Dynamic Registry: A Foundation for Effective G2P Delivery

As governments increasingly digitise G2P service delivery globally, there is a growing reliance on a citizen data registry, which provides essential information that shapes the design, targeting, and successful delivery of services. As of 2024, 62 countries have operationalised social registries covering 1.1 billion people globally (World Bank). Registries are increasingly becoming dynamic by keeping data up-to-date to inform evidence-based policy decisions. A good registry system can streamline processes, enhance data accuracy, and ultimately improve benefit delivery for citizens.

Registry vs Database

While many countries maintain databases, these often lack the interconnectivity and accuracy required to effectively deliver services. Some key differences between registry and database are as follows:

Aspect	Registry	Database
Purpose	Acts as a trusted, authoritative source of truth for specific entities	Stores and retrieves data for an application or system
Nature of Data	Verified, official, and authoritative records (e.g., citizens, businesses, assets)	Any type of data, including raw, unverified, or temporary
Identifiers	Maintains unique identifiers to ensure one-to-one mapping of entities	May not enforce uniqueness; duplicates are common
Data Integrity	Enforces strict accuracy, authenticity, and validation rules	Integrity rules are optional and application-specific
Change management	Enforces change control, version history and audit trail	Not offered in typical databases
Real-time Use	Supports real-time or near real-time lookups and validation	Not necessarily designed for real-time validation
Interoperability	Designed for reuse across multiple systems and sectors	Typically siloed within a single system

Registry as a DPI layer

Registries are a core component of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) because they provide a trusted, reusable “single source of truth” that enables digital systems to work together at scale (CDPI). Registries establish clear identity and uniqueness for people, businesses, and assets, without which digital systems are susceptible to duplication, fraud, and exclusion.

At its core, DPI is about shared digital rails. By offering common identifiers and standard reference data, registries allow multiple public and private systems to plug into the same infrastructure without building custom integrations. This turns verification from a slow, manual process into a simple API call.

Registries provide reusable infrastructure. Instead of every department or service maintaining its own records, registries allow data to be verified once and reused many times, improving efficiency and speed of service delivery. For example, Chile’s SIIS and Turkey’s ISAS systems consist of social registries integrated with several other systems for data exchange, payments and grievance redressal.

Benefits of a good registry system

A good registry system offers substantial benefits to both governments and citizens by enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of public services (World Bank).

For governments, accurate, dynamic, interoperable registries,

• Enable targeted allocation of resources. For example, in social welfare programmes, a registry helps minimise leakages by efficiently verifying identities and eligibility, thereby saving public funds and strengthening trust in government institutions.

• Generate efficiencies for programme administrators by reducing redundant data collection. For example, Mexico’s Cuestionario Único de Información Socioeconómica (CUIS) consolidated 17 distinct socio-economic questionnaires into one harmonised registry.

• Inform registration and eligibility processes, supports the design and implementation of programmes, and provides policymakers with visibility into the populations they serve. Malawi’s Social Registry is used by the Social Cash Transfer Programme to access data on households and PMT scores to create beneficiary lists.

• Facilitate assessment of needs of the population, analyse gaps in coverage of benefits and services and help coordinate policy responses.

• Enable rapid and shock responsive interventions to emerging needs to citizens, especially during crises. In response to the COVID-19 emergency, Turkey’s ISAS allowed the country to quickly deliver a one-time cash benefit for individuals by checking eligibility against administrative data (World Bank)

For citizens, registries,

• Reduce the information burden by reducing the need to provide the same data again and again

• Improve citizen experience by reducing the need for repeated verification of basic demographic information

• Simplify application processes and speeds up service delivery

• Empower citizens by allowing them to share their information with consent

• Increases trust and transparency with government and other entities

• Benefit from public and private services that leverage registry data

Overall, a robust registry system is foundational for adaptive, inclusive, and coordinated service delivery that benefits both governments and citizens.

Key functionalities of a good registry system

A well-designed registry system has the following functionalities:

• Continuous data updates: Ensures that citizen information is always current through various intake methods such as self-registration portals, bulk uploads, APIs, and integrations with external systems.

• Interoperability: Enables data interoperability with other information systems which supports both intake and sharing with multiple systems.

• User-friendly interfaces: Simple, intuitive interfaces for both citizens and administrators reduce errors, improve adoption, and streamline operations.

• Secure access controls and privacy protection: Incorporates role-based access, strong authentication, and encryption to safeguard sensitive data and uphold privacy rights.

• User consent management: Has explicit consent mechanisms that allow individuals to control how and with whom their data is shared.

• Authorised data sharing with defined scope: Data is shared only through secure channels, with clear authorisation, purpose limitation, and scope of information shared.

• Comprehensive change management: Includes version history, audit trails, approval workflows, and change control to track and validate all data modifications.

• Eligibility and needs assessments: Assesses needs and conditions of applicants, verifies eligibility and automatically computes scores to support programme targeting and prioritisation.

• Uniqueness linked to a verified ID: Ensures each individual is uniquely identified, preventing duplication and fraud through linkage with national or foundational IDs.

• Registry-specific ID generation: Generates programme- or registry-specific identifiers (e.g., Social ID, Disability ID, Pension ID) where required.

• Strong data integrity rules: Enforces validation rules, mandatory fields, value ranges, and limits, while flagging violations for correction.

• Issuance of verifiable credentials: Provides digitally verifiable credentials that can be used for offline verification in low-connectivity environments.

• Flexible and use-case agnostic architecture: Not hardwired to a single programme or model, allowing adaptation across multiple use cases while retaining powerful core functionalities.

The creation of an effective registry system is crucial for modern governance. By transitioning from traditional databases to integrated registries built on DPI infrastructure, countries can dramatically improve their ability to deliver benefits to citizens efficiently and transparently.

OpenG2P’s Registry module is an open-source, modular, and reusable DPI infrastructure developed specifically to meet these rigorous technical and governance requirements. It is designed to be easily deployed and customised for diverse national contexts. We invite you to explore the Registry Gen 2 module with advanced features to accelerate your digital G2P programme.