Universal Birth Registration

Complied by:
Tamba Dabah Aghailas
CD Assistant - Guinea

There is an urgent need to take actions in favor of birth registration – after all, this is the “first right of the child”. Through its objective to “Promote the rights and interests of the world’s children”, Plan is committed to advance this right of the child in Guinea, and particularly in its program interventions areas, in Guéckédou, Kissidougou, Macenta and N’Zérékoré.

According to UNICEF, “over 70% births in Sub-Saharan Africa went unregistered” in 2000.

The Government of Guinea is a signing member of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and has created in 2001 the Decentralization and Civil Issues Department of which Birth Registration is an integral part. The Govt. lacks adequate resources (financial and human) to respond to the growing need of registering children. Therefore, PlanGuinea is assisting the communities with the collaboration of the Government and UNICEF to develop systems that allow an effective implementation of birth registration.

Promoting birth registration will help Plan to achieve its mission of "helping children realize their potential and make real and significant progress in their lives."

During Plan's last annual policy meeting with communities in July 2002, it was unanimously decided in general assembly to co-finance Birth Registration activities from community budgets in Plan partnered-communities. The community assemblies also agreed to standardize the cost of birth certificates at a reasonable price of FG 2.000 (US$1.00) and to make this widely known. This shows that Birth Registration is becoming a priority for communities.

There is already a system in place to implement this project. A network of Community Health Workers collaborates closely with existing Government and local structures (health centers, midwives, community leaders…) in collecting birth information and forwarding it to the appropriate authorities who are responsible to issue birth certificates. Between December 2001 to June 2002, 10,600 live births were registered of which 28% obtained birth certificates (source: PlanGuinea annual report).

This project aims to help the Government of Guinea ensure adequate registration in the country in general, and particularly in Plan zones – Kissidougou, Gueckedou, Macenta, N’Zérékoré and Yomou and the rest of the Forest Region’s Prefectures – Lola and Beyla.

The project will, among others, reinforce the collaboration between the service of birth registration and the Community Health Workers, and will reinforce the capacities of Community-Based Organizations in promoting birth registration.

The program aims at:

Facilitating networking between main actors involved with new-born babies (Health Personnel, Midwives, local and central authorities…)
Lobbying and advocacy at government level to introduce into legislation or in updating and harmonizing old laws to facilitate birth registration.
Providing more access to registration in communities.
Training personnel to guarantee that no child is left behind.
Providing basic equipment to trained personnel to facilitate out-reach registration in the early stages of the project.
Encouraging demand by raising awareness of the importance of birth registration and involving all levels of society, including local communities.
Subsidizing the first printing stock of birth registers so they will be sold an affordable cost to families and so that communities can replenish their stocks.
All children born during the project period in the project areas are targeted by this project, as well as parents, national and local authorities and partners.

Meetings have been held with the Govt. Department of Decentralization (DND) who is responsible for training of birth registration officers at community level. Other sessions have been held in Gueckedou with the four ATSC representatives who work closely with Health Department in each Prefecture of Plan's zone and the two health advisors to clearly define a strategy to improve birth registration at all levels. Data has been compiled for the past three years (2000-2002) on Birth Registration statistics for the Prefectures of Kissidougou, Gueckedou, Macenta and Yomou.

Plan Japan has committed a funding of $181,000 US over the next two years to reinforce the Universal Birth Registration program in Guinea. Training of birth registration officers and community health workers is scheduled during the next quarter in collaboration with the Govt. (DND) and UNICEF. 500 registers are currently being distributed in Plan’s zone to facilitate easy access to families.