Winners of Inaugural 50-in-5 Awards Recognised for Impact, Collaboration and Leadership in Digital Public Infrastructure
New York City — September 22, 2026.
Yesterday, country representatives and technology leaders gathered at The Morgan Library & Museum on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) for the inaugural 50-in-5 Awards. The ceremony celebrated the countries and individuals advancing safe, inclusive and interoperable digital public infrastructure in ways that meaningfully improve people’s lives.
The Awards come at an important moment for the 50-in-5 campaign. As it enters its third year, the global conversation has expanded from why DPI matters to what successful implementation looks like in practice – how it can strengthen public services, expand economic opportunity, and support inclusive growth . Coordinated by the Digital Public Goods Alliance in partnership with Co-Develop, the 50-in-5 Awards recognised achievements across three categories: Leadership, Collaboration, and Impact.
Looking ahead, Jon Lloyd emphasised that technology must remain a vehicle for real-world progress:
“Keep people and real-world impact at the center of your DPI implementations, remembering that it is an enabler, not the goal in itself. Share what you’re learning so others can benefit, and invest in the people and solutions—including digital public goods—needed to sustain this work. Through 50-in-5, we can work together to accelerate safe, inclusive, and interoperable DPI around the world.”
Jon Lloyd, Director of Advocacy and 50-In-5 , DPGA Secretariat
Impact Award
Winner: FROM IDENTITY TO INCLUSION: BUILDING A CONNECTED DIGITAL NATION, ASIN – AGENCE DES SYSTÈMES D’INFORMATION, ET DU NUMÉRIQUE, REPUBLIC OF BENIN
Runner-Up: WEST AFRICA UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND INCLUSION (WURI) – PHASE 2, MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SERVICE EFFICIENCY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, REPUBLIC OF TOGO
The Impact Award recognises national initiatives that are improving access to services and opportunities and delivering tangible benefits in people’s lives. Benin’s Agence des Systèmes d’Information et du Numérique (ASIN) won the Impact award for its initiative “From Identity to Inclusion: Building a Connected Digital Nation”. Through its integrated DPI ecosystem, Benin has registered nearly 13.75 million people, approximately 99 percent of its population, including millions living in rural communities, which has historically been harder to reach. A national interoperability platform, coordinated by ASIN and inspired by Estonia’s X-Road, a digital public good, connects government institutions, enables the secure exchange of verified information across more than 60 entities, and plays a foundational role in the initiative’s success.
“We must ensure that people who use digital public infrastructure trust the systems we propose. People do not use a system because it is sophisticated, they use it because it is simple and because they are confident their data is secure. At the end of the day, technology scales only if trust scales. We are focused on creating the conditions to ensure people truly adopt the services we propose.”
Marc-André Loko, Director General, The Information Systems and Digital Technology Agency, Republic Of Benin
Togo’s Ministry of Public Service Efficiency and Digital Transformation was named runner-up for the second phase of the West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) programme, which is expanding access to trusted identification and public services.
Collaboration Award
Winner: QRIS CROSS-BORDER (QRIS ANTARNEGARA), BANK INDONESIA, REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Runner-Up: CROSS-BORDER DIGITAL ID (BRAZIL–URUGUAY), AGESIC – AGENCIA DE GOBIERNO ELECTRÓNICO Y SOCIEDAD DE LA INFORMACIÓN Y DEL CONOCIMIENTO (E-GOVERNMENT), GOVERNMENT OF URUGUAY
The Collaboration Award recognises countries working across borders to share technology, knowledge and lessons learned when advancing DPI. The Republic of Indonesia, represented by Bank Indonesia, received the award for the QRIS Cross-Border initiative. Developed alongside regional partners across Asia, the payment system enables seamless cross-border transactions and supports over 45.3 million businesses, 96 percent of which are micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in seven countries.
“When we talk about QRIS Cross-Border, it’s not just about connecting payment systems. It’s about using the payment system to promote financial and economic inclusion. The QRIS Cross-Border, has at least two impacts: the first is accessibility, and the second is inclusivity. Accessibility means making cross-border payments more efficient, accessible, easier, and more transparent. And the second one, for inclusivity, opens new opportunities for small businesses, particularly micro, small, and medium enterprises.”
Filianingsih Hendarta, Deputy Governor, Bank Indonesia
Announcing that Indonesia will host the Global DPI Summit in Bali in March 2027, Deputy Minister Cahyono Tri Birowo invited international partners to witness the nation’s digital public infrastructure in action:
“DPI acts as an enabler for transforming social protection and healthcare services. Next year, you are invited to Bali to see a showcase of how the government of Indonesia and the Central Bank implement digital public infrastructure—including a digital identity system that already covers 98% of our population.”
