Plan InternationalEnsuring Identity in Developing Countries

About Plan

Established in 1937 – oldest, leading child rights organizations in the world

Working in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas

Hand in hand with Governments, UN Agencies, INGO’s, NGO’s

Income of around $700 million per year – 43% spent in Africa

Our approach is called CCCD – child centred community development - putting children at the heart of everything we do

Why Count Every Child?

Invisible = Vulnerable

Today, 51 million babies remain invisible and are being denied their right to an identity, to the fulfilment of additional rights and to protection as citizens. Statistical analysis show that children under five whose births have not been registered, tend to: • be poor, live in rural areas, have limited access to health care

• are not attending early childhood education

• have higher levels of malnutrition and have a higher mortality rate.

What are the effects of not having a birth certificate?

• difficulty in enrolling at school or taking exams

• missing out on access to health services such as vaccination programmes

• difficulty in being reunited with the right family after being trafficked or separated from families due to conflict or natural disaster

• child headed households are often denied inheritance

• trouble accessing bank accounts, financial products, passports, ID cards, voting

• trouble accessing telecommunication services and mobile money services (i.e. M-Pesa)

Challenges

• Low awareness

• High infant mortality

• Remote areas

• Minority ethnic groups

• Centralized registration

• Complicated systems and bureaucracy

• Lack of equipment

• Insufficient training for registrars

Count Every Child Impact

40.6 million direct registrations globally

• Since the last global report (2009), only in Bangladesh Plan has facilitated the registration of 11,866,000 children.

• Plan and partners improved the law in 10 countries and as a result 153.3 million children can now have a free birth certificate

• In March 2012, for the first time in its history, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution entirely dedicated to the issue of birth registration and legal identity for all without any discrimination

Count Every Child external context

•Increased political will to improve birth

registration

•Strong ICT visions to increase digitisation

across government and society for civil

registration

•Regional and global commitments made

by governments (RESA, WARO, ARO)

Count Every Child External context

•UBR prioritized in UNHCR, WHO,

UNECA, UNESCAP, UNICEF strategies

•Strong interest from UN agencies to

partner on UBR

•Strong interest from mobile operators to

work on innovative birth registration

solutions

•UBR highlighted in the European Union

Commission development agenda

Digital Birth Registration:Using Mobile Phones to Count Every Child

The Problem

Barriers to Registration:

• Unclear process• Distance• Cost• Unreliable service• Corruption

The Problem

The Problem

The Problem

Birth registration rate 2009 – 43.44%Birth registration rate 2010 – 58.94%

Source: Government of Kenya, Department of Civil Registration- Annual Civil Registration Statistics Report 2010

Digital Birth Notification

Senegal KenyaUganda

Benefits

• Improved registration rates • Costs• Locality • Simplicity• Timely data collection • Digitised data

The Problem

Approximately 25% of guardians can produce a Birth Certificate

KNBS and ICF Macro 2010, Kenya

Digital Identity

Uganda TurkeySri Lanka

Name___________Date of Birth _____Sex____________Mother’s Name_____________Father’s Name_____________Location________

High Level DBR Process

Benefits

• Timely identification• Access to key child services• Potential for future mobile offerings• Transparent process• Sustainable, scalable model• Strategic identity platform

To Recap:What is Digital Birth Registration?

Digital Birth Registration:• Is a comprehensive process model for birth registration via mobile phones• Provides a suite of technical, program and advocacy support to governments• Creates a digital form of identity on the guardian’s phone

Digital Birth Registration is not:• A technical, ‘one size fits all’ solution• Replacing paper certificates• The best method for all countries, it compliments Plan’s broader Count Every

Child work to accelerate registration within a specific context

Current Status

• Currently working with the government in 4 priority countries: ‒ Kenya‒ Pakistan‒ Sierra Leone‒ Cameroon

• Engaging with:‒ Mobile Operators‒ Technical Solution Providers‒ Implementation Partners (e.g. development agencies, health providers)

Next Steps:• Complete the detailed analysis phase (feasibility and blueprint)• Identify additional partners to support the pilot and rollout

Thank you

FAQs

Who is the Registration Agent?• Plan will work with the government to clarify the key criteria for selecting the registration agents

and the governments will appoint the necessary. This could be: community health workers, police, priests, imams etc.

What if the family doesn’t have a phone?• The country selection process will initially focus on countries where large numbers of people can

benefit. However, families without mobiles will also benefit as their child will exist in the government database at an earlier stage and the paper certificate process is simplified

Is the intention to have one global solution?• The aim is to create a ‘best practice’ global framework which can be tailored to each

implementation country. For example, the government will appoint the registration agents, establish the terms of the relationship with mobile operators, determine the security level given to the mIdentity and hence determine which services can be accessed

Will paper certificates still be required?• It is likely that paper certificates will be produced in tandem during the transition, the intention

of the concept is not to replace the paper certificate as such, but to reduce the urgency to acquire a paper certificate, reduce the barriers to registration and enable digitalisation of child data.

FAQs

What about the risks of digital data collection?• The concept includes a risk assessment (e.g. child protection, fraud) and includes potential

mitigating actions as well as highlighting the risks contained within the current process. Although the solution will need to be tailored to each country, the key risks are expected to decrease through implementing DBR. However, it is important to note that no process (manual or digitised) can claim to be 100% risk-free. Instead the risk profile must be managed effectively.

How will the process be sustained?• Plan will work very closely with the relevant government authorities to ensure limited

dependence post-pilot. The process will be incorporated into current civil registration eco-system, with the aim of improving the registration of other civil registration events in the future.

How will the Public Private Partnership work in-country?• The concept contains potential PPP models, but this will need to be tailored to each country.

How does this differ from other initiatives?• DBR re-engineers the birth registration process, using mobile devices as an enabler. It goes

beyond digitising the collection of birth registration data and creates an identity for the child at the point of registration.