Dominican Republic

Impact of the universal birth registration campaign

Before the universal birth registration campaign was launched in 2005

Before the launch of the campaign, an estimated 70% 0f the population were registered, about 6.65 million people. For the under-fives, the proportion was 75%, about 796,000 children.

Following the campaign

The proportion of under-fives registered rose to 77.9%, amounting to over 831,000 children in 2009.

Government policy and practice on birth registration

The government automated civil registration to speed up the issue of birth certificates and other documents.
The regulations on the timeline for procedures was reviewed as this was an obstacle for the security of documents and the quality of services.
Backed by funds of US$19.4 million from the World Bank, agreements were signed between the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, UNDP and the Cabinet for Coordination of Social Policy to issue birth certificates for 300,000 Dominicans.
Five units for late registration were set up in the capital and in rural areas.
Services are being decentralised.
There have been special campaigns in the rural areas with mobile units to reach the non-registered population.
A national training centre for elections and civil registration has been set up to improve the skills of civil registration officials, who are now selected through public competitive examinations, and have a career system and a unified salary scale.
The rates for services provided by civil registration staff have been set to avoid disparities.
A new law on amnesty for birth registration allows late registration of children under 16 (until 2010).
A new “pink book” has been set up to record births from illegal immigrant mothers.
The civil code is being adjusted to meet the current situation.

Universal birth rights campaign strategy

Aim of campaign

To support communities to obtain civil records (birth certificates) through forming working teams, raising awareness of rights, training on the legal procedures and approval of this subject on the community agenda.

Strategy 2007- 09

Advice and guidance for communities in Plan programme units on action to solve the sub-registration problem.
To promote alliances and coordination of action among institutions working on the topic.

Progress

At community level:

Through the creation of local development agendas, at least 24 communities in three provinces have identified and/or prioritised the sub-registration problem and have taken action to tackle it.
Motivated groups, mainly led by women, have become interested in tackling sub-registration in communities where it is a problem, but has not yet been prioritised.
Plan and the Peace Corps helped the community of Quita Coraza start the registration process, and by August 2008, at least 85 people (65 children and 20 parents) had received their birth certificates.
20 children from Batey Central have their birth certificate.
La Peñuela and Pueblo Arriba are currently carrying out a census of the number of children without a birth certificate - Plan developed a survey form to collect the information.
In the Azua community programme unit, 29 birth registration cases were completed in 2008, with a further 50 under way, and between 2008 and 2009, 120 cases were completed in three other communities in the programme unit.

Alliances:

Plan is part of the Children's Protection Net in Barahona province, which has implemented several campaigns in the Batey Central urban area.
The alliance with Peace Corps has helped the implementation of campaigns in Barahona and Pedernales communities, which has led to people obtaining their own birth certificate.
Coordinated action with the Barahona Regional 01 division is helping children registered at schools to get their birth certificates, with the support of the regional main electoral board (JCE ).
Plan met the local representative of the Centre for Studies and Legal Advisory Services (CEDAIL), part of the Dominican episcopate, which handles legal advice to communities with action plans to tackle this issue.

Action taken

Awareness-raising among parents, carers and teachers of the importance of having a civil registration office in communities where there is sub-registration.
Orientation sessions to help with the requirements for obtaining a late registration certificate.
Community meetings with civil registration officials explaining the requirements for non-registered people to become registered.

Support for the campaign

Support and cooperation from the civil registration office in Vicente Noble Municipality helped non-registered people in Quinta Coraza to obtain their birth certificates in a reasonable timescale.
The lawyer of Quinta Coraza helped with the allocation of resources to help people with their travel to complete the procedure.
The NGOs in the Children’s Provincial Protection Net helped 20 children to obtain their birth certificates.

Outcomes

Policy and legislation changes

JCE simplified the procedure to obtain certificates for children up to 17 (until 2004, the age limit was 11).

Government capacity and practice

The JCE is limited in its ability to solve the non-registration of thousands of people. It needs to provide support, timely guidance and legal advice for people to fulfil the requirements to complete late registration. In many cases, people need specific support to collect the necessary documentation and to organise their own and their children’s papers to obtain the birth certificate.

Monitoring and ensuring the implementation of policy and legislation related to UBR

Counselling and legal advisory services to non-registered people, institutions and community activists on the regulations in force, guarantees that civil registration office processes are carried out legally.

Creating incentives to increase the demand for birth registration

The elimination of birth certificate costs will be an incentive, as well as the reduction in the requirements for late registration procedures and the extension of the age limit from 11 to 17. Agreements and alliances with bearer institutions in the communities should help to eliminate costs and facilitate procedures.

Waiver/reduction of costs

Following a resolution of the JCE, the certificate will be issued cost-free, but the formalities and transport costs involved in collecting the required documents create expenses for non-registered people. Following work with community teams, and recognition from government officials, it has been possible to get free certificates from the municipality. The municipalities in Las Charcas, Estefanía and Sabana Yegua, part of the Azua programme unit, reduced the price of certificate by 27%, and the civil registration office in Azua municipality also reduced the price by up to 40%, depending on the work involved in each case.

