Launch of UNICEF Reports on Birth Registration:
Main Findings and Programmatic Implications
12 December 2013
Birth registration must be within
the civil registry
• A birth can only be registered by this
authority. Ideally this is a national authority or,
if not, there is a mechanism to ensure national
coordination
• Some countries do outsource some aspects of
the civil registry. Even in these cases the
oversight of the function rests with the
government.
Birth certificate
Is the vital record that
documents the birth of a child.
It should contain the minimum
information.
The base material should be a
security substrate image using
secure printing techniques and
a unique identifier.
Birth registration must be continuous,
permanent and available
• The civil registration records must be kept
forever. This requires that the records need to
be retrievable and that that registrar is
accessible.
• Information technology is part of the solution
being a step forward from paper files.
Where we stand today
Some numbers
•
The births of nearly 230 million children under five have
never been registered
•
More than half of these unregistered children live in Asia
and around one in three in India
•
In 2012 alone, 57 million births were not registered with
civil authorities – or 4 out of 10 babies delivered
worldwide
•
Additionally, 1 in 7 of the registered children do not have
a birth certificate
•
As results there are 290 million children under five
without a birth certificate in the world
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Global and Regional Initiatives
Political
Commitment
Global
Africa
Asia-Pacific
Eastern Mediterranean
Latin America and Caribbean
Call to Action to:
• To increase and
sustain effort in
investment in
CRVS
• To strengthen
global CRVS
advocacy
• Establishment of
a Working Group
•
•
ESCAP resolution 67/12
(2011): The Improvement
of CRVS in Asia and the
Pacific
ESCAP resolution 69/15
(2013): Implementing the
outcome of the High-level
Meeting on the
Improvement of CRVS in
Asia and the Pacific
PLANNED: tripartite
Ministerial meeting
December 2014.
•
•
More than 48 ESCAP
member States have
completed a rapid
assessment.
28 ESCAP member States
have completed or are in
the process of completing
a comprehensive
assessment that will lead
to national CRVS plans
•
•
Declaration of African
Ministers Responsible
for Civil Registration.
Ministerial Statement,
Second Conference of
African Ministers
responsible for Civil
Registration.
•
•
Results so
Far
•
•
More than 30 CRVS
experts trained in
assessment techniques
More than 20 countries
currently undertaking a
rapid assessment of
CRVS systems.
•
•
Regional Strategic
Plan endorsed in
WHO/EMRO 60th
session of the
Regional Committee.
•
•
•
•
22 of the 23 EMR
countries completed
their rapid CRVS
assessments.
More than half of
the EMR countries
have now completed
comprehensive
assessments of their
CRVS systems, and
are developing
national CRVS plans.
•
•
Inter-American Program
for a Universal Civil
Registry and The Right to
Identity (2007, 2011)
PAHO: Regional Plan of
Action for Strengthening
Vital and Health Statistics
since 2008
Resolution AG/RES. 2286
(XXXVII-O/07) of the
Organization of American
States
Parliamentary workshop
on the right to identity:
Promoting universal birth
registration in Latin
America and the
Caribbean
Commitment by States to
achieve full, universal and
free registration by 2015.
Annual reporting of
changes and
improvements in birth
and death registration
and coverage
National Initiatives - Parliamentarians
• Lawmaking – Adopt legislation that advances universal, free, and timely
birth registration
• Budgeting – Ensure that birth registration systems are properly resourced
and that budget earmarks for civil/birth registration systems are spent
properly
• Oversight – Oversee and scrutinize government (executive branch
performance) with respect to its commitments to implement national
birth registration policies and commitments; monitor progress against
targets and benchmarks
• Representation – Serve as community leaders that inform constituents
about their rights to identity and available programmes; communicate
constituent concerns to relevant government ministries and implementing
partners
A country can achieve a high birth registration rate even
with low per capita income
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Many mothers lack knowledge of how to register a child’s birth
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Stages of Behaviour Change -- A simple model
Pre-
Decision (Ready-toAct)
Contemplation
Contemplation
Doesn’t know about
problem, hasn’t thought
about the issue
Doesn’t know completely
but has heard
Maintenance
Continues behaviour over short-term,
or relapses
Perceives risks and
knows
about benefits
Action
Tries out the information or
behaviour, implements specific
actions
Becomes a promoter or advocate
Why using C4D for CRVS?
