Advocacy for Change

1. Advocacy for Change Some reflections from Plan’s Campaign on Universal Birth Registration Regional Workshop on the Advocacy Guides for Promoting Inclusive Teacher Education in Asia-Pacific Divya Lata, Plan Asia June, 6, 2013

2. About Plan • Independent, secular development agency • Works to promote child rights and end child poverty • Child-Centered Community Development • Working with 90,131 communities across 69 countries

3. Plan’s Campaign on Universal Birth Registration (UBR) • First Global campaign by Plan • Launched by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at the UN in New York in 2005 • Facilitated the registration of over 40 million people in 32 countries by 2009 • and growing….

4. The Issue “Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my nationality? All that I know is that my name is Murni, but I don’t have proof for that”.Child in Indonesia • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NdQvnutl0g • Globally 48 million children are 'lost' each year by the failure to create some record of their existence • the number of invisible children worldwide could be as many as half a billion

5. 92% Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States 89% Latin America and Caribbean 75% Birth registration rates by region Middle East and North Africa unregistered registered 72% East Asia and Pacific 37% Sub-Saharan Africa 36% South Asia The Scope • Globally 51 million unregistered births every year (40%); • 38 Million unregistered deaths every year (66%) • World Health Organization received reliable cause-of-death data from only 31 of its 193 member states 200 mio U5 ‘at risk’

6. The Barriers As a result of Plan’s pioneering research and advocacy in the field of birth registration, it has become clear that there are many reasons why parents and guardians do not register their children at birth • Lack of awareness & Incentive • Social and Ethnic barriers • Economic pressures • Cultural and historical traditions • Geographical barriers • Complex administrative procedures • Legal and political obstacles • Lack of effective information systems

7. The Approach Denial of Basic Services Neglect of children with disabilities Juvenile justice Child soldiers Child Marriage Trafficking Denial of Citizenship, Identity, Inheritance • Increase awareness and demand • Convince state authorities of the importance • Act as a catalyst to mobilize momentum; partnerships are key • Develop innovations to overcome persistent barriers • Develop capacity of local and national services • Advance Child Rights advocacy

8. Awareness Strategies • Show that birth registration is more than just expensive • bureaucracy or legal formality, through: • Mass rallies and mass registration • Radio, television and film • Working with community leaders & celebrity ambassadors • Messaging to reach diverse ethnic groups • Using existing groups and structures • Working with the media • Creating incentives to increase the demand • Linking registration with other rights and services

9. Some examples…

10. Addressing Geographical Barriers • Mass mobile registration in Cambodia • Piloted by Plan in 2004, supported by the Ministry of Interior and the Asian Development Bank • Plan provided technical assistance including training volunteers to assist with local planning, undertaking public information campaigns and supporting the government to alter civil registration law accordingly. • Birth and death registrations free of charge throughout the campaign • Scheme was so successful initiative was rolled out across the country • Ministry of Interior assembled 1,621 commune registration teams (over 13,000 people) and trained them in registration procedures After 10 months of Plan’s mobile birth registration programme, more than 7,000,000 Cambodians (close to 50% of the population, had received their birth certificates.

11. Addressing Social Barriers • Street Children (Bangladesh) • To reach the final 30% of population from marginalised communities, Plan worked with Dhaka City Corporation and focused its efforts on the street children and children living in brothels • Plan mobilised more than 20 local NGOs • More than 49,500 street children in Dhaka were recorded and 28,000 received birth certificate between March to June 2008 “With the kind of life we lead on the street, we forget that we also have an identity. I know this has a lot of value and it will be of use in every step in my future.”- Sabina, who received her birth certificate at a ceremony held by Plan and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) at the city’s national theatre on 17 June 2009

