{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T10:43:28Z","timestamp":1792579408379,"version":"4.5.0"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.182539.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788998400000}}],"reference-count":24,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788998400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["f1000research.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["F1000Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>Trusted digital identities sit at the heart of any modern, inclusive financial system. This paper investigates Somalia\u2019s transition from a fragmented digital landscape to a secure, integrated ecosystem through the lens of a \u201cThree Pillars\u201d framework: Robust Digital Identity, Comprehensive ICT Policy, and Proactive Cybersecurity Safeguards. Utilizing a qualitative multi-method approach, the study triangulates fifteen semi-structured interviews with regulators, financial experts, and civil society against a rigorous analysis of foundational policies, including the Data Protection Act (2023) and the Cybersecurity Law (2026). Results indicate that Somalia\u2019s digital identity ecosystem\u2014comprising e-Aqoonsi, HUBIYE, and the Certificate Delivery System (CDS)\u2014serves as a technical anchor for financial inclusion, significantly bolstered by a July 2025 Central Bank mandate requiring National IDs for all banking transactions. These tools are supported by legal scaffolding under the Data Protection Authority and proactive security guardrails provided by the Somalia Computer Incident Response Team (SOMCIRT). However, comparative analysis reveals that while Somalia has achieved technical parity with East African Community (EAC) peers in biometric capabilities, it remains an outlier due to its reliance on foreign data hosting, which poses risks to national data sovereignty. To realize Somalia\u2019s Centennial Vision 2060, the study concludes that the nation must bridge implementation gaps in rural digital literacy and technical capacity while transitioning toward local data infrastructure. The paper proposes a strategic roadmap for regional harmonization and enhanced institutional coordination to sustain public trust in the emerging digital economy.<\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.182539.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T11:39:07Z","timestamp":1789040347000},"page":"1029","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Building Digital Trust in East Africa: The Role of National ID and ICT Policy in Somalia\u2019s Digital Transformation"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-6813-7810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohamed Adam","family":"Isak","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science Mogadishu Banaadir Somali National University, Somali National AI Center"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdulkadir Jeilani","family":"Mohamud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science Mogadishu Somali National University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"361-365","DOI":"10.1109\/ICETSIS61505.2024.10459639","article-title":"The role of digital transformation in business: Opportunities, challenges and future directions.","author":"A Abu-AlSondos","year":"2024","journal-title":"2024 ASU International Conference in Emerging Technologies for Sustainability and Intelligent Systems (ICETSIS), Manama, Bahrain."},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"697-723","DOI":"10.1108\/IJLMA-11-2023-0249","article-title":"Digital transformation in financial industry: antecedents of fintech adoption, financial literacy and quality of life.","volume":"67","author":"A Alkhwaldi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Int. J. Law Manag."},{"key":"ref37","article-title":"Somalia to integrate more govt services with national ID as issuance reaches 1M.","year":"2025, November 26"},{"key":"ref38","article-title":"Somalia requires $125M to fully implement national digital ID system.","year":"2026, January 12"},{"key":"ref1","article-title":"Data protection Africa: Policy tracker.","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref2","article-title":"Somalia data protection act (Law No. 005\/2023).","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref5","article-title":"East African Community central banks urged to adapt and embrace technology to facilitate cross-border financial transactions.","year":"2024, July 23"},{"key":"ref12","article-title":"Gemini [Large language model].","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e12124","DOI":"10.1002\/isd2.12124","article-title":"ICT4D 3.0? Part 1\u2014The components of an emerging \u201cdigital-for-development\u201d paradigm.","volume":"86","author":"R Heeks","year":"2020","journal-title":"The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"183-223","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.104.1.183","article-title":"Risk sharing and transaction costs: Evidence from Kenya\u2019s mobile money revolution.","volume":"104","author":"W Jack","year":"2014","journal-title":"Am. Econ. Rev."},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"392-408","DOI":"10.1177\/0020852314564308","article-title":"Governing the smart city: a review of the literature on smart urban governance.","volume":"82","author":"A Meijer","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. Rev. Adm. Sci."},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101385","DOI":"10.1016\/j.giq.2019.06.002","article-title":"Defining digital transformation: Results from expert interviews.","volume":"36","author":"I Mergel","year":"2019","journal-title":"Gov. Inf. Q."},{"key":"ref17","article-title":"Somalia\u2019s parliament approves the cybersecurity law.","year":"2026a, January 26"},{"key":"ref18","article-title":"Somalia launches national cyber incident response center (SOMCIRT).","year":"2026b, March 7"},{"key":"ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1-6","DOI":"10.1109\/ICBATS57792.2023.10111266","author":"M Shehadeh","year":"2023","journal-title":"2023 International Conference on Business Analytics for Technology and Security (ICBATS), Dubai, United Arab Emirates."},{"key":"ref25","article-title":"Somalia launches three key digital ID systems to enhance national identity infrastructure.","year":"2025a, May"},{"key":"ref26","article-title":"National ID enforcement in Somalia: A strategic tool for the financial disruption of terrorist funds.","year":"2025b July 29"},{"key":"ref28","article-title":"Digital ID and the data revolution: Opportunities and challenges for Africa.","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"118-144","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsis.2019.01.003","article-title":"Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda.","volume":"28","author":"G Vial","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Strat. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref29","article-title":"M-PESA: Africa\u2019s leading mobile money service.","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref30","article-title":"Democratic Republic of Congo \u2013 Identification for Development (ID4D) project (P167743).","year":"2019a"},{"key":"ref31","article-title":"Inclusive and trusted digital ID can unlock opportunities.","year":"2019b, August"},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","year":"2022","journal-title":"Somalia digital economy diagnostic report.","DOI":"10.1596\/37786"},{"key":"ref33","article-title":"Identification for Development (ID4D) global dataset.","year":"2023"}],"container-title":["F1000Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T10:19:08Z","timestamp":1792577948000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]]},"references-count":24,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.182539.2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.12688\/f1000research.182539.1","asserted-by":"subject"}],"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.209942.r526586","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.209942.r520109","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.209942.r520109","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.209942.r526586","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2046-1402"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2046-1402","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.209942.r520109, Abeer F. Alkhwaldi, Dakota State University, Madison, South Dakota, 22 Sep 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2#referee-response-520109","order":0,"name":"referee-response-520109","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.209942.r526586, Maria de F\u00e1tima Pina, School of Applied Digital Technologies, ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon (Ringgold ID: 56061), Sintra, 21 Oct 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/15-1029\/v2#referee-response-526586","order":1,"name":"referee-response-526586","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work","order":2,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}