Cahyono Tri Birowo, Deputy for Government Digital Transformation, Ministry Of Administrative And Bureaucratic Reform
AGESIC and the Government of Uruguay were named runner-up for the Brazil–Uruguay Cross-Border Digital ID initiative, which advances interoperability between the two countries’ digital identity systems.
“We successfully integrated all the ecosystems within testing environments, and each country is now working to advance this into concrete use cases. We anticipate that this will be achieved in the next few months, and will pave the way to add more countries and use more cases by 2027.”
María Noel Beretta, Director For Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Uruguay
Leadership Award
Winner: ESTHER DWECK, MINISTER OF MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION IN PUBLIC SERVICES, GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL
Runner-Up: YODAHE ZEMICHAEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ETHIOPIAN NATIONAL ID PROGRAM (NIDP), FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA
The Leadership Award recognises individuals driving implementation, building partnerships and collaborations, and advocating for safe and inclusive DPI . Esther Dweck, Minister of Management and Innovation in Public Services for the Government of Brazil, won the award for championing people-centred DPI. Her leadership, Brazil has drawn on DPI systems such as GOV.BR and PIX, to deliver emergency assistance to flood-affected communities in as little as six days. She has also championed greater international cooperation on DPI through the G20.
“By bringing together our national identity card, GOV.BR, and CONECTA.GOV.BR, we are creating a sovereign digital public infrastructure that allows public services to become increasingly proactive, while ensuring that inclusion, accessibility, privacy, and trust remain at the center of everything we do.”
Esther Dweck, Minister of Management and Innovation in Public Services, Government of Brazil
Yodahe Zemichael, Executive Director of Ethiopia’s National ID Program (NIDP), was honoured as runner-up for his leadership in advancing Fayda, Ethiopia’s foundational digital identity system, and expanding access to essential services throughout the country as a result.
“It’s not just about holding a position, because at the end of the day we’re civil servants, we’re serving the public’s interest. So we should enjoy less of whatever titles they give us and focus more on impact.”
Yodahe Zemichael, Executive Director, The National Id Program (NIDP) Government Of Ethiopia, and CEO of Faydaverse
Italy Joins 50-in-5
At the ceremony, Italy announced that it is joining 50-in-5, becoming the 40th country to be participating in the campaign and the 6th in Europe. Represented by the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID), Italy brings expertise in developing technical rules, standards, and governance frameworks for public sector digital transformation. Its DPI ecosystem already features SPID and CIE digital identity platforms, the PDND data-exchange network, and the IT-Wallet. Learn more about Italy’s participation in the 50-in-5 campaign—including its plans for scaling digital public infrastructure, in their press release.
“Italy is really pleased to join the 50-in-5 campaign and collaborate with countries around the world to advance the safe, inclusive, and interoperable implementation of the digital public infrastructure.”
H.E. Ambassador Gianluca Greco, Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations
About the 50-in-5 Awards
All countries participating in the 50-in-5 campaign were invited to nominate themselves or their peers for the Awards. Following the close of nominations, submissions were reviewed by a distinguished selection panel of leaders from across the global DPI ecosystem, representing international organisations, philanthropy, government, and technical expertise. The selection panel selected the winners and runners-up across the three award categories.
The ceremony also provided an opportunity for winners and runners-up to reflect on what drove the success of their DPI initiatives. Discussions were moderated by Michael Wiegand, Director, Inclusive Financial Systems of the Gates Foundation, Lindsey Crumbaugh, Chief Investment Officer of Co-Develop, and Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO of the DPGA Secretariat. Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, in her role as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA) joined the representative from Benin for a conversation about how DPI is delivering meaningful impact for people’s financial health.
“DPI is extremely important for financial inclusion to expand access. Now we have to make sure that digital public infrastructure really assures the outcome: that we help people manage day-to-day finances better and build resilience through emergency funds or insurance against shocks. We can help them throughout their lives—saving for their children’s education or retirement, and feeling confident in their financial lives.”UNSGSA Queen Máxima of The Netherlands
About the 50-in-5 Campaign
50-in-5 is a country-led advocacy campaign aiming to help 50 countries design, launch, and scale components of their digital public infrastructure by 2028. Currently 40 countries are participating in the campaign. Continued momentum and growing collaboration have seen 11 new countries join from across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America since the September 2025 Milestone Event—including South Africa, host of the 2025 Global DPI Summit, and Indonesia, host of the 2027 Summit.
Through three years of sustained exchange, participating countries have led and joined dozens of workshops, roundtables, ministerial meetings, and informal gatherings focused on sharing lessons, best practices, and technologies. In 2026 alone, representatives from 28 participating countries took part in 24 virtual and in-person events, alongside new short courses offering in-depth learning on priority topics including DPI safeguards and the integration of AI with DPI.
Learn more: https://awards.50in5.net, https://50in5.net