to 5.7 million people by 2050.90 The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) projected that there are around 197,700 people in Uganda above 80 years old in 2021.91 As much as 90% of older persons live in rural areas and have limited economic opportunities due to both a lack of capabilities and lack of opportunities. More than half of older persons are illiterate and the majority rely on labour intensive subsistence agriculture as their primary source of income.92 Only one in five older persons have access to any form of credit.93 Poverty among older persons is extremely high, with 80% of older persons in Uganda living in households earning less than double the international extreme poverty line of $3.80 per day94 and 96% of older persons living on less than $10 per day. This level of poverty leads to other deprivations, as older persons are often unable to maintain adequate levels of housing, sanitation, and clean drinking water. Approximately one in five older persons have a severe disability and suffer from mobility challenges, while diseases such as HIV/AIDS have been difficult to treat within the group due to stigmatization and Figure 11. An older person lies in wait for the Post Bank Verification team to resume work. lack of data about their prevalence among older persons. Older persons living in poverty are statistically less likely to have access to adequate health care.95 They are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and other forms of exclusion, especially since they are no longer considered to be ‘economically productive.’96 They may suffer from many forms of age discrimination and mistreatment including rape, theft, and dispossession of property.97 How to target the old? Like many cash transfer programs, the SCG faces a central challenge: how to identify eligible beneficiaries? This is why much debate in international development circles has been devoted to the ‘targeting’ of cash transfers. While the SCG is—in theory—a ‘universal’ How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesale Exclusion of Women and Older Persons 39

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