the country’s refugee population.
A July 2026 report said the program remains central to Ethiopia’s broader refugee-inclusion agenda, with the World Bank providing significant support for the digital ID effort.
The government’s Makatet strategy links digital identification with wider objectives, including education, work permits, business licensing, financial inclusion and the ability of refugees to form community organizations.
Beyond access to services
Supporters of the program argue that the benefits go beyond opening bank accounts or registering mobile phones.
A verifiable identity can reduce the risk of exploitation and unlawful detention by making it easier for authorities to confirm that an individual is legally registered as a refugee or asylum-seeker. UNHCR says nationwide recognition of the new cards could also improve refugees’ freedom of movement and strengthen their ability to exercise legal rights.
The system could eventually be linked with other government identification systems, including immigration and travel-document databases. That could make it easier for refugees to obtain documents needed for resettlement, education, employment or family-reunification pathways in third countries. UNHCR presents that as a longer-term possibility rather than an immediate benefit.
The initiative is also being studied for its measurable economic and social impact. Innovations for Poverty Action says researchers from the University of Oxford and the Ethiopian Policy Studies Institute are conducting a randomized evaluation involving 2,800 refugee households to determine whether receiving Fayda IDs improves economic well-being and social inclusion. The study runs through 2026–2027.
Digital inclusion does not automatically mean full inclusion
Despite the promise, the system is not a complete solution to the difficulties refugees face.
UNHCR has identified security conditions in some refugee-hosting areas, insufficient registration staff, limited awareness among refugees and inadequate infrastructure — including unreliable internet and electricity — as obstacles to scaling the program.
There are also important questions around privacy and the handling of sensitive biometric information.
The Fayda initiative requires information to move between the refugee registration systems operated by RRS and UNHCR and Ethiopia’s National ID Program. The partners have established a data-sharing agreement and procedures intended to protect refugees’ information. Ethiopia also adopted a Personal Data Protection Proclamation in 2024, which includes provisions on personal-data safeguards and informed consent.
UNHCR says enrollment for refugees is voluntary and requires an informed-consent process. Refugees can choose to receive an ID without a Fayda number if they do not consent to the data-sharing process.
Still, the effectiveness of those protections will depend not only on legislation and technical safeguards but also on how the system is implemented in practice.
A test of Ethiopia’s refugee policy
The significance of Fayda ultimately rests on what happens after a refugee receives the card.
A digital identity can make it easier to prove who someone is. It cannot by itself create jobs, guarantee freedom of movement, eliminate discrimination or remove administrative barriers.
UNHCR has acknowledged that further reforms are needed, particularly to streamline out-of-camp permits and connect the digital ID system with other government services.
That distinction is increasingly important as Ethiopia moves toward a development-oriented approach to refugee policy.
For people who have spent years navigating the uncertainty of displacement, however, a recognized identity can be a meaningful first step. The ambition behind Fayda is not simply to give refugees another document. It is to make that document useful enough that refugees can participate more fully in the society where they are living.
If the system delivers on that promise, Ethiopia’s digital ID experiment could offer a model for other countries seeking to move refugees from administrative limbo toward legal recognition, economic participation and greater self-reliance.