12. Addressing Economic Pressures • Cambodia • No fee for birth registration within 30 days of birth of a child • India • The Rajasthan government, taking on board Plan’s recommendations, simplified late registration process and reduced its registration fees by amending Rule 9 of its Registration of Births and Deaths Rules 2000 • Indonesia • Plan’s support for legal reform led to the introduction of the new Administration and Population law which provides free birth registration for babies up to age of 2 • Vietnam • Plan supported the Ministry of justice’s circular on birth registration for children • November 2007: Prime Minister announced that birth registration would be free for all children

13. Birth registration doubles – Plan pilots a simple model in China In response to research completed in 2005, Plan established pilot project for simpler registration process in Qishan County in 2006 Simplified process: parents were able to register their children on a single visit to local government office, using their ID cards and birth notification from the hospital or village committee (if child was born at home) Result: During this time, registration of children in said area doubled. Before the pilot project, only 47% of children were registered By the end of 2006, 98% were registered Addressing Complex Admin. Procedures As a result of the success of the pilot project, the Chinese government is now looking to scale up the project across the county.

14. Training of civil registrars • Pakistan • Civil registrars not adequately trained, resulting in errors and poor levels of awareness about importance of registration • Baseline study conducted to gauge existing registration process, and included training needs assessment of civil registrars at community level • Plan developed new training manual on child rights, birth registration, and child sensitive planning. Modules were prepared through consultative process with future trainees, child rights experts and government experts on birth , marriage and death registration As a result 3,339 officials were trained in the North West Frontier Province and Sindh.

15. Plan’s good practice: encouraging states to prioritize birth registration • Where the state has not taken lead in this activity, Plan has worked hard to show the importance of birth registration as political priority and a child rights issue and has involved state as key stakeholder. • Pakistan • Plan has advocated for the state to allocate an appropriate budget for birth registration in the country including US$1 million for the computerization of birth registration • Plan has supported training of government functionaries • Result: The system is now functioning throughout the North West Frontier Province, including the remotest parts where birth registration rates in the past were zero.

16. Plan’s good practice: piloting computerized record keeping • Nepal • Plan collaborated with Ministry of Local Development and others in the development of software for vital event registration, including birth registration. • Software is compatible with other information systems in Nepal, which will significantly improve overall utility of data in the country

17. Plan’s good practice: contribution to monitoring • Variety of approaches to contribute to monitoring birth registration processes at the national level, including: • Representation on steering committees, • Providing technical and logistical support, • Commissioning research and compiling reports for the UNCRC alternative reporting mechanism. Nepal Plan is a partner in the National Steering Committee, which includes representatives from local development, health, education, women, children and social welfare government departments as well as the Planning Commission.

18. Plan’s good practice: active participation by children India Plan-sponsored seminar was organised on the ‘Right to Identity’ for children in difficult circumstances during the World Social Forum. More than 500 children from various organisations actively participated. Indonesia Plan worked with children’s groups to train them as child rights advocates on the issue of birth registration. Members of the groups now speak in schools and on radio broadcasts . In some districts, these children have also been involved in lobbying policy makers about their right to birth registration.

19. Roopa’s gift to her baby brother In November 2007 a community volunteer from one of Plan India’s local partner organisations, working in the Gulbarga district of Karnataka State, brought an audio presentation about birth registration into a primary school. At the end of the presentation, the head teacher of the school explained the importance of birth registration and that children could not go to school without a birth certificate. He told the school children that the certificate could be obtained for just two rupees in their state. After the presentation Roopa, a Grade 2 pupil, gave the community volunteer two rupees. When he asked her why she was giving him money, she told him that she had a new baby brother and she wanted him to be registered as soon as possible.

20. The Result Asia 27,120,756 The Americas 11,538,797 Africa 1,955,809 over 40 million people in 32 countries Bangladesh 5,900,000 Pakistan 1,500,000 India 3,200,000 Philippines 1,863,232 Cambodia 12,140,000 Vietnam 2,000,000 Timor Leste 90,000

21. The Impact • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIP0Po22yK0