Background: Evolution of openIMIS & solutions

The evolution of openIMIS solutions: From community health insurance to an integrated Digital Public Good

openIMIS began in 2012 as a practical digital solution to manage community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes for the informal sector, first in Tanzania and shortly after in Cameroon (2013). Initially designed to support small, decentralized insurance programs, the platform evolved alongside countries’ ambitions to expand financial protection in health. Today, openIMIS supports large-scale national programs such as Nepal’s Social Health Insurance (since 2016) and the nationwide Universal Health Coverage scheme in Cameroon (since 2023). Driven by requirements emerging from country implementations and supported by national developer teams and global partners such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the system has expanded its functionality to also accommodate formal-sector coverage, including integration with the Social Security Fund in Nepal (since 2022) and preparations for similar arrangements in countries such as Burkina Faso.

The COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point in the evolution of openIMIS beyond health insurance. Faced with the urgent need for transparent and accountable delivery of emergency assistance, a developer company in The Gambia adapted the platform to support the World Bank–financed Nafa Quick program, implemented by the National Nutrition Agency. This experience demonstrated that openIMIS could effectively manage digital cash transfers, beneficiary data, and monitoring processes, opening the door for broader use in social protection and crisis response.

Over the past three years, the openIMIS ecosystem has grown significantly as more governments, implementers, developer teams, and international stakeholders joined the initiative. Its modular, open-source architecture has enabled countries to tailor the system to diverse institutional and operational contexts, while ensuring that innovations developed in one setting can be reused and scaled globally. This collaborative model has led to the development of numerous new functionalities and scenario-specific solutions. A major milestone was the 2023 merger with the World Bank’s CORE-MIS, which expanded the platform’s capabilities to support cash transfer and public works programs, now implemented in countries such as São Tomé and Príncipe and Burundi, including the Merankabandi Cash for Jobs program.

As the scope of openIMIS expanded, stakeholders increasingly positioned it as a Digital Public Good for integrated health and social protection systems. In 2024, the extended openIMIS Stakeholder Committee – bringing together organizations such as the World

Bank, ILO, WFP, ISSA and others – convened a public conference to explore future directions. Discussions focused on the role of Social Registries and Integrated Beneficiary Registries in reducing fragmentation, improving interoperability, and enabling more adaptive responses to shocks such as displacement or natural disasters. Experts from WHO, the World Bank, and ILO emphasized how shared digital infrastructure can expand service coverage and strengthen national digital ecosystems, while also highlighting challenges related to institutional capacity, hosting arrangements, and the need to learn systematically from global implementation experience.

This forward-looking agenda continued in September 2025, when the openIMIS community and partners met to examine how digital systems can support climate-responsive and anticipatory social protection. Discussions explored the integration of climate monitoring, social registries, and cash transfer systems to improve the speed and accuracy of assistance in humanitarian and disaster contexts. Contributions from WFP, UNICEF, the World Bank and others highlighted opportunities to move from reactive to anticipatory approaches, including the use of advanced analytics and AI to strengthen system resilience. Key messages included the importance of collaboration to avoid duplicative systems, the need for strong interoperability and data-sharing frameworks, and the potential of a global marketplace for digital public goods to increase accessibility, share success stories, and foster coordinated responses to emerging risks.

Taken together, the evolution of openIMIS (solutions) reflects its distinctive character as a country-driven, community-built Digital Public Good. Requirements are defined through real program needs, solutions are co-developed by national and international partners, and improvements are shared across the global community. From its origins in small informal-sector insurance schemes to its current role supporting integrated health financing, social assistance, and crisis response, openIMIS illustrates how collaborative governance, open technology, and shared learning can enable scalable and resilient digital systems for social protection and health.