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Count Every Child Plan’s campaign for Universal Birth Registration

Plan's campaign to promote universal birth registration in developing countries to protect children's rights and end child poverty.

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Count Every Child Plan’s campaign for Universal Birth Registration

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  1. Count Every ChildPlan’s campaign for Universal Birth Registration

  2. About Plan • Founded more than 70 years ago • Work in 48 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas • Offices in another 18 developed countries around the world • Independent, with no religious, political or governmental affiliations. • Plan is a Child Centred Community Development (CCCD) organisation working with children, their families, communities, organisations and governments to promote child rights to end child poverty. When children and adults work together as part of the change process, it is more likely that programmes will be successful and sustainable. Plan’s work is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

  3. Why Birth Registration? • Registration is the first step in ensuring the rights of a child • Registration means proof of identity and proof of existence • Registration bestows responsibility on the state • Registration = Greater accuracy in research and planning • Birth Certificates are a key identity document and a necessary precursor to further documentation and services • Fulfilling the right to protection is often linked to proof of age, as is the ability to prosecute rights violations

  4. Human Rights Law and Birth Registration Registration acknowledged as human right in UDHR, 1948 States legally bound through ICCPR in 1966 Confirmed in UNCRC, 1989, in articles 7 and 8 “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” Registration is further obligated through numerous local and regional laws and treaties

  5. Plan’s UBR Campaign Beginnings in collaboration with UNICEF in Asia (1998) Five Year Campaign, 2005-2009, aiming to: Act as a catalyst for UBR and ensure more registrations occurred Promote UBR at community level, increasing awareness & demand Directly support Governments to increase registrations/certificates Create innovative programs to reach even the most remote Explain the importance of registration (as a child rights issue) to “duty bearers” Maintaining one simple message: Count Every Child.

  6. Activities 2005-2009 A focus on innovation with communities: New technology (Kenya, Ecuador), media messaging (West Africa), harnessing traditional systems (Tanzania), involving children (Indonesia), community capacity building (Zambia, Paraguay), building demand amongst diverse populations (Cameroon, Bangladesh), challenging outdated systems and norms (Indonesia, Brazil), mobile registration projects (Mozambique) and more And change amongst duty bearers: Decentralising registration (Sierra Leone), political lobbying and legislative change for sustainable progress (Bangladesh)

  7. Case Study One: Paraguay Outcomes: Two key local initiatives included training of midwives to register births and developing a school based registration system that brings officials together and effectively transfers BR functions to local officials. In Latin America a number of obstacles have been identified that limit the adequacy and accessibility of birth registration, including missing or inconsistent legislation, geographic isolation, prohibitive costs and inadequate local systems. Regionally: A regional commitment by Governments & Partners (2007) for UBR by 2015 represented an enormous step forward on this issue. Content and Photo: Belinda Portillo, London, November 2009

  8. Case Study Two: Indonesia Outcomes: In Sikka district, a local campaign has targeted awareness and systems simultaneously, leading to new roles for leaders, midwives and local Government and a leap in registration from 3.3% to 77.5% of children registered within 60 days. At a national level critical legislation passed in 2006 on population and citizenship, there is a National Strategy in place and 281 of 440 local districts have free BR laws. Current estimates suggest 6 out of 10 Indonesian children have not been registered at birth. Plan has been working with national partners as well as local solutions in different districts to overcome barriers and improve these figures. Content and Photo: Reny Rebeka Haning, London, November 2009

  9. Case Study Three: Pakistan In Pakistan low registration rates have been linked to limited awareness of the value & importance of BR, limited capacity amongst local leaders and Government officials and limited resources at the local level. Plan has been working across 30 districts and over 1300 Union Councils (local Government bodies) to build up and sustain registration numbers. Outcomes: Training and sensitisation of District leaders and some 3500 local officials, along with support (both practical and capital) for clearing BR backlogs at the UC level, has led to 1.6 million birth registrations. Content & Photo: Syed Safdar Reza, Islamabad, November 2009

  10. Case Study Four: Burkina Faso Outcomes: Reduction in costs, increase in mobile and secondary registration centres, high level political/duty bearer involvement, increase in percentage of children registered (33% in 2004, 58% in 2006) and declaration of 2009 as the year of free birth registration. Analysis of various forms of population data in 2004 suggested almost 70% of child births were unregistered in Burkina Faso. The Plan response included community awareness initiatives, advocacy with Government to make registration compulsory and free, and the equipping of more people in more places with the skills and tools to register births. Reference and Photo: Paul Doygbe, London, November 2009

  11. Results 2005-2009 40 million people (mostly children) in 32 countries registered through direct efforts of Plan and Partners 30% of targeted countries have changed their legal systems as a result of Plan’s advocacy work (resulting in free registration and certificates for more than 153 million children born between 2005 and 2009) In addition, Plan has improved knowledge and understanding regarding the importance of birth registration among dozens of Governments and thousands of children, parents and communities Plan has developed and documented numerous examples of innovation and good practice for ongoing use.

  12. Challenges and Recommendations The campaign is complete, the work is not. A call to action for Governments, Donors, Multilaterals, NGOs and others. New threats & implications constantly emerge, particularly related to population movement and border security No two settings are the same. There are always risks with assuming homogenous community characteristics. Nothing is ever that simple. Whilst the links between human rights & birth registration are clear, winning the BR battle does not guarantee the realisation of other rights!

  13. ThankyouGlenn Bond: glenn.bond@plan.org.auPlan Australia Website: www.plan.org.auPlan International Website: www.plan-international.org

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