Every Child Counts: Empowerment through Registration

A narrow winding drive way amid tall poplar trees leads through a gated hujra (a separate male gathering place) to a multiple family compound in Gulabad, District Charsadda, in Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Inside one of these compounds Najma, 33, her husband Fayyaz Ali, 38, and five children (Tariq Raza, 12, Haroon Fayyaz, 10, Moosa Fayyaz, 7, Essa Fayyaz, 5 and Ibrahim Fayyaz, 4) dwell. Many womenfolk like Najma remain ignorant about their rights, having a National Identity Card or a Birth Certificate and how that impacts their lives; most of them have never even left their villages in their whole life. They are born, live and die without ever setting their feet outside their neighbourhoods and without any kind of official recognition.

Life for Najma and her children became visible for the first time on the national radar after getting recognition and a right to be eligible for basic services offered by the state to its citizens.

“I did not have my National Identity Card (CNIC) before, the tradional Pakhtun cultural Purdah (Veil) requirements did not allow us to go out of our neighbourhood so it was impossible for me to go to National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and make my CNIC, but thanks to World Vision and NADRA’s Mobile Registration Van (MRV) for providing us an opportunity to get CNICs at our doorstep. I got birth certificates for my five children, I can now send them to school and travel for Umra or Haj (Muslim’s holy pilgrimage) myself besides casting my vote,” she explained.

Without a birth certificate, millions of children each year remain invisible to authorities and therefore at risk of being denied access to basic rights such as education, health care and inheritance rights. According to UNICEF, an estimated 52 million children go unregistered every single year. The reasons include lack of political will, inadequate infrastructure and low awareness among parents about obtaining a birth certificate.

Articles 7 and 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) declare that national governments must register children immediately after birth and children enjoy the right from birth to acquire a nationality.

“We used to guess the ages of our children and nobody had real clue about having a birth certificate in the village, but now we know having no registration means no legal existence and therefore no rights as citizens,” Najma’s husband, Fayyaz Ali said.

World Vision Pakistan (WVP) has been working with NADRA, local governments, civil society and non-governmental organisations to address the barriers to birth registration. WVP initiated “Nai Zindagi” Advocacy project in collaboration with NADRA and the registration authority at Union Council level to help families obtain CNICs and birth certificates for their children and communities and has facilitated the registration of over 2,600 people in the 10 flood-affected villages of Charsadda and Nowshera in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

“We have registered over 400 new children in Gulabad so far and the process is ongoing, these children have got their identity in the shape of a birth certificates, for the very first time, due to World Vision’s facilitation,” said Suleman 26, Chairman Village Organisation, Gulabad.

“Nai Zindagi” (meaning ‘new life’) project provides a culturally acceptable environment to the communities to access registration services at their doorstep. Women in all the villages came with confidence to register themselves for their CNICs as NADRA’s mobile registration vans moved from village to village for registration.

World Vision initiated awareness-raising seminars on registration and birth registration in the targeted communities before launching the campaign. IEC material including posters, brochures and stickers with meaningful messages were disseminated. “These awareness-raising campaigns together with experiences in getting emergency help in flood, raised awareness about the importance of CNIC and every woman when asked had a reason for coming to seek a CNIC during the campaign,” said World Vision’s Mohammad Waseem, leader Advocacy mobilization team.

A large number of families also reclaimed their National Identity Cards that were lost during the 2010 floods, through NADRA’s MRV facilitated by WVP. Without these cards, children are prevented from availing state benefits, including admission in schools, government health facilities and financial support from government, especially Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

“Birth registration is the first step in ensuring all children have legal existence and they can enjoy their basic rights such as education and health care. Identity and Nationality are a birth right of every child,” said Waseem Khan, World Vision’s social mobiliser.

The communities in the flood-affected areas - especially women and children - are now able to live in an environment in which their rights are protected and they are empowered through awareness about Birth Registration and CNIC, Nikahnama registration and death registration to secure their family rights, protect their succession and inheritance rights, he further said.

Without a birth certificate to prove their age, many children also fall victim to early marriage, child labour and trafficking. The reasons include lack of political will, inadequate infrastructure and low awareness among parents about obtaining a birth certificate.

Provision of Government services depend on the accurate assessment of needs based on the number of individuals in a given population/area. To qualify for establishing a health facility for instance, the government requires a catchment population of 20,000 individuals. In the absence of an accurate count, many communities are left without a health facility.

Lack of registration also has an effect on maternal infant mortality. To deploy a maternal and newborn health/mobile clinic, the government requires a population data showing at least 600 women of reproductive age residing in a given area; without registration it is very difficult to measure the need or the extent of the problem and how best to address it. Funds go unallocated and women and children continue to die because of non-availability of accurate data.

During natural catastrophes children become more vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. WVP will work with government line departments and communities to sensitize them on this issue and train them on prevention of child trafficking and child exploitation, and to sensitize and mobilize Community Based Organisations to perform in a better way to ensure that child birth registration and CNIC at Mohalla level is ensured. WVP is supporting the NADRA outlets with water coolers, sheds, chairs for waiting areas, wheel chairs and IEC material required for effective service delivery to community members with dignity.

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