20 day sprint sees registration of over 49,000 children in India
The initiative was part of a government-sponsored campaign on health awareness issues, which involved Plan, government officials and non-governmental organisation (NGO) universal birth registration partners travelling directly to rural villages to help register the children there.
In some places staff camped overnight to ensure that as many children as possible were registered and that birth certificates were distributed on the spot.
Altogether nine districts were covered, with several villages achieving 100 per cent birth registration for their residents.
Plan also took part in the first universal birth registration review meeting in Rajasthan between the government and NGO partners. During the meeting, ideas were shared on how to improve coordination between partners and the local registrar to help increase registration rates.
Plan also worked to ensure that children's voices were heard in the process of improving registration rates. Over 500 children attended a Plan-sponsored seminar at the World Social Forum in Delhi. The seminar focused on the right of vulnerable children – mainly street children in Delhi – to an identity.
"Birth registration should be possible anywhere in the country irrespective of where the child belongs," said one child at the seminar.
"Children have a right to good health services, nutritious food, a clean environment for their physical and mental development. Similarly birth registration should be their right so that children can seek admission in schools and the government should help children in this," said another participant.
