Birth certificate for baby Isabel

A joint project in Peru brought registration to remote areas, where many people did not have identity documents, preventing them from accessing basic services and other entitlements.

The project, organised by Plan and the Peruvian national identity registration body, Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil (RENIEC), established both organisations’ commitment to registering all undocumented people by providing them with birth certificates. This in turn allowed them to obtain an identity card, giving them access to private and government services.

Marcelino, 28, and Juana, 22, peasants in Cusco, Peru were one couple who benefited from the program; their eight-month-old baby, Isabel, had been refused specialised medical attention because neither parent had an identity document. Even worse, the child had no birth certificate.
Marcelino had not obtained a legal identity because his work as a stonecutter had erased his fingerprints. However, following the medical emergency affecting his child, he recognised the importance of having a document to verify his identity. Twenty days after a visit from RENIEC to the Mollomarca community, one of several by specialised personnel to remote Peruvian communities to bring registration to those without an identity card or birth certificate, baby Isabel received her own birth certificate. Meanwhile, Marcelino started to take steps to obtain an identity card for himself.