Togo

The Universal Birth Registration campaign

Mass rallies and registration

In 2007, Plan’s work in the programme unit of Atakpame supported the mass registration of 13,131 children.

Policy and legislation change 

The Ministry of the Interior, with the support of Plan Togo and its partner UNICEF, organised a national workshop on civil registration. During this workshop, it was clear that the legal framework relating to civil registration (Decree No 62-89, 2 July 1962) was inadequate. Following this, a process to review the law was started.

As a result, on 9 June 2009, Togo’s parliament adopted a new law on the organisation of civil status.

Innovations and advantages of the law 

• To combat discrimination, the law introduces an innovation that eliminates references to customs and ethnicities.
• The law on decentralisation gives local authorities the competence to create other civil centres, and to bring them closer to the population to facilitate and encourage parents to register their children.

Training civil registrars in the administration of civil registration

In Togo Plan’s three programme units – Atakapme, Soutoubou, Sokode – we have organised training on the administration of civil registration, in partnership with the respective courts. The training covers the importance of birth registration and the rules that cover civil status in Togo, as well as the standards that govern state agency civilian centres, marital status, recording techniques and control of civil registration and the relevant penalties. We have also developed guidelines for civil registrars covering this content.

Training and supporting volunteers

Follow-up committees for the registration of births (COSENs) have been established in each community. They are community-based organisations involved in the awareness-raising campaign and community education on birth registration – such as the legal deadline of 30 days to register a birth, the identification of children up to 18 without birth certificates. 

The COSEN's mission is to ensure that the registration of births becomes a routine habit in the community.