BonafID 1.0 released: first production-ready deployment begins across six institutions
WACREN announces the AC4 production release of BonafID, marking the transition from pilot to operational platform. Six institutions across Ghana, Senegal, and Cameroon are the first to deploy the production version, with 14 additional onboardings scheduled before year-end.
Engineering teams in West Africa deploying BonafID 1.0 production identity provider infrastructure.
Key Highlights
- →First production version (v1.0) officially deployed under the AfricaConnect4 programme.
- →Initial cohort includes six major higher education institutions across West and Central Africa.
- →Automated SIS and LDAP connector tools eliminate manual student credential ingestion.
- →Full federation compliance with eduID.africa, eduGAIN, and geteduroam out-of-the-box.
BonafID is an open-source, cloud-hosted academic identity provider designed specifically to eliminate the infrastructural barriers that have historically prevented African universities from joining trust federations. By removing the need for on-premise servers, specialized cryptographers, and complex Shibboleth/SimpleSAMLphp server maintenance, BonafID enables campus IT teams to stand up sovereign identity services within weeks.
The first cohort of six institutions includes national research universities and technical colleges in Ghana (GARNET), Senegal (snRER), and Cameroon (RIC). Through BonafID's built-in connector modules, existing student information systems (SIS) and active directory databases were synchronized with eduID.africa federation metadata without disruptive database migrations.
With production deployment underway, students, faculty, and research fellows at these six campuses immediately gain access to global eduroam Wi-Fi authentication and cross-border digital research repositories in eduGAIN. A further 14 institutions are currently undergoing data validation and are slated for go-live during Q3 and Q4 2026.
More Announcements
Abidjan T&I Roadshow: 12 institutions begin BonafID assessment
The May West Africa roadshow hosted 34 HEI IT administrators from Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Twelve institutions completed the initial BonafID readiness assessment.
Ethiopia joins the continental federation: 18 institutions now connected via CERENET
CERENET's national federation officially peers with eduID.africa, adding Ethiopia's 18 registered research institutions to the continental network and expanding eduGAIN access across the Horn of Africa.