Guinea

Impact of the universal birth registration campaign

In December 2005, following the national launch of the birth registration campaign when there was a six-month charge-free period for birth registration, the birth registration rate was 67% (88% in urban centres and 56% in rural locations).

The current data on birth registration is not up to date at the national registry service level, according to the national service head. The main reason for this is the social problems that affected the country in January and February 2007, during which most registry departments were pillaged. This led to the loss of all statistical registration data in general, and birth registration data in particular. 

However, Plan has information from the ‘registration at birth’ campaign carried out in 2003-05. Since then, Plan has continued to give selective support to the registry departments in Guinea, and more specifically in its areas of intervention.

Government policy and practice towards birth registration 

The Guinean government favours any initiative likely to lead to increased rates of birth registration in our communities. Through the Ministry for Decentralisation and Local Development, the government is planning to organise a national forum on birth registration involving every player and partner, including Plan, with the aim of improving the management of the registry department in our country.

Universal birth rights campaign strategy

Plan implemented a three-year birth registration project in 2003-05 as part of the campaign for universal birth registration. It aimed to promote and protect a child’s first right - the right to a name and a nationality 

At the end of this project, birth registration improved massively from 21% to 88.28% in the intervention area, especially in 2005. 

The project aimed to:

• facilitate the birth registration process at every level in Guinea in general, and in Guinée Forestière (forested Guinea) in particular, to allow every Guinean child to have a valid birth certificate at an affordable price;
• strengthen collaboration between the registry departments and the community health technicians network (ATSC);
• strengthen the capacity of grassroots  community organisations to promote birth registration;
• involve local authorities, community leaders, music and theatre groups, and other people of influence in promoting and increasing awareness of the right to registration;
• intervene at government level for the introduction of clear texts about registration, and updating and improving existing legislation where necessary. 

For a total budget of $181,000, Plan supported the decentralised communities in setting up a birth registration data collection system and equipping them with birth registers and village books to facilitate the collection of information on births.

In 2007, Plan Guinée equipped all the country’s communities with birth registers and village books. 

In 2008, the Decentralisation and Local Development Ministry’s project was supported by Plan Guinée through its community budget.

Outcomes

• Policy and legislation changes

The Guinean state has provided for the issue of a birth certificate to every live-born child within 15 days in urban centres and 30 days in rural communities, to enable a large number of children to obtain their birth certificate.

• Government capacity and practice

In the process of setting up birth registration activity, the Acting Ministry for Registration is the principal body for training registrars throughout the country. Training is given in registration management and document archiving.

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

Current legislation lacks strict monitoring of the application of measures, which, in most cases, creates operational problems with registration processes and, in some places, the consequent issue of invalid birth certificates.

• Creating incentives to increase the demand for birth registration

In the Plan Guinée intervention zone, and especially during the project period, each health organisation was given a village book to collect data on all births, with the aim of registering them at the registry office. This became standard practice throughout the project zone 

• Waiver / reduction of costs

The official fixed price is now $0.20, in contrast to $1 or more before Plan’s call at the first birth registration conference for West and Central Africa, held in Dakar in February 2004.

• Partnerships, co-ordination, co-operation, alliances and coalitions

Plan Guinée has played a key and integrated role in partnership with the Guinean state on birth registration. In collaboration with UNFPA, UNICEF and the Ministry for Decentralisation and Local Development, Plan supported the introduction of national, regional, prefectural and sub-prefectural birth registration support committees, which are under the aegis of the SERACCO (community support and coordination service). Plan continues to be involved in meetings on birth registration at national and decentralised level, and in the financing of associated action. 

• Community awareness

Plan often organises awareness sessions, with audio-visual facilities, in the communities in which we work. In this awareness campaign, children are usually involved in spreading the message through sketches and other theatrical presentations. 

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

At the mid-term assessment of the three-year project on birth registration, community leaders overall made undertakings to open a bank account to allow the local registry office to renew birth registers and make registration a continuous process. Religious leaders also undertook to preach on the importance of registering births during their sermons. Currently, these accounts are still in operation in some communities, although the pleas made during sermons have considerably lessened. 

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

The training of health agents, village nurses and midwives during the birth registration project allowed birth registration to be included in the health programme.

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

In Guinea, the majority of the population lives below the poverty line, and marginalisation and inaccessibility are experienced by all. Rural populations have the same difficulty in accessing registry offices in general, and birth registration services in particular, which is why Plan has supported the provision of village books in the areas furthest from the registry offices. 

• Tackling the related issues of migration, nationality and statelessness
  
• Linking birth registration to other children’s rights such as increased access to health, education, inheritance rights and protection from trafficking, child labour etc.

All children have the right to a name and a nationality and to know their parents and be raised by them. Once the age of the child is known, they are guaranteed access to education, have the right to inherit and possess goods, and the right to be protected against all forms of hard labour and exploitation not in keeping with their age.

• Involving children in the UBR campaign

Plan Guinée is promoting the involvement of children in the campaign. In the Macenta zone, for example, children appointed as juniors are heavily involved in cultivating awareness in parents to encourage them to register their children for civil status purposes. Through short plays and other theatrical performances, the children give the parents the incentive to register their children at birth. In our opinion, this has led to a great improvement in the registration of children at birth.

Good practice

The birth registration process as a whole is within the remit of the state. However, with the involvement of partner NGOs, such as Plan Guinée and others, some good practices have been established that have produced some excellent results. These include:

• The purchase of bicycles to make mobility easier for village secretaries responsible for conveying information to registry offices.
• Decentralisation of village books to the most remote areas (allowing all births to be registered in good time).
• Training of registrars in good process management to get the documents to parents in good time, transfer other documents to the legal and statistical departments, and archive the stubs.

Challenges, gaps and barriers

• Making parents aware of the importance of registering births.
• Good collaboration between health workers and registrars.
• The difficulty of access to registers by registry departments.
• Insufficient training for some new registrars.

National level recommendations 

To allow this process to continue properly, and for universal birth registration to become a reality at national level, it will be necessary to organise forums at decentralised level, and a main national forum to perfect management of the  registry department throughout the country.

Future activities 

Plan intends to continue supporting state departments in encouraging birth registration.