Niger

Impact of the universal birth registration campaign

Before the universal birth registration campaign was launched in 2005 

Figures for 2002 showed that 27.6% of the population were registered, amounting to 3,161,920 people

Following the campaign 

In 2o07, the proportion registered had increased to 32%, amounting to 4,312,146 people.

Government policy and practice on birth registration 

• The registration of newborns is obligatory and free of charge.
• Health centres are secondary centres for birth registration.
• Mayors have the title "officer of the civil state" and have the duty of providing birth certificates and other civil paperwork.  

Universal birth rights campaign strategy

• To register children from birth to 18, with the goal of achieving 85 % coverage.
• To support civil state services, including logistics for the development and conservation of civil state documentation. 
• To support the decentralised services to facilitate "open UBR" campaign.
• To reinforce community leaders' capacity in civil state matters. 
• To make secondary centres operational.
• To collect, collate and transmit registration data to the national statistics institute. 
• To reinforce the capacity of health agents to handle civil state documents (specifically those concerned with civil registration). 

Outcomes

• Standardisation of the system across the country with the same rights and obligations for all at registration, and the use of the same documents in all centres.
• Free issue of birth certificates. 
• Some partners in Niger are now undertaking activities with the civil state, including UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, and Plan Niger.
• Civil state awareness sessions have been organised in the community.
• The level of birth registration in Plan community areas increased from 25% in 2002 to 77% in 2006.
• Voluntary staff are used to process civil state declarations in auxiliary/secondary centres in villages and tribes.
• Several official state agencies are involved in making the civil state system work.
• The creation of an orientation document to explain national policy and the role of the civil state.
• Adoption of law N°2007-30 on the civil statute in Niger.

Good practice

Open registration in communities. The target population is found locally and recorded. Information is disseminated and villagers are made aware of the importance of registration before the registration team arrives.  

Challenges, gaps and barriers

• Ignorance of the advantages of birth registration.
• Illiteracy among target populations.
• Extreme poverty.
• Limited state resources.
• The annual mobility of health personnel has tested the registration system and puts a strain on performance.
• Censuses are carried out regularly.
• The absence of statutes covering agents of the civil state.
• The irregularity in the payment of allowances and salaries to secondary officers, heads of auxiliary centres and other assigned staff has led to their demotivation.

National level recommendations 

Increase the budget to achieve UBR permanently. 

Future activities 

The next phase of UBR work will begin in 2012.

Do you have any high-profile supporters of Plan’s UBR campaign? 

• Regional justices.
• Decentralised town hall mayors who are Plan partners