Partnerships, coordination, cooperation, alliances and coalitions

There has been joint action with other civil society institutions, such as the Azua, San Juan and Elías Piña Development Foundation (FUNDASEP). This group was successful in the south of the country, and Plan is learning from its role in this to strengthen its management capacities. We have also worked with CEDAIL in ongoing support to groups and organisations.

Community awareness

Action to raise awareness is the core element for registration of the population. It has been effective in assessing the problem, action planning, management and negotiations with municipalities, and the use of financial resources for affected families.

Ownership and sustainability (Have the duty-bearers, the state, taken responsibility? How have rights-holders, communities, and civil society been involved to ensure sustainability?)

Duty-bearers are more involved at community level, but institutional barriers often limit some procedures. We are coordinating action with civil society organisations – such as FUNDASEP and the Catholic church - to widen the services of municipal civil registration offices in the processing of late registrations.

The integration of the issue of birth registration with other programmes, such as maternal health

In our programme unit, the integral attention of early childhood programme (aimed at children from birth to five) is based on coordinated action with duty-bearer institutions, especially in health and education. Many of the guidelines point towards a change of attitude in children’s nursing, and the systematic work to guide families deals with children’s rights.

Registering the most marginalized and hard to reach communities (ethnic minorities, nomadic groups, orphans, street children, migrants and refugees etc)

There has been little progress on this as the Dominican legal framework lacks clear and precise guidelines to deal with certain cases, especially related to Haitians or Haiti-descent people. For example, in Villa Central, which has a significant rate of non-registered inhabitants, the Haiti-descent population faces many difficulties in getting birth certificates. This situation will apply in other communities with Haiti-descent people. This example shows the need for alliances with specialist bodies that offer support and legal advice to Haiti-descent people who face difficulties in obtaining their birth certificate.

Linking birth registration to other children’s rights, such as increased access to health, education, inheritance rights and protection from trafficking, child labour etc.

The lack of registration means limited access to health, education, social security, loans and financial services, as well as violation of the rights of non-registered population. We have found some families where this is an inter-generational issue, and that even grandparents have no birth certificate. This worsens the vulnerability of newborns and reduces their chances to access basic services. However, after negotiations with directors of educational centres, they have accepted the registration of youngsters and adolescents to allow them to complete the first grade of middle school. This has helped motivate other people, especially adolescents and youngsters, to cooperate with registration in their communities.

Involving children in the UBR campaign

Children have participated in gathering information for local development agendas, and their contribution was considered in all the communities.

Good practice

Bringing together activists, the attitude and willingness of some communities to tackle and solve their problems, and the commitment of the authorities.
The creation of working teams in the communities to gather information and understand the problem. This involved identification sessions with families, compiling lists of people without identification, workshops to share experiences and analyse the situation, and the formation of a community group to take the lead on the subject.
Visits to civil registration offices to inform them of community proposals and request their help and guidance with the procedures. The community group prepares the applications and delivers them to the office to review and process.
Meetings with families to keep them informed of the progress of their applications and their commitments. Where families could not afford the costs of the process, this was met by other families in the community, which helped to keep costs low.

Challenges, gaps and barriers

Limited operational capability of civil registration offices, and the need to modernise and automate them.
Centralisation of procedures in Santo Domingo.
There is still not enough clarity on the requirements to process a late registration.
Some civil registration offices request more documents than set out in the law.
The waiting time for the JCE to authorise some certificates can be from one to two years.
Loss of documents forces people to start the procedure all over again.
Lack of registration of Haiti-descent children, and the racial prejudice against this community.
Community groups need to open up to include this experience in their area.
Procedures are expensive and families do not have the resources to pay for them.
Some officials are still restricting the processes, sometimes working outside the law.
Where parents and grandparents lack documentation, this affects their children’s certificates.
The bureaucracy involved in documentation affects late-registration procedures.

National level recommendations

Plan should continue supporting and promoting the “Count me too” campaign.
Raise awareness on birth registration and its importance as a fundamental human right.
Support the strengthening of those civil registration offices that have not yet started modernisation.
Build alliances between civil registration offices, community groups, civil society organisations and local government offices.
Keep campaigning at national level, along with the Dominican Republic and Haiti electoral main board, to define the status of citizens of Haiti descent who have no formal documentation of their identity.

Future activities

Sustainability is based on community involvement, as well as the strengthening of public institutions. In the communities where Plan has been working, community groups now work independently and without our ongoing support. However, they do still ask for our guidance, information and suggestions.
These community groups are trained to replicate their experience in other neighbouring communities.
We will promote interest in creating community organisations.

Testimonies

“Thank God Plan and Peace Corps have helped me so my kids and I got our birth certificates. I learned how much can anyone suffer without it - we didn’t exist, we were nothing. My husband doesn’t care when a child is born, I almost have to oblige him to register him. But I know how important it is and now I worry about it.” Mother, 29 years old, Quita Coraza programme unit.

“I am not registered and I am very worried about it. Because I have been at the meetings organised by Plan, I know now that I do not 'exist' - I couldn’t finish school because of that. But I am going to look at the way to register myself and my child.” Mother, 18 years old, Pueblo Arriba.

“We feel the responsibility towards our children and all the community. We feel that the procedures are less of a problem. Plan has given us the chance to get involved. We have organised the process, and we have had only one application sent back, which was completed and delivered again.” Evelyn, Los Tramojos community.

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