Mobile birth registration service across Sri Lanka
Plan Sri Lanka and the registrar general’s department conducted a series of birth registration mobile events throughout Ratnapura, Kandy, Matale, Moneragala, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya as part of the project.
Although Sri Lanka has one of the highest birth registration rates in Asia, the project aims to assist the unregistered six per cent who are among some of the most vulnerable communities - including estate workers and street children.
Plan’s campaign was fully endorsed by President Mahainda Rajapakse and aims to enable all individuals to become legally recognised citizens of their country. With a birth certificate individuals in Sri Lanka can access social services such as education and health, prove their age and protect themselves from underage marriage or child labour. They can also obtain a national identity card to prove their citizenship and protect their basic rights.
The registrar general of Sri Lanka, LK Rathnasiri, and his department have been heavily involved in all facets of the project, producing awareness raising materials for the public, capacity building documents for civil registration staff and overseeing the birth certificate application process for more than 7,000 people.
More than 35,000 men, women and children, attended awareness-raising workshops conducted by Plan Sri Lanka and its partner the Sewa Lanka Foundation. The project also saw local community members in project areas mobilise into action groups on issues related to human rights.
