Digital platforms are restructuring how many companies and industries function, including humanitarian organisations that operate in complex environments and serve vulnerable populations. To date, however, there has been limited study of their use in humanitarian and particularly refugee contexts. This paper seeks to address this gap by drawing on the concept of platformisation to study the opportunities and challenges arising from UNHCR's transition from a closed transactional system to an open innovation platform focusing on core processes of identification, value creation and platform governance that are relevant for refugee management and protection. Our empirical study captures the perspectives of the UNHCR, organisational stakeholders and refugees in the world's largest refugee camp in Northern Uganda with regards to UNHCR's strategy towards platform openness. We find that UNHCR's data transformation strategy introduces the potential for increasing institutional value in the form of more effective service delivery to refugees. However, these technological opportunities do not necessarily translate to greater value if they do not mesh with current work practices, incentives and activities of service provider organisations and refugees. Our study helps identify opportunities to address these constraints, primarily through improving understanding of the emergent governance-related tensions that exist for digital platforms for development and surfacing existing issues of exclusion and vulnerability. We conclude with insights for the broader theorisation of identification platforms and with recommendations for policies and practices that together might help realise the potential value creation introduced through the platformisation of identification systems.

中文翻译：

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数字身份作为改善难民管理的平台

数字平台正在重组多少公司和行业的运作，包括在复杂环境中运作并为弱势群体服务的人道主义组织。然而，迄今为止，对它们在人道主义特别是难民环境中的使用的研究还很有限。本文旨在通过利用平台化的概念来研究难民署从封闭式交易系统向开放式创新平台过渡所带来的机遇和挑战，从而解决这一差距，重点关注与难民管理和保护。我们的实证研究捕捉了难民署、组织利益相关者和乌干达北部世界最大难民营中难民对难民署的看法。平台开放战略。我们发现难民署的数据转换战略以更有效地向难民提供服务的形式引入了增加机构价值的潜力。然而，如果这些技术机会不符合服务提供者组织和难民当前的工作实践、激励措施和活动，则不一定会转化为更大的价值。我们的研究有助于确定解决这些限制的机会，主要是通过提高对数字平台发展中存在的与治理相关的紧急紧张局势的理解，并解决现有的排斥和脆弱性问题。