BonafID, WACREN’s identity-as-a-service platform, took centre stage at TNC26 as a key enabler of trusted digital collaboration for research and education communities across West and Central Africa. In a presentation titled “From Identity to Impact: Building Trust Under Constraint – BonafID and the AfricaConnect Model,” WACREN’s Project Manager Abigail Essel demonstrated how trusted digital identity is becoming critical to unlocking the full value of regional and global research infrastructure. The presentation proved that while high-speed connectivity is being expanded across the region, connectivity alone is not enough. Many institutions still lack trusted digital identity systems, making it difficult for researchers, students and staff to securely access shared services, participate in cross-border collaborations, and fully benefit from regional and international research ecosystems. BonafID addresses this gap by providing a shared identity-as-a-service platform that enables institutions to establish trusted digital identities without deploying complex federation infrastructure. By strengthening identity assurance and simplifying institutional onboarding, it enables seamless access to services such as eduroam, collaborative research platforms, and other digital resources across the WACREN ecosystem. The platform also has broader strategic significance. By establishing a common foundation of trust, BonafID supports researcher mobility, accelerates open science, strengthens institutional collaboration, and creates opportunities for local innovators and service providers to develop new digital services for the research and education sector. The presentation also highlighted WACREN’s phased deployment approach through its NREN Academy model, which introduces services incrementally to build institutional capacity and ensure sustainable adoption. Presented in collaboration with GÉANT, the presentation positioned BonafID as a foundational building block for trusted participation in global research and education networks, advancing WACREN’s vision of a secure, connected, and collaborative digital ecosystem for research and innovation across West and Central Africa.
