Birth registration campaign helps rural communities
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| Plan Programa Colombia |
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Leidy was only able to obtain her identity card at age 15 even though she had a right to do it since she was seven. The way she obtained it was unique. Instead of going to the closest Registry Office, she went to a school in Cauca. There she ran into a crowd sharing her same objective: to obtain an identity document. What Leidy realized that day was how difficult it was for many Colombians to get the State to recognize and certify their existence, an issue that could place them at serious risk.
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| Plan Programa Colombia |
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Without identity documents, a person, have no access to the education or social security systems and becomes vulnerable to child abuse and trafficking. He or she could be tied to irregular groups, subjected to sexual abuse or illegally taken out of the country. Such a situation is not limited only to Colombia. It is a global problem of alarming proportions.
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| Plan Programa Colombia |
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With these people in mind, Plan began in 2005 a global campaign for universal birth registration in most of the countries where it has a presence. In Colombia the campaign was called “Regístrame, hazme Visible” (“Write me down, make me real”). At first, its objective was to enable children and adolescents in the areas where Plan works to obtain their identity document quickly and efficiently, thereby guaranteeing their right to identity.
Through an alliance with the National Registry, municipal registry offices and local mayor offices, and other non-governmental organizations, Plan strengthened actions by transferring staff and equipment to carry out registration work in remote, rural and semi-urban areas in different departments. This included stationery, printers, cameras, blood testing equipment, as well as satellite systems for immediate access to the National Registry databases. The strategy consisted of involving all the organisations and municipal agencies that could advance the Campaign.
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| Plan Programa Colombia |
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The campaign was held in stadiums, municipality heads and schools. Between four-hundred to one-thousand people could show up daily.
Simultaneously, awareness training on the importance of the right to identity was given to all recently documented people.
Although the timely actions of the campaign continue, Plan’s objectives have been transformed; the aim now is to impact directly on the public policies implemented by the State on identity and birth registration.
It is obvious to Plan that solving the identity problem of a specific group of people is not enough. Campaign actions will be carried out at three levels: from the local to the regional and up to the national level. On the whole, the overall aim at each level and scenario is to get all government, community and social actors involved into making children’s right to identity real. To exist and be visible, as the Campaign slogan goes.
See some of the actions made by Plan in the Americas for the Universal birth registration
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