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 Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,
New York, 2013.

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,
New York, 2013.

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Global and Regional Initiatives

Political
Commitm
ent

Global

Africa

Call to Action to:

To increase
and sustain
effort in
investment in
CRVS
To strengthen
global CRVS
advocacy
Establishment
of a Working
Group

Declaration of
African Ministers
Responsible for
Civil Registration.
Ministerial
Statement, Second
Conference of
African Ministers
responsible for
Civil Registration.

Asia-Pacific

Results
so Far

More than 30 CRVS

experts trained in
assessment
techniques
More than 20
countries currently
undertaking a
rapid assessment
of CRVS systems.

ESCAP resolution
67/12 (2011): The
Improvement of CRVS
in Asia and the
Pacific
ESCAP resolution
69/15 (2013):
Implementing the
outcome of the Highlevel 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

Eastern
Mediterranean
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

Latin America and

Caribbean

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

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 Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,
New York, 2013.

Many mothers lack knowledge of how to

register a childs birth

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Stages of Behaviour Change -- A

simple model
PreContempla

Contempla
tion

Decision
(Ready-to-Act)

Perceives risks
Doesnt
know aboutDoesnt know completely
tion
and knows
but has heard
problem, hasnt
about benefits
thought about the
issue

Maintena
Actio
Continues behaviour
nce over short-term, Tries out
n the
or relapses

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 Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

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 Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

Source: Every Childs Birth Right: Inequities and trends in birth registration, UNICEF,

8 Steps for the Situation Analysis

Step 1Country birth and
civil registration situation

Step 2Organizational
review
Step 3Legal review

Step 4Demand for civil

registration services

Step 5Government policy,

plans and international
support

Step 6 Analysis for

Communication for
Development
Step 7Analysis and
identification of gaps and
priority interventions

Step 8Analysis and

possible directions for
UNICEF support

Analysis of the status of birth and civil

registration in the country

Examination of supply-side factors: how the civil

registration service is organized and the legal
framework on which it is based.
Analysis of factors related to demand
Analysis of the policies and plans that the
government has in place and the international
support for civil registration that it receives
Analysis of factors that influence birth
registration rates that are relevant to the
development of communication strategies
Consolidation of the review that can be used by
government to frame future action
Review of previous interventions by UNICEF and
the type of support that it may provide in the
future

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.

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