advocacy for change
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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. About Plan. Independent, secular development agency - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Advocacy for Change
Regional Workshop on the Advocacy Guides for Promoting Inclusive Teacher Education in Asia-PacificDivya Lata, Plan Asia
June, 6, 2013
Some reflections from Plan’s Campaign on Universal Birth Registration
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
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….
The Issue• http://www.youtube.c
om/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
“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
The Scope
Birth registration rates by region
unregistered
registered
92%
89%
75%
72%
37%
36%
Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States
Latin America and Caribbean
Middle East and North Africa
East Asia and Pacific
Sub-Saharan Africa
SouthAsia
• 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’
The BarriersAs 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
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The Approach
• 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
Denial of Basic Services
Neglect of children with disabilities
Juvenile justice
Child soldiers
Child Marriage
Trafficking
Denial of Citizenship, Identity, Inheritance
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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
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Some examples…
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.
Addressing Geographical 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
Addressing Social Barriers
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
Addressing Economic Pressures
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.
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.
Training of civil registrars
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.
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
Plan’s good practice: contribution to monitoringVariety 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.
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.
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.
The Result
Cambodia12,140,000
Philippines1,863,232
Bangladesh5,900,000
Timor Leste90,000
India3,200,000
Pakistan1,500,000
Vietnam2,000,000
Asia 27,120,756The Americas 11,538,797Africa 1,955,809
over 40 million people in 32 countries
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The Impact
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIP0Po22yK0