• To strengthen the identification and analysis of
who is being left out and why
• To analyse both the technical and inter-personal
capability of frontline workers
• To build a broad coalition of partners to develop
and implement advocacy, social mobilisation and
communication strategies for CR
Why using C4D for CRVS?
• To involve stakeholders, particularly communities
and families, in the programme cycle from
situation analysis and strategy development to
monitoring and evaluating interventions.
• To develop appropriate evidence based and
theory-driven
strategies,
techniques
and
messages for knowledge building and fostering
positive change in attitudes, behaviours and
social norms
• To mobilize communities! Others?
The children left behind
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Children are more likely to be registered
as they grow older
Birth registration must be timely and
accurate
• The information in the registration has implications for
other obligations and rights for the child, as they
become adults and for their children.
• Completing the registration as soon as possible
increases the probability of a precise recording of the
event.
• Digital and mobile technology can be useful to notify
the registrar about a birth and in some instances to
facilitate the completion of the registration process.
Birth registration must be free
To ensure that no one is hindered from realizing
this right, whether for regular, delayed or late
registration. It is recommended that the birth
certificate is also free.
Birth registration must be universal and
confidential
All people who are born in the country must be
able to be registered without prejudice
Access to the information in the registry must be
strictly controlled, noting in particular that some
information is highly sensitive and person and
could be misused.
Birth registration may be compulsory
Birth registration may be compulsory but only if the
other characteristics of well functioning birth
registration have been firmly established. In other
words only if it is:
• Within the civil registry
• Free
• Continuous, permanent and available
• Universal in coverage
• Confidential
• Timely and accurate
Progress and prospects
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
Source: Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, New York, 2013.
8 Steps for the Situation Analysis
Step 1—Country birth and civil
registration situation
Analysis of the status of birth and civil registration in the
country
Step 2—Organizational review
Examination of supply-side factors: how the civil
registration service is organized and the legal framework on
which it is based.
Step 3—Legal review
Step 4—Demand for civil registration
services
Analysis of factors related to demand
Step 5—Government policy, plans and
international support
Analysis of the policies and plans that the government has
in place and the international support for civil registration
that it receives
Step 6 – Analysis for Communication for Analysis of factors that influence birth registration rates
that are relevant to the development of communication
Development
strategies
Step 7—Analysis and identification of
gaps and priority interventions
Consolidation of the review that can be used by
government to frame future action
Step 8—Analysis and possible directions Review of previous interventions by UNICEF and the type of
support that it may provide in the future
for UNICEF support
Programming for birth registration
•
•
•
•
•
Organisational change
Legal change
Stimulating demand
Communication for development
Building coalitions and strengthening
collaboration
ICT and Innovations
• ITC and in particular SMS technology offer potential
for increasing birth registration rates.
• UNICEF has been a pioneer in the use of mobile
phones for birth and death registration, for example
in Vanuatu, with technical support from the civil
registration service of New Zealand.
• It is essential that ITC solutions are secure, and also
‘open source’, and that they respond to a genuine
need, rather than being driven by service providers.
IT and Birth Registration in Uganda
• With support from UNICEF, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau
(URSB), is developing a BDR (Birth Death Registration) policy to create an
enabling environment; is Implementing a Mobile Vital Records System
(Mobile VRS) that was developed through a public private partnership, to
improve timely delivery of BDR services in hospitals and local
governments.
• Mobile VRS enables the use of internet connected computers in hospitals
and local governments to register births as well as the use of mobile
phones in communities to send birth notifications from any part of
Uganda into the central government Civil Registration database, in real
time. Mobile VRS generates real time reports of birth registered by sex, by
geographical location and within a given time frame selected by the user.
• Since September 2011, a total of 1,486,344 persons have been registered.
Acknowledgements
Nicole Petrowski
Colleen Murray
Yadigar Coskun
Ivana Bjelic
Lois Jensen
Cecilie Modvar
UNHCR (Monika Sandvik-Nylund, Mark
Manly and Jorunn Brandvoll)
UNSD (Haoyi Chen and Srdjan Mrkic)
IADB (Mia Harbitz)
UNECA (Raj Gautam Mitra)
INTERPOL (Jamil Darwish)
CRC4D (Gopalan Balagopal, Jaap van der
Straaten, Rina Gill, Patricia Ray)
… and numerous colleagues in UNICEF
regional and country offices.