Guinea-Bissau

Impact of the universal birth registration campaign

Before the universal birth registration campaign was launched in 2005 

Before the campaign, 61% of the population were registered – 350,000 people.

Following the campaign 

Information still being compiled.

Government policy and practice on birth registration 

The absence of a national policy and action plan on the registration of birth, plus huge structural problems within the Ministry of Justice, mean the non-existence of decentralised and coordinated action. This has made it extremely difficult for the government to achieve a higher number of children registered in the country.

Universal birth rights campaign strategy

Only the Ministry of Justice is authorised to hold data on birth registrations.  In 2007, Plan worked with the Ministry of Justice on a campaign to permit birth registration in communities within the Bafata regions. Plan’s strategy was based on the decentralisation of the registration services through the training of teachers, health agents and community volunteers to carry out provisional registration of births in the communities, which would be  transmitted to official registration agents and validated in the official record book.

Outcomes

The right to birth registration and nationality is one of the most important rights denied to the children of Guinea-Bissau. According to MICS 2006, only around 39% of Guinean children have birth registration. 

Despite many campaigns by the Ministry of Justice, with the support of child-centred international non-governmental organisations, such as Plan and UNICEF, the sustainability of efforts to register child births was still limited. The campaigns did not cover the entire country, because of the long distances that separate communities and the resulting logistical difficulties.

Considering these limitations, Plan agreed to experiment with a pilot project with the Ministry of Justice aimed at securing chid birth registration on a medium- and long-term basis. We signed a memorandum of understanding with the ministry, and together we implemented a childbirth registration model in 20 selected communities. The project facilitated decentralisation of the system by taking birth registration to the communities. Community-based birth registration agents were identified and trained to make child birth registrations.   

The following are the positive changes that resulted from the birth registration project:

• parents are better aware of the importance of child birth registration;
• parents show interest and are inclined to register their children now that the registration service is available in their own communities, which saves them time, energy and resources (no more long-distance walks or transport costs for birth registration);
• community members participate actively in the activities that community-based birth registration agents organise;
• overall, community members participate actively in the actual process of child birth registration.
  

Good practice

• Collaboration and support of the Bafata regional office in the registration process.
• Community collaboration in the processes of registration.
• Early transcript of registration into the official book by the official agents.

Challenges, gaps and barriers

• The number of staff officers available to register.
• The services of the birth registration do not meet the needs of the community.
• High cost of registration of birth. 
• Distance from the place of registration.
• The lack of information about the importance of and need to be registered.

National level recommendations 

Guinea-Bissau needs national policy to enable a greater number of children to be registered immediately at birth. The government has recently endorsed a national consultation to draw up a national policy for the registration of birth.

Future Activities

Plan has signed a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Justice for another campaign for the registration of children in 50 communities in Bafata region. The new campaign will start in the near future