For refugees in Cameroon, digital IDs are a life changer

Now they have the identity cards, Central Africans in the eastern Gado-Badzéré camp – where Teckombi Yazembrou lives – and the Mandjou area are starting to access education, jobs, healthcare, and travel around without fear of arrest. — Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

YAOUNDE: As a refugee in Cameroon, Shelley Teckombi Yazembrou struggled for nearly seven years to open a bank account, or even move around freely, simply because she did not have a national identity card.

That changed in June, thanks to a pilot programme by Cameroon's government and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to issue 6,000 refugees from Central African Republic (CAR) with biometrics-based IDs to help them access basic services.