By Staff Reporter
UNICEF has partnered the government to launch significant programme to enhance civil registration systems and increase access to birth and death registration.
This involves computerising, digitalising, and equipping with solar power 10 decentralised Civil Registry sub-offices across eight districts.
Funded by China, the initiative aims to ensure that children and families in remote communities receive legal identity documents essential for accessing services like health, education, and social protection.
Speaking recently during the launch of a programme to protect children from drought effects, UNICEF’s chief of child protection, Dr. Nyasha Mayanga, noted the project’s role in helping the government modernise registration services through the Civil Registry Department.
“Under this project, we are also strengthening the civil registration systems with a view to increasing access to death registration and legal identity,” Dr. Mayanga said.
“We are in collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe through the Civil Registry Department in 10 sites in eight districts under this project funded by China.
“We are going to assist the Government of Zimbabwe to computerise, digitalise and solar power 10 sub-offices across the country.”
Dr. Mayanga explained that computerisation will boost efficiency at Civil Registry offices and allow communities to access digital copies of registration documents.
“Some of these sub-offices which are decentralised are not computerised. So, supporting with computerisation will enable communities, families and their children to access digitised copies which will then facilitate access to a range of services including social protection, including health, education and many other services,” he said.
He also described birth registration as a gateway to other services and highlighted that the programme will address social and behavioural barriers preventing families from registering children. UNICEF plans to engage traditional leaders, religious leaders, parents, caregivers, and other community stakeholders through dialogues to challenge beliefs and practices that discourage registration.
“There could be several barriers that prevent people from getting registered. So, the social and behavioural change component would facilitate engagement with communities through community dialogues,” Dr. Mayanga said.
“You saw here there were traditional leaders, we also had religious leaders and other community leaders, parents and caregivers. Those are very important stakeholders in the registration of our children.”
UNICEF will additionally collaborate with the Civil Registry Department to introduce targeted mobile registration in hard-to-reach areas.
“We are also going to work in collaboration with the Civil Registry Department to bring a mobile registration component which would be targeted in the sense that there are some pockets which are hard to reach in the communities where the birth registration programme is going to be implemented,” Dr. Mayanga said.
This mobile service will ensure that communities facing geographical and other barriers to fixed offices are not left out.
